Joe Biden tells A.F.L.-C.I.O. members he'll be 'the strongest labor president you have ever had'

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spent part of his Labor Day at the A.F.L.-C.I.O headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he promised that if elected, he will be "the strongest labor president you have ever had."

Biden vowed to increase the wages of essential workers, hold business executives liable if they interfere with unionization efforts, and pass the PRO Act to give workers more bargaining and organizational rights, The New York Times reports.

"Wall Street did not build this country," Biden said. "You did — the great American middle class. And the middle class was built by unions — unions — and the American people now finally get it after a long time of being convinced that unions were a problem, not the answer." A Gallup poll released at the end of August found that 64 percent of Americans approve of labor unions, up 16 points from a 2009 low point.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.