President Joe Biden, who frequently asserts that he is the most pro-union president in history, stressed the importance of unions and lauded American workers for boosting the economy on Monday during a visit to Philadelphia in honor of Labor Day.
Biden stressed the role that unions play in raising the middle class
In an article from Union-Bulletin, the Democratic president discussed the economy’s recovery from the devastating coronavirus outbreak as well as the steps his administration has taken to pay for infrastructure upgrades. He also stressed the role that unions play in raising the middle class.
Labor Day, a holiday commemorating workers, falls during a period of increased job creation and increased unemployment, the highest levels since January. Biden is eager to highlight these developments as he runs for reelection in 2024.
After learning that American employers gained 187,000 jobs in August, evidence of a weakening but still robust labor market despite the high interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed, Biden delivered his Labor Day speech this week.
According to the Labor Department’s report released on Friday, the unemployment rate increased from 3.5% to 3.8%, which is still low by historical standards but the highest level since February 2022. However, the rate increased for a positive reason: 736,000 people started looking for employment last month, the highest number since January, and not all of them were immediately hired. Only individuals who regularly look for job are counted as unemployed.
The president repeatedly emphasized the value of middle-class employees to the economy, emphasizing that “everyone” benefits when the middle class prospers.
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Biden has utilized executive actions to encourage worker organization
In a report from Tri-City News, hundreds of union members wearing their local T-shirts from the Sheet Metal Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, Stagehands, and other organizations waited to hear the president speak at the Tri-State Labor Day celebration in Philadelphia on a humid 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.
In addition to personally supporting unonization 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 has put up a new regulation that would grant 3.6 million more American workers the right to overtime pay—the largest such expansion in decades.
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 representing more than 150,000 workers, is the organizer of the 36th annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade and Family Celebration.
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