Actors’ Equity Association Endorses Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris for Reelection
Actors’ Equity Association Endorses Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris for Reelection
New York-- Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, joins the other unions of the AFL-CIO in its endorsement for the 2024 presidential campaign, supporting President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their second term.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris listened to Equity when our industry was in crisis, on issues like COVID relief and federal arts funding,” said Kate Shindle, president of Actors’ Equity Association. “But four years of a pro-worker administration is simply not enough to put labor laws back on the side of workers, safeguard our democracy and our climate, address systemic racism, protect gender identity and bodily autonomy and so much more. For those of us who aren’t members of the billionaire class, everything is on the line. We need to flip to a pro-worker House, increase our pro-worker margin in the Senate and return Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House.”
In 2020, Equity also endorsed Biden and Harris, citing Biden’s strong history of supporting workers’ rights, as well as his support on issues like LGBTQ rights and the fight for gun violence prevention. Since President Biden took office, funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has increased by $52 million along with $135 million in supplemental funding for the NEA/NEH.
His administration’s COVID relief was critical for countless arts workers. Important relief provisions included a temporary COBRA health insurance subsidy, supporting pandemic unemployment insurance that was vital for the unique employment structure of arts workers and allowing labor unions access to PPP funds like most other businesses. His American Rescue Plan expanded financial assistance to Americans enrolling in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, a critical need for many Equity members during the shutdown of the industry during COVID. Biden has also voiced support for the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act, a years-long Equity campaign.
“Only with President Biden taking a second term do we have a real chance of passing the PRO Act, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the restoration of the Voting Rights Act,” said Al Vincent, Jr., executive director of Actors’ Equity Association. “Everything is on the line this election, and I look forward to the union making a historic push to get President Biden and Vice President Harris across the finish line.”
Since the 2020 election, Actors’ Equity Association has worked to build more political power for union members by forming a political action committee, expanding the union’s use of political endorsements and sending union members to turn out union voters in battleground states.
ACTORS' EQUITY ASSOCIATION, founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers. Equity endeavors to advance the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits (health and pension included). Member: AFL-CIO, FIA. www.actorsequity.org #EquityWorks
Equity contact: David Levy | [email protected] | 212-869-8530, ext. 115.
June 16, 2023
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AFGE Endorses President Joe Biden for Reelection
President Biden has stood up against threats to both working people and the apolitical civil service, union president says
WASHINGTON – The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal employee union representing 750,000 federal and DC government employees, proudly endorses President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for reelection next year.
After a nationwide telephone town hall and two national membership polls that showed Biden to be the members’ overwhelming choice, AFGE’s National Executive Council voted unanimously to endorse President Biden in the 2024 election.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement:
“During his first term, President Biden has proven himself to be the most labor-friendly president in our lifetime. The results of our endorsement process show that he is the overwhelming choice of AFGE members. It’s not hard to see why.
“Joe Biden has stood up for the working people who serve our government with honor and distinction across this country and helped restore our apolitical civil service after years of vicious attacks.
“He enacted the largest raise for federal employees in 20 years, rolled back the previous administration’s assaults on government workers’ rights on the job, rescinded an order from his predecessor that would have politicized tens of thousands of civil service jobs and stripped workers of basic protections, provided federal employees with 15 weeks of emergency leave and easier access to worker’s compensation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and established a task force to expand union representation within the federal government and across the country.
“President Biden’s administration has been there for AFGE members and for all workers. He isn’t afraid to say he supports labor unions, and we’re not afraid to say we support Joe Biden. Next November, we are going show up and give President Biden and Vice President Harris another four years to finish the job by building on the tremendous progress they have achieved so far.”
American Federation of Teachers Endorses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Democratic Primary
AFT Commits Resources to Ensure Members and the Public Are Registered to Vote and Informed of Pro-Worker Positions and Pathbreaking Legislative Record of Biden and Harris
WASHINGTON—The American Federation of Teachers has voted to endorse Joe Biden for president and Kamala Harris for vice president in the 2024 Democratic primary. Following an extensive member consultation process, the union’s executive council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to endorse Biden and Harris because of their profound understanding of the issues facing working families and their impassioned commitment to using government to help make people’s lives better.
Today’s announcement was made in conjunction with the AFL-CIO’s endorsement and in support of Saturday’s labor rally in Philadelphia, which Biden will attend.
“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are the most pro-labor, pro-public education leaders our country has seen in modern history,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Joe and Kamala understand in their souls the challenges families face, and how important it is to their dignity to earn a decent living and have a shot at owning a home, or securing a retirement, or affording college. They know union membership can be transformative.
“This weekend, the entire labor movement is joining together in an unprecedented show of strength and support to harness the collective power of working people determined to move this country in the direction of freedom, justice and opportunity for all.”
The AFT represents 1.7 million public school teachers and school staff, higher education faculty and other campus workers, nurses and other healthcare professionals, and public employees, across more than 3,000 locals nationwide. Ninety-two percent of Democratic AFT members backed an early endorsement of Biden and Harris in internal polling. Overall, more than 1 million contacts were made to engage members, including several national and regional telephone town halls and one-on-one outreach.
“This president and vice president are committed to reshaping the economy and government to help working people and their families have a better life,” added Weingarten. “From funding schools, to reviving pensions, to game-changing student loan debt cancellation and fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, to expanding the child tax credit—Joe and Kamala have been focused on the programs that make a difference in people’s everyday lives.
“The administration has created 13 million jobs and put in place historic economic, health and social programs, not just responding to the pandemic but building for the future—for example, through the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. And they understand public education, healthcare, higher education and public employees far better than most other elected officials.
“In the face of extremist politicians tearing at the fabric of American democracy, Biden and Harris have been leaders in defending our republic, fighting injustice and protecting our basic freedoms. They have stood up for reproductive rights, voting rights and racial justice; protected LGBTQIA+ freedoms; delivered the most aggressive climate and environmental justice agenda in history; and signed meaningful bipartisan gun violence reforms into law. They have appointed a record number of federal judges with diverse backgrounds, including the first Black female justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“This stellar record is exactly why the entire labor movement has come out to support Joe and Kamala today. It’s time to finish the job.”
The AFT and its affiliates will run AFT members for delegates to next year’s Democratic National Convention in support of Biden and Harris. The union will marshal the necessary resources to ensure our members and their families are registered to vote and are informed of the positions and record of the Biden-Harris ticket.
Today’s endorsement is for the Democratic primary. An endorsement for the general election will be considered by delegates to the AFT’s 88th biennial convention, to be held in late July 2024 in Houston.
Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Endorse President Biden for Second Term
06/16/2023
[Washington, D.C.] – Today the Executive Board of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) endorsed Joseph R. Biden for his second term as President of the United States.
Since Joe Biden took office, workers have experienced unprecedented support from the President of the United States. BAC members are directly benefiting the enactment of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act, which all put BAC members to work and include language to give strong incentives ensuring future investments in American manufacturing will be built by skilled craftworkers and will support local communities.
Working families, including BAC members, also are benefiting from the pension reforms President Biden ensured were in the American Rescue Plan, and then protected that program during the recent GOP attempt to defund it during the debt ceiling debate. President Biden has also led the fight to strengthen Davis-Bacon prevailing wage coverage and promote the use of Project Labor Agreements.
“Union workers across the United States have a clear advocate in the White House with Joe Biden,” said BAC President Tim Driscoll. “He not only regularly meets with unions on a variety of issues, but actively supports and promotes worker organizing to strengthen the middle-class. In all his legislative efforts involving construction, he ensures workers will receive fair wages and benefits, with safe working conditions.”
“President Biden has kept all his 2020 campaign promises and then some, making him the most pro-labor President of our lifetimes,” President Driscoll continued. “It is because of his proven track record as a friend of BAC members, and all working families, that we heartily endorse the Biden-Harris team for four more years.”
Communications Workers of America Endorses Re-Election of President Biden and Vice President Harris
The Communications Workers of America have endorsed the re-election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In their endorsement resolution, CWA’s Executive Board said:
CWA is dedicated to growing our power in the workplace, building a labor movement stronger than ever before, and protecting and revitalizing our democracy. To realize this vision, we need partners in public office who will join with us to grow power for working people. Because of his unquestionable commitment to empowering working people, CWA wholeheartedly endorses Joe Biden for re-election as President of the United States.
The resolution noted that President Biden has been a true partner for CWA and the labor movement in the White House. It highlighted the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments, including an over $40 billion investment in job-creating broadband infrastructure projects which included the first ever labor standards on any federal broadband funding; badly needed support at the height of the pandemic to prevent layoffs of public sector workers, flight attendants and passenger service agents; strengthening Buy American laws; and investing in American-made computer chips and renewable energy.
In a video statement announcing CWA’s endorsement, CWA President Chris Shelton said, “Our union enthusiastically supports President Biden’s re-election. Here’s why: when it is time to make decisions that affect working people, he doesn’t ask CEOs how they feel, he doesn’t ask Wall Street investors what they think, he talks to workers. Joe Biden respects who we are, what we think, and is absolutely committed to doing everything he can to support the labor movement. And we're going to do everything we can to support him.”
CWA’s Legislative and Political Action Teams, made up of thousands of CWA activists around the country, will be fully engaged with CWA members, retirees and working families across the country to discuss what’s at stake in the election and the importance of re-electing President Biden, Vice President Harris, and members of Congress who support our work to rebuild power for working people. We must ensure that we continue to build on the progress we have made and get the job done.
Read the CWA Executive Board’s full endorsement resolution here.
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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.
cwa-union.org @cwaunion
IATSE General Executive Board Endorses President Joe Biden for Re-election
IATSE’s General Executive Board voted unanimously to extend its endorsement to President Joe Biden upon the announcement of his 2024 reelection campaign for President of the United States. In 2020, President Biden pledged to be the most pro-union president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the opinion of the General Executive Board, he has fulfilled that promise time and again since taking office.
Our union has never had a more willing collaborator in the White House. The Biden-Harris Administration has actively sought to include the voices of behind-the-scenes entertainment workers in decisions that impact our industries and workplaces. Looking solely at issues affecting IATSE and its members, Biden’s record of support is clear:
- Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, providing IATSE members the relief they needed to stay safe until a return to work was possible.
- He formed the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which has engaged IATSE to provide input on executive actions that will increase worker organizing and empowerment in our industries.
- His federal budgets have consistently requested additional federal arts funding, allowing Congress to achieve record funding levels for the NEA & NEH.
- His appointees to the National Labor Relations Board have dedicated their careers to protecting and advocating for workers.
- He reestablished the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities and appointed labor leaders to ensure workers had a seat at the table.
- His agency that oversees our country’s international trade collaborated with IATSE and other arts unions to report on the adverse impact of online piracy on workers.
- His Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, a former union member, visited IATSE Local 720 in Las Vegas to talk about the return of live events and the issues we still face.
- He spoke with IATSE members directly to learn the effects of the pandemic on our industries, and invited a young IATSE organizer to the White House to lift up our organizing successes in animation.
Following the vote, International President Matthew D. Loeb stated, “I am proud to confer this endorsement on behalf of the IATSE General Executive Board and once again stand with President Biden, in the way he has consistently stood with us. President Biden has given IATSE a seat at the table and unprecedented opportunities to weigh-in on policy decisions that stand to impact our members. We have been grateful for his partnership and look forward to continuing our shared fight to better the lives of working people across the country.”
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The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees or IATSE (full name: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada), is a labor union representing over 168,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, including live events, motion picture and television production, broadcast, and trade shows in the United States and Canada.
For more information please contact:
General: [email protected]
Press: [email protected]
IBEW Endorses President Biden and Vice President Harris for Re-Election
For Immediate Release: April 25, 2023
Contact: Matt Spence 202-728-6014
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers International President Kenneth W. Cooper issued the following statement on the announcement by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of their candidacies for re-election:
“The IBEW enthusiastically endorses President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election in 2024. Together, they have led the most pro-union administration of our lifetimes and kept their promises to America’s working families. We are proud to stand with them in the critically important 2024 election.
“The IBEW represents approximately 775,000 active members and retirees who work in various fields, including utilities, construction, telecommunications, broadcasting, manufacturing, railroads and government. The IBEW is the most established and comprehensive energy union in the world dedicated to promoting members' welfare, safe working conditions and interests, fighting for fair wages, and for the dignity and rights of all workers in America.
“When the IBEW endorsed candidate Joe Biden in 2019, it was because of his commitment to creating good union jobs, protecting secure retirements, addressing climate change responsibly and investing in American manufacturing. President Joe Biden has delivered on all of these pledges: promises made and promises kept.
“Throughout his first term, President Biden has been a steadfast ally of unions and American workers. I am confident that support will continue in his second term. The Biden-Harris administration has consistently advanced policies that empower workers, created opportunities for everyday people, and promoted the well-being of working families. As a direct result of these efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has overseen robust economic growth, increased worker wages and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.
“President Biden's dedication to unionism has spurred tangible wins for IBEW that will lead to good union jobs and stronger communities for decades. Without President Biden and Vice President Harris, we simply would not have the pro-union, pro-worker policies included in the American Recovery Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act. Significantly, President Biden’s strong leadership saved IBEW pensions – a benefit every worker should enjoy – through the enactment of the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Relief Act.
“Within the first week of taking office, President Biden and Vice President Harris began appointing into the administration union officials who have dedicated their lives to advancing the labor movement's core principles and worker’s rights, including a card-carrying union member for Secretary of Labor and a chief counsel for the NLRB who supports collective bargaining.
“President Biden has issued executive orders to reverse policies that have eroded unionists' strength for decades, including industry-recognized apprenticeship programs (IRAPs) and rules that gutted federal employees’ collective bargaining rights. And then the Biden-Harris Administration went on the offense: mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects, establishing the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, and ensuring that skilled American workers benefit from historic federal investments.
“President Biden has a proven record of fighting to strengthen labor laws and protecting workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain, which has led to a resurgence in union membership and power of the labor movement.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris strongly support the enactment of the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a bill that will strengthen workers' rights to bargain collectively, making it easier for workers to form and join unions, and provide protections to ensure workers are safe from intimidation and are appropriately classified as employees.
“In recognition of these accomplishments and their continued dedication to the welfare of the IBEW, unions and all American workers, the IBEW is proud to endorse President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election in 2024.
“And on behalf of the working men and women of the IBEW, I want to thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for all they have done over their first years in office to invest in every community and every worker across the country. The IBEW looks forward to working closely with the Biden-HarrisAdministration to continue building a more equitable and prosperous future for all Americans.”
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The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represents approximately 775,000 members and retirees who work in a wide variety of fields, including construction, utilities, manufacturing, telecommunications, broadcasting, railroads and government.
Operating Engineers Stand with President Joe Biden
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2023
WASHINGTON, DC – The following statement was issued today by James T. Callahan, General President of the International Union of Operating Engineers, regarding the union’s endorsement of Joseph R. Biden Jr. for reelection as President of the United States:
“When the Operating Engineers endorsed Joe Biden in the last election, we said that rebuilding America and creating career opportunities for the next generation would require a leader who was bold and clear-eyed about the objective. With President Joe Biden, we have that leader. Operating Engineers believe he has earned a second term to finish the job. Right out of the gate, President Biden secured passage of the landmark $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law. Transformational in its size and scope, the law delivers for Operating Engineers, their families, and millions of working people across the nation.
His plan to make America competitive again by enacting a new industrial policy through the CHIPS and Science Act is bringing manufacturing back home, securing essential components in the supply chain, and restoring American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.
His economic leadership has already generated over 13 million jobs and historic levels of economic growth, putting people back to work in solid middle-class, family supporting jobs. His economic stewardship and legislative accomplishments have generated record employment in America’s construction sector.
He has achieved these feats through a combination of tenacity and grit, coupled with a confident diplomacy that has fostered the bipartisanship necessary to deliver for the American people.
Joe Biden has been on the side of working people throughout his career in public service. Given another term, we know he will contInue to stand up for the policies that put OperaUng Engineers to work, the policies that pay us a fair wage, and the policies that bring us home safely to our families at the end of the day.
President Biden has made good on his commitment to be the most pro-union President in American history, which is why the International Union of Operating Engineers at its 40th General Convention proudly endorsed his re-election bid in 2024. Let’s finish the job together.”
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Media Contact: Jay Lederer, (202) 778-2626, [email protected]
The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) represents over 400,000 working people across the United States and Canada. Members of the IUOE are primarily operating engineers, who work as heavy equipment and crane operators, pipeliners, mechanics, and surveyors in the construction industry, and stationary engineers, who work in operations and maintenance in building and industrial complexes, as well as a number of job classifications in the
petrochemical industry.
Iron Workers Union Endorses President Joe Biden for Second Term
Iron Workers Union Wants President Biden For Four More Years After Seeing Tremendous Work As Pro-Union Administration
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers proudly endorses President Joe Biden’s run for reelection to a second presidential term. The endorsement comes as President Biden continues to hold true to his promise of being the most pro-union President.
Over the last three years, President Biden stood firm in his promise of being the most
labor-friendly president in history. Taking on key issues such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act, all putting union Ironworkers to work right now. This administration has fought to make sure American workers are on jobsites with fair pay, good benefits, and safe working conditions.
“President Biden is a friend to union Ironworkers,” Iron Workers General President Eric Dean said.
“He has proven time and again that union workers are a priority to this administration, and we want to continue this momentum. President Biden is the right candidate for the Labor Movement.”
The Ironworkers will mobilize our membership in support of Joe Biden’s campaign and urge all working Americans to support his reelection. The 2024 election will be the most important in this nation’s history. Organized labor will lead the way in protecting our democracy.
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The Iron Workers (IW) represents 130,000 ironworkers in North America who work in construction on bridges; structural steel; ornamental, architectural, and miscellaneous metals; rebar; and in fabrication shops.
LIUNA: Laborers Back Joe Biden for Four More Years
LIUNA Presidential Endorsement Announced
Washington, D.C. (June 8, 2023) – Brent Booker, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – made the following statement today:
LIUNA’s more than half-million strong members enthusiastically support President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election. No Administration has demonstrated greater commitment to the men and women who build our nation than the Biden-Harris White House. With Biden at our backs, LIUNA members have more opportunities to build our infrastructure, better wages and benefits, and more secure futures.
Every decision President Biden has made, every policy he has adopted, and every piece of legislation he has pushed for has been done with consideration for and for the betterment of hard-working union laborers and our brothers and sisters in the trades. Biden runs on a record of creating hundreds of thousands of infrastructure jobs with family-supporting wages, pension relief for union members and their families, a historic update to strengthen Davis-Bacon prevailing wages, protecting federal workers’ union rights, raising service contract workers’ wages, and protecting Mail Handlers jobs through postal reform.
LIUNA’s endorsement follows a national poll of members and the unanimous vote of the LIUNA General Executive Board in support of President Biden’s re-election.
LIUNA members fight for what they believe in and for who they believe in and that means we will be mobilizing, knocking doors, and making calls to get out the vote for President Joe Biden. LIUNA could ask for no greater President than Joe Biden.
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The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build the United States and Canada.
National Nurses United endorses President Biden, Vice President Harris for a second term
For immediate release: June 16, 2023
Contact: [email protected]
National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest union of registered nurses with nearly 225,000 members nationwide, today announced its endorsement of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for a second term.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris took decisive, lifesaving action at the very start of their term, when their administration confronted the deadly global pandemic,” said NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN. “They have championed nurses’ right to organize and fight collectively for safe patient care conditions. They have led the way in pushing Congress to pass critical legislation that protects public health and safety. Nurses have their back in 2024 because, when we look at their track record, we can see that they have ours.”
The NNU executive council, elected by nurses in facilities across the country, voted to endorse Biden/Harris for a second term. Reasons for the endorsement include:
- The Biden administration’s support for union workers. Nurses note that on day one of his presidency, Biden ousted right-wing, corporate-backed National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb and has since appointed new NLRB officials who support the right of workers to organize unions. The Biden administration has also supported passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
- President Biden’s commitment to championing worker safety. On his second day in office, Biden issued an executive order on protecting workers from Covid-19. Thanks to NNU’s advocacy, that was followed by enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for health care workers, which mandated employers give nurses and health care workers optimal personal protective equipment (PPE), among other provisions.
- The Biden administration’s track record of getting Congress to pass critical legislation, including the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. With President Biden’s support, the U.S. House also passed the VA Employee Fairness Act, a bill that would ensure Veterans Administration nurses and other VA health care clinicians have full collective bargaining rights.
- The Biden administration has voiced strong support for NNU-backed legislation, including NNU’s Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. With extremely high rates of workplace violence in health care settings, nurses say it’s critical that they have an advocate in the White House while they work to get this bill across the finish line.
- “Nurses know that to keep our patients healthy and safe, we need strong workplace protections, strong legislation to protect public health and safety, and a champion for working people leading this country,” said Triunfo-Cortez. “We look forward to four more years of continued progress and success from the Biden administration.”
“Nurses know that to keep our patients healthy and safe, we need strong workplace protections, strong legislation to protect public health and safety, and a champion for working people leading this country,” said Triunfo-Cortez. “We look forward to four more years of continued progress and success from the Biden administration.”
United Labor Movement Endorses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for Re-election
AFL-CIO Declares North Carolina a “Battleground State”
“In my lifetime, working people have never had this level of support from their President and Vice President, which is why we will do everything possible in North Carolina to ensure they have another four years to deliver on America’s promise of freedom and shared prosperity for all.” -MaryBe McMillan, President, NC State AFL-CIO
(RALEIGH, NC) – Today the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of unions representing 12.5 million workers across the United States and over 100,000 union members in North Carolina, endorsed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election. The announcement cements North Carolina’s status as an electoral “battleground state”, where recent elections have been decided by razor thin margins and the efforts of a well-organized statewide membership like the AFL-CIO’s can make a real difference to ensuring the most pro-union presidential administration ever gets four more years in office.
“Already, early AFL-CIO investments in North Carolina have allowed us to double our staff,” said MaryBe McMillan, president of the NC State AFL-CIO, which now has organizers on the ground in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington. Their work preparing for next year by educating union members about how federal policy impacts working people and why it’s so important to be politically engaged begins in earnest today, with leafleting at union worksites and Juneteenth celebrations this weekend.
From the moment President Biden stepped into the Oval Office, he and his administration have fought and delivered for working people in North Carolina, including over $17 billion for advanced and clean energy manufacturing and almost $5 billion in infrastructure spending to-date. These investments will result in thousands of good-paying union jobs modernizing airports and power grids, expanding broadband, and building a highly-skilled workforce through union trade apprenticeship programs.
Above all, President Biden and Vice President Harris have championed unions and supported workers organizing—from coffee shops to manufacturing shop floors, newsrooms to nonprofits, health clinics to construction sites.
“In speeches and in actions, this president and the federal agencies he commands have had our back in our fight for good, safe jobs and the freedom to thrive no matter who we are or where we work,” said McMillan.
On her first official visit to North Carolina, Vice President Harris toured the union-made electric school bus plant in High Point and told apprentices at the local community college that, “The best way to get a good job is through a strong union.”
This year President Biden used his State of the Union to call for the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and to rebuke companies that break the law because “workers have the right to form a union.”
“In my lifetime, working people have never had this level of support from their President and Vice President,” said McMillan, “which is why we will do everything possible in North Carolina to ensure they have another four years to deliver on America’s promise of freedom and shared prosperity for all.”
Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, [email protected] / 336-255-2711
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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of unions of working people in North Carolina, representing over a hundred thousand members, working together for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working people. PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605.
'UNITE HERE Biden/Harris 2024 Endorsement Statement
UNITE HERE is proud to endorse the most pro-union administration of our lifetime — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — for a second term in the White House.
In 2020, the pandemic presented the greatest crisis in our union’s history. Despite the obstacles, thousands of UNITE HERE housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, and other hospitality workers led the largest door-to-door canvassing program in crucial battleground states to help win the vote for the Biden-Harris administration. From their first day in office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have centered on the urgent needs of working-class people.
When millions of workers like our members needed our federal government to step up, this administration rose to meet the moment, working with unions like UNITE HERE to pass the American Rescue Plan — a bold program to stimulate the economy and offer relief to millions of Americans — to extend a lifeline to our families. We cannot overstate the significance of this legislation, which prevented millions of laid-off workers from losing their health insurance in the middle of the pandemic, provided stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment insurance to keep families afloat, protected retirees’ pensions, and much more.
The Biden-Harris administration has used every power available to the President to support workers seeking to organize a union and bargain for what we deserve, speaking out in support of courageous organizing drives, advocating for the PRO Act to fix broken labor law, working to reform the National Labor Relations Board, and appointing pro-union officials to key positions. This administration has our backs.
In the face of right-wing politicians seeking to take away rights from Black people and people of color, from immigrants, from women, from LGBTQ+ and trans people, and all workers — like the diverse membership of UNITE HERE — the Biden-Harris administration has stood with our union in fighting for freedom and justice.
As 2024 approaches, we have rising fascism to defeat and more to win for workers. UNITE HERE hospitality workers stand ready to hit the doors and do our part to deliver victory.