Vice President Biden: Rebuild the Labor Movement!

May 13, 2009

Vice President Joe Biden addresses AFSCME Legislative Conference.

Photo Credit: Luis Gomez

Vice President Joe Biden, addressing AFSCME leaders this week at the union’s 2009 Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., urged passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) to help rebuild the American middle class.

Biden, who chairs the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, said EFCA will level the playing field between employers who oppose unions and workers who want to organize free from intimidation.

“If a union is what you want, then a union is what you should get,” he declared before the gathering of 700 AFSCME leaders and activists at the Washington Hilton Hotel. “Labor built this country and labor should get a share of the benefits.”

On the economy, Biden said the Obama administration will not consider itself a success simply by restoring the gross domestic product (GDP), a benchmark of economic growth. “From 2001 to 2008, the economy grew, but middle class Americans – they actually lost over that period $2,000 in income,” the Vice President explained. “If we’re not creating good, sustainable jobs, we’re not meeting our obligations.”

Biden said a key component of the administration’s plan to rebuild the middle class is President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package. Since it was signed in February, he noted, nearly $38 billion in transportation funds alone have been made available to states.

“It’s helping state and local governments hold the line against painful budget cuts,” said Biden. “It’s only a beginning, but it’s a significant down payment.”

The Vice President thanked AFSCME members for their “Herculean effort” to get Congress to pass the stimulus package. He also acknowledged their help getting out the vote in November.

“We wouldn’t have gotten to this place were it not for all the work you did,” Biden said.