United Labor Movement Endorses President Biden for Re-election
For Immediate Release
June 16, 2023
United Labor Movement Endorses Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for Re-election
AFL-CIO Declares North Carolina a “Battleground State”
“In my lifetime, working people have never had this level of support from their President and Vice President, which is why we will do everything possible in North Carolina to ensure they have another four years to deliver on America’s promise of freedom and shared prosperity for all.” -MaryBe McMillan, President, NC State AFL-CIO
(RALEIGH, NC) – Today the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of unions representing 12.5 million workers across the United States and over 100,000 union members in North Carolina, endorsed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election. The announcement cements North Carolina’s status as an electoral “battleground state”, where recent elections have been decided by razor thin margins and the efforts of a well-organized statewide membership like the AFL-CIO’s can make a real difference to ensuring the most pro-union presidential administration ever gets four more years in office.
“Already, early AFL-CIO investments in North Carolina have allowed us to double our staff,” said MaryBe McMillan, president of the NC State AFL-CIO, which now has organizers on the ground in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington. Their work preparing for next year by educating union members about how federal policy impacts working people and why it’s so important to be politically engaged begins in earnest today, with leafleting at union worksites and Juneteenth celebrations this weekend.
From the moment President Biden stepped into the Oval Office, he and his administration have fought and delivered for working people in North Carolina, including over $17 billion for advanced and clean energy manufacturing and almost $5 billion in infrastructure spending to-date. These investments will result in thousands of good-paying union jobs modernizing airports and power grids, expanding broadband, and building a highly-skilled workforce through union trade apprenticeship programs.
Above all, President Biden and Vice President Harris have championed unions and supported workers organizing—from coffee shops to manufacturing shop floors, newsrooms to nonprofits, health clinics to construction sites.
“In speeches and in actions, this president and the federal agencies he commands have had our back in our fight for good, safe jobs and the freedom to thrive no matter who we are or where we work,” said McMillan.
On her first official visit to North Carolina, Vice President Harris toured the union-made electric school bus plant in High Point and told apprentices at the local community college that, “The best way to get a good job is through a strong union.”
This year President Biden used his State of the Union to call for the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and to rebuke companies that break the law because “workers have the right to form a union.”
“In my lifetime, working people have never had this level of support from their President and Vice President,” said McMillan, “which is why we will do everything possible in North Carolina to ensure they have another four years to deliver on America’s promise of freedom and shared prosperity for all.”
Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, [email protected] / 336-255-2711
Learn more and watch live when President Biden addresses union members on June 17 at 2 p.m. ET: laborforbiden.org
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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of unions of working people in North Carolina, representing over a hundred thousand members, working together for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of ALL working people. PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605.