Saunders: The Biden-Harris administration has kept their ‘promise to fight for working people’
WASHINGTON — AFSCME President Lee Saunders released the following statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Biden presidency:
“The Biden-Harris administration made a promise to fight for working people. And bar none, this is the most pro-union White House in generations.
“The president and the vice president share working people’s values and have governed accordingly, sticking their necks out to advance our rights and freedoms. They understand what keeps Americans up at night. They have expressed solidarity with workers trying to form unions. They have been outspoken and unapologetic in their support for collective bargaining to win better pay and benefits for all, not just the people at the top.
“The American Rescue Plan, signed by President Biden just seven weeks into his term, invested hundreds of millions of dollars in public services, saving jobs and keeping our everyday heroes on the front lines. That’s on top of direct checks to working families, education funding to reopen schools safely, enhanced unemployment benefits and a whole lot more. A few months ago, President Biden signed an infrastructure bill that will create union jobs and revitalize our communities by upgrading everything from roads and public transit to water systems and broadband.
“There is plenty of unfinished business. It remains critical that we expand voting rights and protect the integrity of our democracy. We have joined the president in that struggle and will continue doing everything possible to ensure fair elections that give every citizen a voice. The administration, together with its allies, must now focus its energies on passing key components of the Build Back Better Agenda, transforming millions of lives by lowering prescription drug costs and making child care more affordable, among many other things. And we still need labor law reform, making it easier for workers to organize and claim their seat at the table.
“We have seen major accomplishments on behalf of working people during the first year of the Biden-Harris administration. Now, we must continue the fight for greater progress in the years to come.”