‘We’re not going back’...Kamala Harris stands with union workers in Labor Day trip to Pittsburgh

AN ENERGIZED KAMALA HARRIS SPEAKS TO HUNDREDS OF LOCAL UNION WORKERS ON LABOR DAY, MONDAY, SEPT. 2, ON THE SOUTH SIDE. (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)

From Isaac Myers, a founder of the Colored National Labor Union in 1869, to Mary McLeod Bethune, the founding president of the National Council for Negro Women and the first woman president of the American Teachers Association in 1912, African Americans and labor unions have almost always gone hand in hand.

“Almost” must be said, because not all unions had African Americans’ backs, such as the AFL autoworkers union in Detroit, which, according to many research experts, “missed opportunities” in Black people’s fight for civil rights and against police brutality in the 1930s.

But generally speaking, unions have been good to African Americans. There were plenty in the crowd as Vice President and Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris addressed hundreds of local union workers on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2, inside the IBEW Local Union No. 5 Building on the South Side.

She wasn’t alone. She brought a friend who you may have heard of.

President Joe Biden, whose selection of Harris as his running mate in 2020 propelled Harris to where she is today—one November 5 General Election away from becoming President of the United States.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN TOLD SUPPORTERS IN PITTSBURGH THAT VOTING FOR KAMALA HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT WILL BE THE BEST DECISION ONE COULD MAKE. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

The A. Philip Randolph Institute, Pittsburgh Chapter, headquartered Downtown, was one of the organization’s earliest chapters when it was founded in 1968. Its mission is to promote equity, equal employment, voter education and voter mobilization. It’s all in the name of Randolph, who founded the country’s first major Black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. Its members, led by Randolph, were all Pullman Porters, even though Randolph, himself, was not a Pullman Porter. Back in those days, Blacks were unable to be conductors or other higher-paying positions. Porters made up the beds on the trains, shined shoes, awakened passengers and other services.

As an aside, they also helped the New Pittsburgh Courier physical newspapers get to the Black residents in the South.

Today, you’ll see Blacks in Pittsburgh as part of unions like the Amalgamated Transit Union (Pittsburgh Regional Transit), the SEIU (Service Employees International Union), the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, United Steelworkers, and others.

Specifically to Pittsburgh, Nate Smith was a Black man who ferociously fought to have Blacks in labor unions here. He was the first Black member of the Union of Operating Engineers, and through his Operation Dig initiative, thousands of Blacks (and women) became skilled enough to join members of local unions.

“It is good to be in the house of labor,” Harris said as she began her remarks at the IBEW Local Union No. 5, Sept. 2. “Pittsburgh, of course, is a cradle of the American labor movement. It is the birthplace of the AFL, headquarters of the Steelworkers, home to Firefighters Local 1, and of course the historic IBEW Local 5.”

In this race for the White House against former President Donald Trump, Harris wanted to make it clear her support for union workers is unwavering. Not only did she speak to Pittsburgh union workers, but hours earlier on Labor Day, she spoke to union workers in Detroit, Michigan. Both Michigan and Pennsylvania are swing states, up for grabs, like the opening tip in basketball.

“You may not be a union member, but you better thank unions for that five-day work week; thank unions for sick leave; thank unions for paid family leave; thank unions for your vacation time,” Harris said in Pittsburgh to massive applause. “Because when union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up. When union workplaces are safer, all workplaces are safer. When unions are strong, America is strong,” she said to even more applause.

“Together, we are fighting to build an economy that works for all working people,” Harris said. “And that has always been the vision of the labor movement. And that is the vision of our campaign.”

No rocket science degree is needed to know that Harris would become the first woman and first Black woman president if she’s elected on Nov. 5. During many of her speeches, she refers to herself as the “underdog,” as the billionaires pour tons of money into Political Action Committees and the Trump campaign for advertisements that promote Trump and denigrate Harris. Calling her, among other things, “dangerous,” or “too soft” on crime.

“Remember, as president, Donald Trump blocked overtime benefits for millions of workers,” Harris said in Pittsburgh, to a chorus of boos. “He opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage. He appointed union-busters to the National Labor Relations Board. And don’t forget he supported so-called ‘right-to-work’ laws. And if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he intends to give more tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations. He intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

Then Harris added: “We fight for a future where no person has to go broke just because they get sick. And so building on the work of President Joe Biden and I and the work we have done in the White House, we will continue to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and make prescription drugs available for all Americans.”

Someone in the audience yelled that Donald Trump “was going to jail,” during Harris’ speech. Harris, off-script, looked at the man who said it and then pronounced, “Well, the courts will handle that and we will handle November,” to a chorus of applause. “We’ll handle November, let the courts handle that other thing…but we’re not going back.”