Vice President Kamala Harris praised the work of unions during a Labor Day rally on Monday, repeating her pledge to protect workers’ rights and combat the policies of Donald Trump she said will “pull us all backwards.”
Harris appeared with President Joe Biden in Pittsburgh, their first joint appearance since she replaced him as the Democratic nominee for the White House. In a short, rousing speech, Harris addressed union members and praised the city as the “cradle of the American labor movement,” pointing to hard-won protections secured by blue-collar workers.
“You may not be a union member, but you better thank unions for that five-day work week, thank unions for sick leave,” she said. “Thank unions for paid family leave. Thank unions for your vacation time. Because when union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up, when union workplaces are safer, all workplaces are safer, when unions are strong, America is strong.”
Pennsylvania will play a key role in November and would be a major prize in the fight for swing states. Harris cast her campaign as the antithesis of that of her Republican challenger, saying the race was about two “very different versions” of the future.
“Do you fight for workers? Do you fight for families? Do you fight for those who must be seen and heard and deserve the dignity that comes with hard work,” Harris asked. “That’s what we fight for. And when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.”
Trump, for his part, was largely absent from the campaign trail on Monday, a notable decision that drew quick attacks from the vice president’s campaign. The Democratic National Committee unveiled a slate of 19 digital billboards in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania calling the former president an “anti-union scab.”
Harris went on to describe her campaign as an underdog effort despite a slate of polls showing her in a strong position against Trump nationwide and in key battleground states.
“Let’s not pay too much attention to those polls,” the vice president said. “We know what it’s like to be the underdog, and we are the underdog in this race, and we have some hard work then ahead of us.”
“We like hard work, hard work is good work,” she added. “Hard work is joyful work.”
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