Biden Just Gave The Most Pro-Union Presidential Speech Of The Last 50 Years

In remarks astatine the White House, President Biden went beyond defending unions by saying that each American should person the close to articulation a union.

Clip of the President’s speech:

Biden said:

When Congress passed the 1935 Labor Relations Act, it didn’t conscionable accidental unions should beryllium allowed. That’s however it’s benignant of viewed for a agelong time.  It said that we, the government, should promote unions and collective bargaining, making it easier.  That’s what it said. I judge each idiosyncratic should have a escaped and just prime to join a union. The instrumentality guarantees that choice. That belongs to workers, not to their employers oregon special interests.

 That’s wherefore signing the executive order creating the White House task unit connected idiosyncratic organizing and employment to facilitate that prime whenever and wherever we can. Look, I privation to convey Vice President Harris and Secretary Walsh for starring that task force. That’s wherefore I privation to see Congress walk the PRO Act and send it to my table immediately. That’s wherefore I privation america to extend organizing corporate bargaining rights to authorities and local government employees like transit workers, first responders, wellness attraction workers, and different indispensable workers. 

Government should ne'er beryllium a barrier to workers organizing. It’s the government’s occupation to region those barriers. But it’s up to workers to make the prime whether to organize or not, whether to signifier a union or not. We request to assistance them understand why that tin beryllium the close choice for them. We cognize the economical reasons. 

Union members get higher wages, better benefits similar health insurance and paid leave, protection against discrimination and harassment, and harmless and steadfast workplace. But there’s different reason, a basic American reason. Workers who articulation unions gain power, powerfulness implicit the decisions and the decision-makers that affect their lives. Workers’ voices are heard and heeded. In a elemental word, a national means there is simply a democracy, democracy. Organizing, joining a union, that’s ideology successful action. It’s astir dignity connected the job, but it’s besides astir creating good jobs. 

In 1 swoop, President Biden rejected the accepted contented meaning of the Labor Relations Act, said that each idiosyncratic should person the quality to articulation a union, and the authorities should interruption down barriers to unionization.

I person been going backmost done statesmanlike speeches from the past forty-plus years, and I had to spell backmost to the 1960s to find presidents who spoke astir unions successful beardown terms.

Biden is retired to reconstruct unions and corporate bargaining powerfulness successful America, and with national rank increasing again, helium has a existent accidental to beryllium successful.