Vice President Joe Biden and newly confirmed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis addressed the recent meeting of the AFL-CIO Executive Council in Miami.  Both carried the strong message that the labor movement has a friend in the White House.

Vice President Biden, interrupted frequently by applause and occasional ovations, said that the new Administration is in agreement with labor on key goals, including health care reform, industrial revitalization and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. 

“I have a simple and basic belief: If a union is what you want, a union is what you’re entitled to have,” he declared to a standing ovation.

‘Seat at the Table’

In his almost hour-long speech, Biden elaborated on themes President Obama briefly addressed in a videotaped message to the union leaders earlier in the meeting, in which Obama pleadged that “labor will always have a seat at the table” in his White House. 

“Rescuing the economy will require investments in jobs, infrastructure, health care.  When you’re in a deep hole, you need a long ladder. Rebuilding our broken economy gives us the opportunity to get it right and reward workers,” Biden said.

“For too long, the middle class has been dealt out” of the economic game, Biden declared. “I’m here to tell you that in this administration, it’s been dealt in. It’s the first card on the table.”

Biden thanked the nation’s unionists for putting Obama and himself in the nation’s top offices, along with larger pro-worker majorities in Congress.  He said the two would not forget it. “For too many years, we failed to have a White House that puts our families front and center,” said Biden. “Bankers, financiers and a functioning credit system are necessary. But they are not our spine. Those days are over, folks,” he stated. 

Solis Pledges Enforcement

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis pledged tougher enforcement of the nation’s labor laws and more emphasis on training workers for “jobs that will stay here,” in her remarks to the AFL-CIO Executive Council. “The first priority is jobs and job creation,” she said. “That goes hand-in-hand with enforcement.”