Kamala Harris sought to bolster her pro-labor credentials on Thursday days into her run for the presidency, telling a convention of one of the US’s biggest unions: “When unions are strong, America is strong.”
Addressing the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) convention today in Houston, Texas – her fourth event in four days across four states – the vice-president said: “Donald Trump and his extreme allies want to take our nation back to failed trickle-down economic policies, back to union-busting, back to tax breaks for billionaires.”
The presidential hopeful continued her attack on Project 2025, a rightwing thinkthank’s blueprint for a future Trump administration, calling it a “plan to return America to a dark past”.
“They even want to eliminate the Department of Education,” she told the enthusiastic crowd.
Harris prompted cheers when she told the convention it was “good to be in the house of labor”, before thanking educators for their public service, including her first-grade teacher, Mrs Frances Wilson.
“It is because of Mrs Wilson, and so many teachers like her, that I stand before you as vice-president of the United States of America and now am running to become president of the United States,” she said. “In our vision of the future, we see a place where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead.
“A future where no child has to grow up in poverty, where every senior can retire with dignity and where every worker has the freedom to join a union.”
The speech was her first address to a major labor union since announcing her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, and the latest in a blitz of appearances since Joe Biden endorsed Harris as his successor on Sunday.
“One of the best ways to keep our nation moving forward is to give workers a voice to protect the freedom to organize, to defend the freedom to collectively bargain, to end union busting,” added Harris.
“President Joe Biden and I promised to sign the Pro Act into law,” Harris said, referring to legislation aimed at modernizing US labor law that has been blocked by Republicans, “and I promise you I will keep that promise.”
Harris also cited her support for the LGBTQ+ community, noting she was one of the first elected officials to perform same-sex marriages in 2004, while today teachers face risks of retaliation in the face of “don’t say gay” legislation that has been passed or is being pushed by conservatives at state levels.
“Ultimately, in this moment, I know we all know, we each in our country face a question. That question being what kind of country do we want to live in?” Harris concluded. “A country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?”
Ahead of the speech, the AFT president, Randi Weingarten, called on the union’s 1.7 million members to rally behind Harris. “Kamala Harris has led the fight for out freedom too make decisions about our own bodies, to live safe from gun violence and the freedom to join a union,” she said.
Biden has touted his administration as the “most pro-labor” in American history, and Harris is expected to continue that support for unions. Major labor unions have been quick to shift their endorsements to her presidential bid.
“With Kamala Harris in the White House, together we’ll continue to build on the powerful legacy of the Biden-Harris administration to create good union jobs, grow the labor movement and make our economy work for all of us,” said the AFL-CIO president, Liz Shuler, said this week, announcing the largest federation of labor unions in the US has endorsed Harris.
