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Trump wants to put his boot on the neck of the labor movement, which is why Harris should pick a running mate ready to take on greedy corporations and level the playing field for workers.
The popularity of labor unions is at a 60-year high. Everywhere you look, workers are organizing their workplaces—and winning. Tired of rising costs and rising CEO pay, everyday people are standing up to their bosses and demanding their wages rise as well.
Lawmakers, too, are waking up to the fact that supporting workers isn’t just good politics; it’s the best way to make our economy work for more people.
Until recently, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly was among only a handful of Democratic lawmakers who had not publicly supported the Richard L. Trump Protecting the Right to Organize Act, better known as the PRO Act.
The most significant worker rights legislation in decades, the PRO Act would restore organizing protections that have been weakened by decades of corporate attacks and hold companies accountable that violate workers’ rights.
We’re encouraged by the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris co-sponsored the PRO Act during her time in the Senate. And if elected in November, she has committed to following through on the Biden Administration's pledge to pass the bill and sign it into law.
When the labor movement heard that Senator Kelly was being vetted as a potential Vice President, union and community leaders raised the alarm—most privately, and a few publicly:
“Why would the Democrats even consider a senator for the vice president if the senator doesn’t support the PRO Act?” John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union, asked ABC News.
“That’s a hard no,” tweeted Richard Bensinger, former organizing director of the AFL-CIO.
Suddenly in the spotlight, Senator Kelly quickly corrected course and joined the overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats committed to passing the PRO Act.
“Unions loom large in our life, and I’m supportive of the PRO Act,” Kelly told the Huffington Post Wednesday. “I would have voted for it on Day 1. I would vote for it today.”
Senator Kelly is not alone in burnishing his pro-union credentials amidst the Veepstakes. We’ve seen Tim Walz, Josh Shapiro, and Andy Beshear tout their support for unions. It’s an important moment in our politics—and a telling one. To be considered a Democratic rising star, voters expect you to be on the side of working people.
The refusal of any candidate to support the PRO Act should raise a huge red flag with voters. The legislation is not only a top legislative priority of the labor movement, but a priority of a broad coalition of progressive, climate, and civil rights groups—including the Working Families Party and fellow members of the Worker Power Coalition. Many of our country’s labor laws are more than eighty years old, and we know that to make the economy work for all of us we need to bring our laws into the 21st century.
We’re encouraged by the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris co-sponsored the PRO Act during her time in the Senate. And if elected in November, she has committed to following through on the Biden Administration's pledge to pass the bill and sign it into law.
Trump, on the other hand, wants to put his boot on the neck of the labor movement. His top advisors have put together a 900-page plan called Project 2025 that calls for gutting worker protections, repealing prevailing wage laws, and undermining our organizing by allowing corporations to create sham management-run unions.
Working people want to know which candidates will take on greedy corporations and level the playing field for workers. By supporting the PRO Act and standing in solidarity with unions, Democrats can show working people that they have their backs.
One critic argued Harris would risk alienating "precisely the people she needs to ensure her victory over Trump" if she picks Pennsylvania's governor as her running mate.
Reports that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is leaning toward selecting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate have sparked warnings from progressives who say his record and policy positions on key issues—from Palestine to public schools to climate—are cause for serious alarm and should be disqualifying.
Earlier this week, dozens of progressive leaders from across the United States wrote in a letter to Harris that Shapiro's "support for school vouchers is in direct conflict with our teachers union allies and the Democratic Party Platform, threatening to undermine labor support" in a general election matchup with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The letter's signatories recommended Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear as possible alternatives to Shapiro, who last year relented to pressure and vetoed a school voucher program that he previously supported.
The Philadelphia Inquirerreported last month that Shapiro "says school vouchers are still a priority for him."
"Democrats need a credible and respected voice that has a track record of winning over and exciting an electorate, especially the ability to turn out young voters, immigrants, and independents in swing states," reads the progressives' letter, signed by the chair of the California Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus, the head of the Nevada Democratic Party, the executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, a member of the Ohio Democratic Party's executive committee, and others.
"Shapiro has... done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights."
Shapiro's attacks on pro-Palestine demonstrators and uncritical support for Israel—as well as his support for Pennsylvania's anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions law—have also drawn progressive ire.
"Shapiro has... done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights," writer David Klion argued in The New Republic last week, noting that the Pennsylvania governor compared protesters rallying against Israel's genocide in Gaza to the Ku Klux Klan.
"Then, in an executive order, Shapiro updated his administration's code of conduct to forbid state employees from engaging in 'scandalous or disgraceful' behavior, a vaguely worded instruction that civil libertarians immediately interpreted as threatening pro-Palestine speech," added Klion, who warned Harris that picking Shapiro could "discourage precisely the people she needs to ensure her victory over Trump."
A coalition of pro-Palestine groups has launched a website dubbing Shapiro "Genocide Josh" and warning Harris against picking him as her running mate.
"The left must unite over the next four weeks to ensure that America doesn't fall down the path of fascism, authoritarianism, and runaway corporatism," the website states. "It is in Harris' and the Democrats' best interests to listen to their base and ensure that both their new VP pick and their platform support the majority of Democrats and Americans who want social and economic justice for workers and an immediate cease-fire in Palestine."
Progressive organizers Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, co-founders of the advocacy group RootsAction, warned in aCommon Dreams op-ed Monday that if Harris "chooses a running mate who intensely connects her to Biden's policies on the Gaza war that are so unpopular with much of the Democratic base, party unity—and the chances of defeating Trump—would be undermined."
On top of his attacks on pro-Palestinian demonstrators and promotion of school vouchers, Shapiro has also faced criticism for supporting corporate tax cuts.
The American Prospect's David Dayen wrote Thursday that Shapiro is currently "trying to accelerate an already scheduled cut" to Pennsylvania's corporate tax rate "from 9.9% to 4.9%" as Democrats at the national level push for a repeal of Trump's massive tax cuts for big business and the rich.
Harris herself attacked Trump during an Atlanta rally earlier this week for wanting to "give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations."
Harris is expected to announce her vice presidential pick ahead of a scheduled rally Tuesday in Philadelphia, part of a broader campaign swing through pivotal battleground states. According toPolitico, a Harris aide "cautioned against reading too much into the first city chosen for the tour," pushing back on speculation that the event's location confirms Shapiro will be Harris' running mate.
A survey released earlier this week showed that Trump is narrowly leading Harris in Pennsylvania, and it's far from clear that picking Shapiro as her running mate would help her win the state.
"Other names in the mix include Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg," Politico reported earlier this week. "Shapiro said on Tuesday that he had not spoken to Harris since July 21, the day that Biden dropped out."
Will Bunch argued in a column for The Philadelphia Inquirer "that it's no wonder that progressives seem to be lining up in the VP contest behind Minnesota's Walz, who like Shapiro has some policy wins on cherished liberal issues like expanding free school lunches but isn't lugging around political baggage like the Pennsylvania governor."
"Whether Harris, said to have close ties to Shapiro, sees it the same way will tell us a lot about her White House bid," Bunch added.
"Let's see which politicians are for unions and which ones are all talk," said the Texas Democrat.
As former U.S. President Donald Trump's new running mate and a union leader's speech spark discussions about the Republican Party and organized labor, one Democratic congressman on Tuesday suggested a test to see who is actually pro-worker.
Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat with a history of
advocating for workers, called for holding a vote on the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act when his colleagues in Congress return to Capitol Hill next week.
"If Republicans wanna talk like they're pro-worker, then let's have a vote on the PRO Act next week," Casar said on social media. "Let's see which politicians are for unions and which ones are all talk. Dems are ready to vote, how about you guys?"
Introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the PRO Act "expands various labor protections related to employees' rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace." The vast majority of its co-sponsors are Democrats.
"Dems are ready to vote, how about you guys?"
Casar specifically called out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who on Tuesday wrote for Compact Magazine about International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien's Monday night speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC), acknowledging that it "came as something of a shock."
Hawley called the speech "a watershed moment" and said that "Republicans have a chance to turn the corner on labor." He also took the opportunity to highlight some of his own positions, such as more sick days for rail workers. The senator left out that he has backed "right-to-work" laws that ban union security clauses in collective bargaining agreements and opposed the PRO Act.
O'Brien—who responded by saying that Hawley "is 100% on point"—had, as The Washington Post's Lauren Kaori Gurley put it, "showered praise" on the senator during his speech. The Teamsters leader also stressed the need for pro-worker reforms.
"Labor law must be reformed," O'Brien said. "Americans vote for a union but can never get a union contract. Companies fire workers who try to join unions and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but are manipulated to benefit corporations. This is economic terrorism at its best. An individual cannot withstand such an assault. A fired worker cannot afford corporate delays and these greedy employers know it. There are no consequences for the company, only the worker."
He declared that "we need corporate welfare reform. Under our current system, massive companies like Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and Walmart take zero responsibilities for the workers they employ. These companies offer no real health insurance, no retirement benefits, no paid leave, relying on underfunded public assistance. And who foots the bill? The individual taxpayer. The biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations, and this is real corruption. We must put workers first."
O'Brien was invited to speak at the RNC by Trump, who on Monday secured enough delegates to become the Republican nominee and announced U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate—creating a ticket that Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, called "a corporate CEO's dream and a worker's nightmare."
Teamsters spokesperson Kara Deniz told the Post that the union leader requested to speak at the Democratic National Convention next month but has not yet received an invitation.
Unlike the Teamsters, several major labor groups endorsed Biden for reelection over a year ago. The Democrat describes himself as "the most pro-union President leading the most pro-union administration in American history"—and he has mostly avoided angering organized labor, other than working with Congress to block a national rail strike in December 2022.
Biden became the first sitting president in history to walk a picket line when he rallied with United Auto Workers members in September. The UAW endorsed him in January, when the group's president, Shawn Fain, sharply criticized Trump and warned that "rarely as a union do you get so clear of a choice between two candidates."
O'Brien struck a much different tone on Monday, praising the ex-president and "characterizing both parties as ambivalent about unions with room to improve," as Post reporter Jeff Stein pointed out on social media. In addition to Sanders, Stein highlighted, "there are 48 Senate sponsors of the PRO Act. They all caucus with the Democratic Party. Zero are Republicans."
Only Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.)—who ditched the Democratic Party shortly after the 2022 election—have joined with the chamber's Republicans to oppose the PRO Act. In the GOP-controlled House, the bill is backed by every Democrat but just three Republicans: Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Ore.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), and Christopher Smith (N.J.).
"On June 21, 2023, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders passed the PRO Act 11-10," Warren Gunnels, the panel's majority staff director, noted Tuesday. "Every Democrat on the committee voted yes. Every Republican on the committee voted no."
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said, "To the Republicans at the RNC who want to appear to support American labor, here's an idea: Come join us to pass the PRO Act."