Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a Labor Day event in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 2, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
During a spirited Labor Day rally in Detroit on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris committed to fostering “an opportunity economy” and supporting workers’ right to unionize.
“When union wages go up, everyone’s wages go up,” the Democratic presidential nominee said during a 15-minute address to roaring applause. “When union places are safer, every workplace is safer. When unions are strong, America is strong.”
About 350 union members and elected officials attended the rally, which was held at Northwestern High School. Attendees chanted “We’re not going back” and “[Donald] Trump is scab.” Trump, a Republican, served as U.S. president from 2017 to 2021. He won Michigan’s Electoral College votes by under 11,000 votes in 2016, but lost to President Joe Biden in 2020 by more than 154,000 votes.
“This Labor Day, Michiganders aren’t fooled by Kamala Harris’ dog and pony show. Her policies, like the radical green new deal, are anti-worker,” Trump Michigan spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said in a statement. “Her attack on American energy has made the cost of living unaffordable, and her plan to ban gas powered cars will decimate the backbone of our economy. President Donald Trump will return us to an all of the above energy plan, protect Michigan’s auto jobs and support American workers.”
Harris will face Trump on Nov. 5.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who’s facing former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake) for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, both spoke at the rally.
Also attending were Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessell, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham), U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit).
Vice President Kamala Harris joins labor union leaders, including National Education Association President Becky Pringle, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Laborers’ International Union of North America President Brent Booker, Utility Workers Union of America President James Slevin and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, on stage at a Labor Day event in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 2, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Vice President Kamala Harris joins labor union leaders, including National Education Association President Becky Pringle, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Laborers’ International Union of North America President Brent Booker, Utility Workers Union of America President James Slevin and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, on stage at a Labor Day event in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 2, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Vice President Kamala Harris joins labor union leaders, including National Education Association President Becky Pringle, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Laborers’ International Union of North America President Brent Booker, Utility Workers Union of America President James Slevin and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, on stage at a Labor Day event in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 2, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Vice President Kamala Harris joins labor union leaders, including National Education Association President Becky Pringle, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Laborers’ International Union of North America President Brent Booker, Utility Workers Union of America President James Slevin and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, on stage at a Labor Day event in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 2, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Labor union leaders, including National Education Association President Becky Pringle, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Laborers’ International Union of North America President Brent Booker, Utility Workers Union of America President James Slevin and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, at a Labor Day event with Vice President Kamala Harris in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 2, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Stabenow pointed out that the general election is 63 days away.
“This election should be pretty clear: Vice President Kamala Harris stands with working people and supports unions or a union-busting, self-serving, felon named Donald Trump who takes a good game but doesn’t get anything done.”
Earlier in the day, hundreds gathered for the annual Labor Day parade along Michigan Avenue in Detroit. Whitmer, Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten were among the speakers.
“This Labor Day we’re united together proudly to declare that we’re fed up and we’re pissed off,” said Fain. “And when they tell us to shut up and sit down we’re going to respond by standing up, speaking out and taking action.”
Weingarten told the Advance the Labor Day parade that she is concerned about GOP efforts to “lie, manipulate and create fear” among the electorate on issues like immigration and public school education.
“Instead of solving our problems the way America does by rolling up our sleeves and solving problems and making life better for all, they are dividing and dividing and creating fear and intolerance and division,” Weingarten said.
When Harris was running for president last cycle, one of her first stops in Michigan in May 2019 was a teacher town hall at Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit, at which Weingarten also spoke.
Bieber told the Advance that his members are “fired up” to vote for Harris.
“They want to keep the momentum that we are having [with the Biden administration]. It’s a pro-union administration and keeps making progress for workers.”
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