Detroit (Sept. 2, 2024) — Members of LIUNA — the Laborers’ International Union of North America — celebrated the Labor Day holiday with rallies in three states, the beginning of a battleground states drive to send Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House.
In Detroit, Vice President Harris joined LIUNA General President Brent Booker, hundreds of members of LIUNA Local 1191 and fellow building trades workers at the local union’s annual Labor Day celebration and picnic.
“Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris walked the picket line, they didn’t hire fake scabs to show up at a non-union jobsite and pretend to be union members. They showed up with us,” Booker told the crowd. “We’re going to stand shoulder to shoulder and work every single day in the great state of Michigan … we’re not going back. We’re going forward with Kamala Harris.”
Booker praised Harris’ pledge to protect every workers’ freedom to join a union, defend family-supporting Davis Bacon prevailing wage laws, and to rein in corporate price-gouging that is wreaking havoc with the budgets of working families.
He also commended Harris for her crucial role in passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is creating hundreds of thousands of union jobs. He noted the Vice President’s leadership in passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which is transforming low-wage jobs in the renewable energy sector into good union jobs, and the Chips and Science Act, which is bringing back manufacturing and creating union construction jobs. He thanked Harris for the American Rescue Plan, which saved the pensions of more than 1 million retirees.
Local 1191 member Tyrese West introduced Harris, saying Michigan laborers are ready to knock on doors, phone-bank and talk to members on jobsites.
“Kamala Harris is a fighter for the people,” Tyrese West said. “Vice President Harris is fighting for the future, for every worker to join a union for better wages, better benefits, and better lives.”
In addition to the Detroit event, LIUNA members rallied and marched in support of the campaign in Pittsburgh beside President Biden and Harris. And in Milwaukee, members rallied with Minnesota Governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
LIUNA is among the largest, fastest-growing unions of construction workers. It has more than a half-million members, with nearly 100,000 members and union family members in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as an additional 40,000 in counties bordering battleground states.
Ending his first year as LIUNA’s general president, Booker has launched several initiatives to strengthen the power of the union’s construction membership, as well as that of its mail handler and public service members.
With the March to a Million, the union aims to nearly double its membership. With Laborers Rising, LIUNA is growing the power of activism and community involvement. And with the Laborers’ Bill of Rights, the union is pressing for fair wages, decent benefits, secure retirements, and jobsite safety for every laborer.
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The more than a half-million members of LIUNA are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build the United States and Canada.