Remarks by Vice President Harris Before Roundtable Discussion With Union Members and Organizers

Boston Park Plaza Hotel
Boston, Massachusetts

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, good morning, everyone.  I’m very much looking forward to our conversation. 
 
I want to thank Senator Markey for all that you do in the United States Senate.  We were colleagues for four years there, and I’ve seen how you always fight for working people.
 
Congresswoman Pressley — just a force and always a voice for those who — who must be seen and treated with dignity.  So, thank you.
 
Maura Healey — we served together, overlapped when I was Attorney General of California.  I have seen you just be such a fighter on all of these issues, always fighting for working people.  I’m so honored to be with you today.  I also know that you have been a leader nationally around fighting for what we need to do in terms of wage theft and making sure that workers recover their pay and what they are due because of their hard work.  So, thank you for being a part of this panel as well.
 
So, on Labor Day, as it is every day — certainly for those of us at this table — we celebrate and thank the workers of America for what they do to keep our country moving, to strengthen our country, to build our country, to take care of those things that must be addressed if we are to be competitive around the globe, whether it be as a home healthcare worker or as a member of the building trades, the work that — that these union members do is critical to our strength and our success and our prosperity.
 
So, I have asked these workers from a variety of sectors — some new to organizing and some who have established the traditions of organizing and the strength of it — to have a conversation with us about what we can do through our administration — the Biden-Harris administration — to continue to support workers and their ability to organize and to advocate for safe working conditions and wages and benefits that meet and recognize the value and the dignity of their work.
 
So, that’s the conversation we are having today and that is on top of all of the work that we have done together over the last 18-plus months and before to coordinate and collaborate around how our administration can best be supportive of the working people of America.
 
So, with that, I thank you all, each of you, for being here, and I look forward to our discussion.  And again, I thank you for your leadership.
 
And so, with that, I’m going to turn it back to Brian, and I think you’re going to then moderate this discussion.
 
Thank you.
 
(The roundtable discussion commences.)
 
                               END