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- By Levi Rickert
Native Vote 2024. DETROIT — Detroit, the automobile capital of the world, is a strong labor town. Democratic presidential candidates court the labor vote.
Following in the footsteps of President Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Barack H. Obama, who campaigned for president on Labor Day in Detroit, Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, brought her campaign to the Motor City on Monday.
Meanwhile, her opponent, former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, took the day off from campaigning on Labor Day.
Shortly after 1:00 p.m., Harris spoke before a packed high school gymnasium at Northwestern High School, also known as Detroit Collegiate Preparatory Academy, just a few miles from downtown Detroit. The pro-labor event was hosted by Laborer’s Local 1191.Other labor unions were present, including the United Foods and Commercial Workers (UFCW), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the United Auto Workers (UAW).
“It’s good to be in the house of labor,” Harris said as she began her speech. "When unions are strong, America is strong,” Harris said as the jubilant crowd of almost 500 waved blue and white signs that read: “Union Strong.”
Harris reminded the union members that the Biden-Harris administration is the most pro-labor presidential administration in history.
“Everywhere I go I tell people, ‘Look, you may not be a union member. You better thank a union member.’ For the five-day workweek, you better thank a union member. For sick leave, you better thank a union. For paid leave. You better thank a union for vacation time,” Harris said to a cheering crowd.
Harris told the crowd that during the Trump administration, Trump opposed workers’ rights. She said he blocked overtime benefits for millions of workers, opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage, appointed "union busters" to the National Labor Relations Board and supported right-to-work laws that allow workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to opt out of paying union dues and fees.
"Trump’s a scab," someone in the crowd yelled,
"Here's the thing, we have a choice here," Harris said. If elected, she vowed to pass the PRO Act to give workers more power to organize.
Harris talked about the era of negativity in American politics in recent years..
"I'll tell you I think there has been a certain backward thinking approach over the last several years, which is to suggest some that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we know the true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up,” Harris said.
“But as we fight to move our nation forward, Donald Trump intends to pull us back to the past. But, we're not going back."
Her statement caused the crowd to chant: "We're not going back."
Other speakers included Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who is running for the open Senate seat in Michigan due to Sen. Stabenow is not seeking reelection this year.
"Union workers deserve better than the failed anti-worker policies of the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Look, if your most famous line is, 'You're fired,' you don’t understand workers," said Whitmer. “We need a president who has our backs.”
After the Detroit rally, Harris flew to Pittsburgh where she appeared with President Joe Biden for a pro-labor rally later in the afternoon before flying back to Washington, D.C.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke at a “Laborfest” rally in Milwaukee on Labor Day.
The Trump-Vance distributed a press release that relayed a post Trump made earlier in the day to social media that read:
“Happy Labor Day to all of our American Workers who represent the Shining Example of Hard Work and Ingenuity. Under Comrade Kamala Harris, all Americans are suffering during this Holiday weekend - High Gas Prices, Transportation Costs are up, and Grocery Prices are through the roof. We can’t keep living under this weak and failed ‘Leadership.’….”
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