As part of our series on reactions to the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president-elect and vice-president-elect, here are some reactions from labor union leaders.
Jeff Wiggins, Kentucky State AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer
I’m looking forward to a president that will now make job one getting rid of this virus and job two building a better economy for working people.
Bill Finn, state director, Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council
I think everybody is ready for stability. I think middle class workers are going to be the big winner from this. Joe Biden is one of the strongest labor allies there ever was in the Senate, and we certainly believe he will be the same as president.
Donna Haynes, member, Kentucky State AFL-CIO Executive Board
I am so relieved after what we went through in the last four days. But we’re going to have to fight twice as hard with McConnell still in. We’ve got to get those two Senate seats in Georgia. We need all of the unions to cut loose as many people as they can to help win those special elections.
Kyle Henderson, president Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council
This is a big win — a huge win — not just for labor, but for America. President-elect Biden will bring back respect and decency to the highest office in the land. I am also excited that we have made history by electing the first woman and the first person of color as vice president. I am happy I could be part of that.
J.W. Cleary, Paducah-McCracken County NAACP president and USW Local 550 retiree
I’m ecstatic. They were processing this thing, then we saw the handwriting on the wall, but it didn’t happen until today. I’m glad it finally happened, but the race shouldn’t have been as close.
Kirk Gillenwaters, president of the Kentucky Alliance of Retired Americans and a retired member of UAW Local 862.
We will be able to clear out the anti-union appointees in the labor cabinet, which will also help us gain back some of the protections we lost in the last four years. We know we will have a cabinet secretary who will look after the rights of working men and women.
Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president
Democracy is prevailing. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ victory in this free and fair election is a win for America’s labor movement. Everywhere in every way, working people are heroically and resiliently fighting back against this pandemic, its economic fall out, chronic income inequality and systemic racism. President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris saw us, heard us and campaigned on a promise that we, as one nation, will build back even better than before. That is why working people decisively rejected the politics of darkness and division and voted in record numbers for public servants who want to join us in writing America’s comeback story.
Let’s be clear: Union voters delivered this election for Biden and Harris. Their message and commitment to create “the most significant pro-labor, pro-worker administration” resonated with our 12.5 million members and 56 affiliated unions who are hungry for a bigger voice in our economy and our politics.
Now the AFL-CIO stands ready to help the president-elect and vice president-elect deliver a long overdue workers’ first agenda. That starts with passing the HEROES Act to provide our families and communities emergency support and services in the face of this deadly virus. But COVID-19 relief is just that—relief. Once working people are made whole, the real rebuilding can begin. We call on Congress to pass and Biden to sign the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act early in 2021 to make sure every worker who wants to form or join a union is able to do so freely and fairly. Working people want our leaders to act swiftly and think more boldly than ever before. The time to begin is now.
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Gathered by Berry Craig, and cross-posted from the Kentucky AFL-CIO web site.