Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (R-MN), used Labor Day to court U.S. workers in the Midwest as they seek to preserve Democrats’ long-standing alliance with unions.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, touted her support for labor organizations to a crowd of supporters in Detroit while flanked by top union representatives, including United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
“Everywhere I go, I tell people, ‘Look, you may not be a union member. You better thank a union member for the five-day workweek. You better thank a union member for sick leave. You better thank a union member for paid leave,’” Harris said.
Vice President Harris: You may not be a union member, but you better thank a union member for the five-day work week. You better thank a union member for sick leave, paid family leave, and vacation time pic.twitter.com/DHu3oRVXuo
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 2, 2024
Harris said that as president, she will strengthen labor laws, including a ban on union-busting activity, some of which is already outlawed. She also touted her goal of creating an “opportunity economy,” which she claimed would allow citizens “not just to get by” but to “get ahead.”
Former President Donald Trump wants to pull the United States back to a time “before workers had the freedom to organize,” Harris warned her supporters.
The vice president harped on Trump administration policies, accusing the former president of blocking overtime benefits “for millions of workers.” Trump supported “so-called right to work laws,” Harris said, to loud boos aimed at Trump.
Harris’s claim about Trump and overtime pay is one she and Walz have perpetuated, but PolitiFact recently deemed it “misleading.” The claim stems from a judge blocking an Obama administration policy on overtime rules during the Trump administration. Instead of challenging the judge, Trump set his own policy that extended overtime benefits to workers. However, it included millions fewer than what the Obama-era policy would have had.
Harris’s busy day on the campaign trail also included a stop at a labor union hall in Pittsburgh with President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Walz spoke to a friendly crowd in Milwaukee in front of a podium with a sign that read “Laborfest.”
Trump, for his part, wrote in a Labor Day message on Truth Social that “under Comrade Kamala Harris,” average citizens are acutely feeling the painful effects of high inflation on a holiday weekend. He also boasted about his administration’s achievements for workers.
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“In my First Term, we achieved Major Successes to protect American Workers by negotiating Free and Fair Trade Deals, passing the USMCA (U.S./Mexico/Canada), and giving Businesses and their Workers the tools to thrive,” Trump said.
He added that during his tenure, the U.S. was “an Economic Powerhouse, all because of the American Worker! But Kamala and Biden have undone all of that.”