At a Labor Day event on Monday in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden, who frequently claims to be the most pro-union president in history, praised American workers for their contributions to the nation’s economy while praising organized labor.
The Democratic president discussed the economy’s recovery from the devastating coronavirus outbreak, what his administration did to pay for infrastructure projects, and the role that unions play in fostering middle-class development.
Biden is attempting to recoup ground among working-class voters who abandoned Democrats and switched their allegiance to former President Donald Trump along with others on cultural issues as the pace of the Republican primary season quickens. And on Monday in Philadelphia, he provided a sneak peek of that argument by repeatedly referring to Trump as “the last guy” and equating Trump’s record of job creation with that of President Herbert Hoover, who presided over the nation as it descended into the Great Depression before being soundly defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In reference to Trump, who is now leading among Republicans in the polls, Biden said: “He left office with fewer employed people in America than when he was first elected into office.”
Biden focused on the effects that his administration’s policies were having on working people when he spoke to a group of union members from a variety of industries, including steelworkers and stagehands.
This Labor Day, Biden told the crowd, “We’re celebrating jobs, jobs you can raise a family on, union jobs, good-paying jobs.” The president, who was supposed to be standing at the podium, moved around the stage with the microphone in his hand while carrying placards that read, “UNION STRONG.”
Labor Day, a festival celebrating workers, falls this year amid a climate in which American unions of all stripes are growing more assertive and where 146,000 United Auto Workers members could go on strike.
When asked if a strike might occur, the president responded that he didn’t believe it would. The president of the UAW, Shawn Fain, responded right away, saying he was “shocked” by the president’s comments and that he “must know something we don’t know.”
We still have a ways to go, according to Fain. “By September 14, all three parties must have an agreement in place. The due date for all three is that day. And if they don’t, something will happen.
The union is advocating for reduced workweeks, pay increases, and the return of conventional pensions. Fain claimed that Ford’s economic offer fell far short of union demands and that General Motors, Stellantis, and other automakers have yet to respond to the union’s economic offers. The union has accused GM and Stellantis of unfair labor practices for being slow to negotiate; the corporations have refuted the allegations. According to Fain, the union wants to reach a fair compromise rather than go on strike.
Labor Day also coincides with the nation’s adding employment and the highest number of people seeking work since January. As he runs for reelection in 2024, Biden is eager to promote that information.
Voters still need to be convinced by Biden that his initiatives are improving their lives. According to a study conducted in August by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 36% of American adults approve of how Biden is handling the economy, which is somewhat less than the 42% who do so for his overall performance.
The announcement that American firms added 187,000 jobs in August, indicative of a weakening but still robust labor market in spite of the high-interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed, came days before Biden’s Labor Day speech.
The Labor Department’s data released on Friday also revealed that the jobless rate increased from 3.5% to 3.8%, its highest level since February 2022 but still a very low level by historical standards. But there was a positive reason why the rate increased: 736,000 people started looking for work last month, the highest since January, yet not all of them were successful in finding employment straight away. Only those who are actively searching for work are included in the unemployment statistics.
The president regularly emphasized the value of middle-class employees to the economy, noting that when they prosper, “everyone benefits.”
Hundreds of union members wearing their local T-shirts waited to hear the president speak at the Tri-State Labor Day event in Philadelphia on a steamy and muggy morning.
Philadelphia resident Lenny Nutter, who was sporting a yellow Laborers International Union t-shirt, said he went to the event to support Biden and added that in part because of the president’s policies, unions have become more active than they once were.
As more people join unions, more jobs are being allocated to union employees, according to Nutter.
In addition to personally supporting unionization efforts at major corporations like Amazon, Biden has utilized executive actions to encourage worker organization. He has also approved federal financing to support the pensions of union members. The Biden administration just last week proposed a new regulation that would expand overtime pay eligibility to 3.6 million more U.S. workers, the largest such increase in decades.
The president said to the throng, “Now you’re going to get paid overtime.”
Additionally, as part of the bicameral $1.1 trillion public works plan authorized by Congress in 2021, Biden has toured the nation praising union labor for their work constructing bridges and enhancing train tunnels.
The Philadelphia AFL-CIO, which, according to its website, is made up of more than 100 local labor unions indicating more than 150,000 workers, is the host of the 36th annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade & Family Celebration.