Vice President Harris addressed a crowd of union members in Detroit on Labor Day, criticizing former President Trump for blocking overtime benefits and cutting taxes for the wealthy.
Tyrese West, a member of Laborers’ International Union of North America, introduced Harris on Monday. She was joined on stage by several union leaders, including United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.
Harris said Trump “intends to pull us back” to a time before workers had the freedom to unionize.
“As president, we will always remember Donald Trump blocked overtime benefits from millions of workers — Tyrese talked a bit about this — and opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage,” Harris said. “He appointed union busters to the National Labor Relations Board, and he supported so-called right to work laws.”
Harris used her now-popular catchphrase, telling the crowd “we’re not going back.”
She said if Trump were reelected, he would give tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. He would impose taxes on everyday products that would cost a typical American family an extra $4,000 per year, Harris said.
If elected, Harris said she will fight for a future where every worker “has the freedom to organize.” As president, she said she would pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and “end union busting once and for all.”
Harris highlighted Detroit’s role in the labor movement and celebrated the achievements unions have made for everyday Americans.
“Everywhere I go, I tell people, look you may not be a union member, you better thank a union member for the five-day work week, you better thank a union member for sick leave, you better thank a union member for paid leave, you better thank a union member for vacation time,” she said.
“When union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up. When union workplaces are safer, every workplace is safer,” Harris continued. “When unions are strong, America is strong.”
Harris concluded her remarks and is now heading to Pennsylvania, where she will join President Biden for another Labor Day event, likely focused on the state’s organized labor. She’s expected to voice opposition to the U.S. Steel sale.
In a Monday post on his Truth Social site, Trump criticized “Comrade Kamala” for the number of Americans who are “suffering during this Holiday weekend.”
“High Gas Prices, Transportation Costs are up, and Grocery Prices are through the roof,” Trump wrote. “We can’t keep living under this weak and failed ‘Leadership.'”
Updated at 3:40 pm.