The General Board of the AFL-CIO – representing 60 unions and more than 12.5 million workers – voted June 16 to endorse President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election in 2024. The endorsement vote marks the earliest the AFL-CIO has ever voted to endorse in a presidential election, “triggering an unprecedented mobilization that will engage millions of working people over the course of nearly 17 months on the Biden-Harris record of transforming the economy to one that works for all,” the federation said in a news release. “There’s absolutely no question that Joe Biden is the most pro-union president in our lifetimes,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “From bringing manufacturing jobs home to America to protecting our pensions and making historic investments in infrastructure, clean energy and education, we’ve never seen a president work so tirelessly to rebuild our economy from the bottom up and middle out. We’ve never seen a president more forcefully advocate for workers’ fundamental right to join a union. Now, it’s time to finish the job. The largest labor mobilization in history begins today, supercharged by the excitement and enthusiasm of hundreds of thousands of union volunteers who will work tirelessly to re-elect a president they know has our backs and will always fight for us.”
In its prepared statement, the federation noted, “There’s never been an election more critical to the future of working people. Worker organizing is happening at a pace not seen in decades, from coffee shops to tech to higher education to the manufacturing shop floor. The transition to a clean energy economy and historic federal investments in good jobs creates the opportunity to transform the economy for generations to come. But this promise will only be realized if President Biden and Vice President Harris are re-elected to another four years.”
“Before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in, the pandemic was raging and the economy was in freefall,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Our country is in far better shape today because of their leadership. This election is between a president who respects and protects working people and political extremists hellbent on reversing our progress and destroying our fundamental freedoms.”
“The Biden–Harris administration has consistently advanced policies that empower workers, created opportunities for everyday people, and promoted the wellbeing of working families,” Electrical Workers (IBEW) International President Kenneth Cooper said. “As a direct result of these efforts, the Biden–Harris administration has overseen robust economic growth, increased worker wages and achieved the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.”
“Made in America isn’t just a slogan to this president, it’s a demand for a brighter future in which no worker is left behind,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are building an American economy that respects and values all of us, no matter our race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or where we’re from. He’s rebuilding America, brick by brick, through good jobs and opportunity for all. That’s the future we want for our kids and that’s why the labor movement is going all-in to deliver another four years to President Biden.”
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