President Joe Biden, often touting himself as the most pro-union president in history, made his presence felt at the annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade in Philadelphia on Monday. The Democratic president delivered a speech highlighting the significance of unions in the United States and the nation’s ongoing recovery from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“This Labor Day, we’re celebrating jobs—good-paying jobs that allow you to raise a family, union jobs,” President Biden conveyed to the enthusiastic crowd on Monday.
As the U.S. continues to witness job growth and an increasing number of people re-entering the workforce, President Biden is keen to spotlight these positive trends as he looks ahead to his potential reelection bid in 2024.
“As we approach Labor Day, let’s pause to acknowledge that America is currently experiencing one of its most robust job-creating periods in history,” Biden remarked on Friday, following the announcement that the U.S. had added 187,000 jobs in August. This data serves as evidence of a resilient labor market despite the Federal Reserve’s imposition of high interest rates.
The Labor Department’s report from Friday also revealed a rise in the unemployment rate from 3.5% to 3.8%, marking the highest level since February 2022. However, this increase was driven by a positive factor: 736,000 individuals reentered the job market in the previous month, the most significant influx since January. It’s essential to note that only those actively seeking employment are counted as unemployed.
“People are coming off the sidelines and returning to the workforce,” President Biden emphasized.
At the Tri-State Labor Day event in Philadelphia, hundreds of union workers, proudly displaying their local union attire, including the Sheet Metal Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers, Stagehands, and others, gathered on a warm and humid morning to hear the president’s address.
Lenny Nutter, a resident of Philadelphia wearing a Laborers International Union shirt, attended the event to show support for the President. He noted that unions have become more active, in part due to the policies implemented by President Biden.
“Unions are growing, and more work opportunities have been provided to union workers,” Nutter remarked.
President Biden has taken various executive actions to promote worker organizing, publicly endorsed unionization efforts at major corporations like Amazon, and authorized federal funding to bolster union members’ pensions. Just last week, his administration proposed a new rule that could make 3.6 million more U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay, marking one of the most significant increases in decades.
Additionally, President Biden has traveled the country, emphasizing how union labor is contributing to infrastructure projects such as building bridges and improving train tunnels, as part of the bipartisan $1.1 trillion public works package passed by Congress in 2021.
“Unions elevate standards across industries and the entire workforce, raising wages and enhancing benefits for all,” President Biden emphasized on Friday. “I’ve said it many times: Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class.”
The 36th annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade and Family Celebration is organized by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, a coalition of over 100 local labor unions representing more than 150,000 workers, according to their website.