Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to “end union busting” during a Labor Day campaign event with President Biden in tow – who compared the Democratic nominee to a “saint.”
Harris, 59, promised union workers in Pittsburgh that if elected, she would move to pass sweeping congressional legislation that would override state “right to work” laws that make union membership voluntary.
“We fight for a future where every worker has the freedom to organize, and we will pass the [Protecting the Right to Organize Act] and end union busting once and for all,” the vice president declared.
Harris argued that former President Donald Trump “is trying to pull us backward, including back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize.”
She charged that Trump, 78, “blocked overtime benefits for millions of workers,” opposed efforts “to raise the minimum wage” and appointed “union busters to the National Labor Relations” Board while making the case that Pennsylvania workers should vote for her in November.
The battleground state’s 19 Electoral College votes could swing the election for either candidate.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Harris with a 0.5 percentage-point edge over Trump in the Keystone State, 47.7% to 47.2%.
Harris didn’t bring up her recent shift on fracking during her remarks in Pittsburgh.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, contributes to tens of thousands of jobs in the oil- and natural gas-rich state.
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris, as a democratic presidential primary candidate, told a climate activist at a CNN town hall in 2019.
But in her first interview since replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris promised, “As president I will not ban fracking.”
The vice president’s remarks followed another labor-centered rally in a different swing state earlier in the day, where she claimed that “every person in our nation has benefited” from unions.
“Everywhere I go I tell people, ‘Look, you may not be a union member, you’d better thank a union member,” Harris said in Detroit, Mich.
“When unions are strong, America is strong,” she said.
Biden, 81, praised Harris in his introductory remarks in Pittsburgh, touting her as “a true friend” and the only “rational choice” Pennsylvanians have in 2024.
“She has a backbone like a ramrod,” the president said. “She has the moral compass of a saint.”
Biden argued that tapping Harris to be his VP was the “single best” decision of his presidency, and he told union members that they wouldn’t regret casting a ballot for his No. 2.
“This woman knows what she’s doing,” Biden said. “Folks, I promise you, if you elect Kamala Harris president, it will be the best decision you will have ever made.”
The president was greeted with chants of “Thank You, Joe” when he took the stage.
The event marked Biden and Harris’ first joint appearance at a campaign event since the president ended his re-election bid in July.
The pair last appeared on stage together at a non-campaign event in Maryland on Aug. 15.
Biden’s speech at the Pittsburg union hall was his first public event since returning from his two-week vacation in California and Delaware.
