US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris emphasized the “dignity of work” and promised to strengthen collective protections during remarks to a crowd of union members and leaders in Detroit on Monday (2), marking Labor Day in the country.
“We celebrate unions because they helped build America, and unions helped build the American middle class,” she declared to a packed gymnasium.
Kamala praised the labor movement for protecting workers, saying “you better thank a union member” for the five-day work week, sick leave and vacation.
“What we know is that when union wages go up, everyone’s wages go up,” she said. “When union workplaces are safer, all workplaces are safer. When unions are strong, America is strong,” she added.
Recalling her time participating in marches and rallies in California with her progressive parents, Kamala reiterated that she learned that “when people are united,” they can “enact extraordinary change.”
The vice president also criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for actions she claims are harmful to workers, prompting some members in attendance to chant, loosely translated, “Trump is despicable,” a criticism popularized by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who has publicly feuded with the former U.S. president.
Kamala was joined on stage by national union leaders, including Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association President Becky Pringle.
As Kamala Harris spoke about what she would do for the future of Americans, she promised to secure the “PRO Act,” a law that would ensure workers’ rights to unionize and collectively bargain for changes in the workplace, and to “end union busting once and for all.”
This content was originally published in Kamala Harris promises to strengthen unions on US Labor Day on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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