PHILADELPHIA (AP/KYW Newsradio) — President Joe Biden, who often says he's the most pro-union president in history, touted the importance of unions and applauded American workers in building the economy during a Labor Day appearance in Philadelphia on Monday.
The Democratic president spoke at the Sheet Metal Workers' Local 19 headquarters about how the economy is recovering from the crippling coronavirus pandemic and about what his administration has done to pay for infrastructure improvements, and he cited the importance of unions in building the middle class.
“This Labor Day we’re celebrating jobs, good-paying jobs, jobs you can raise a family on, union jobs," Biden told the crowd gathered Monday. Instead of standing at the podium, the president held the microphone in his hand and walked around the stage behind signs that read “UNION STRONG.”
Biden pointed to actions such as the requirement for labor-management agreements for most federal construction contracts, announced in Philadelphia last month, as proof of his commitment.
The 36th annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade and Family Celebration is hosted by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, whose website says it comprises more than 100 local labor unions representing more than 150,000 workers.
At the Tri-State Labor Day event in Philadelphia, hundreds of union workers donning their local T-shirts — from the Sheet Metal Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, Stagehands and others — waited on a warm and muggy morning to see the president speak.
He received a warm reception from workers such as Margaret Irving of the faculty union for state colleges: “I like the labor message and I think he’s done well with the economy, and I’m on board. I want four more years.”
The time-honored Labor Day tradition attracts local elected leaders and union members alike. Union labor is an important force in Philadelphia — which is key to winning Pennsylvania in the presidential election.
State Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) attends every year.
“President Biden has been a great friend to the people of Pennsylvania,” he said. “He has delivered for us with the infrastructure program and Inflation Reduction Act.”
Street spoke at a press conference on Friday, where he announced a $25 million federal grant to improve traffic safety around schools.
“The president just gave us a bunch of resources to make schoolchildren go safely,” he added, “and whether it’s improvements there or the improvements at Broad and Erie, at Broad and Olney, those improvements make a difference in people’s lives.”
Also in attendance was state Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia, Montgomery counties), though many in the crowd were thrilled to see him accompanied by his wife, Sheryl Lee Ralph, star of the sitcom “Abbott Elementary.”
However, Ralph is also a union leader. She is currently on strike with SAG-AFTRA.
“I’m very happy to have a president that is out loud and strong about speaking up for workers and what it means to all of us and our country,” she praised Biden.
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This was Biden’s seventh visit to Philadelphia this year. He has frequently chosen labor unions as his audience, promising to be the most pro-union president in history.
US job growth
Labor Day, a holiday honoring workers, comes as the U.S. has added jobs and more people have begun looking for work, the most since January, all news Biden is eager to highlight as he seeks reelection in 2024.
"As we head into Labor Day, we ought to take a step back and take note of the fact that America is now in one of the strongest job-creating periods in our history," Biden said Friday from the Rose Garden, where he spoke after the news that America’s employers added 187,000 jobs in August, evidence of a slowing but still-resilient labor market despite the high interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.8%, the highest level since February 2022 though still low by historical standards. But the rate rose for an encouraging reason: 736,000 people began looking for work last month, the most since January, and not all of them found jobs right away. Only people who are actively looking for a job are counted as unemployed.
“People are coming off the sidelines, getting back to their workplaces,” Biden said.
Biden has used executive actions to promote worker organizing, has personally cheered unionization efforts at corporate giants like Amazon and has authorized federal funding to aid union members’ pensions. Just last week, the Biden administration proposed a new rule that would make 3.6 million more U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay, the most generous such increase in decades.
Biden also has traveled the country, trumpeting how union labor is building bridges and improving train tunnels as part of the bipartisan $1.1 trillion public works package Congress passed in 2021.
“Unions raise standards across the workforce and industries, pushing up wages and strengthening benefits for everyone,” Biden said Friday. “You’ve heard me say many times: Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class.”
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