Biden Praises Harris's 'Ramrod' Backbone and Saintly Moral Compass

US President Joe Biden pitched Vice President Kamala Harris to American workers and unions at their first joint rally on Labor Day as someone with a "ramrod" backbone and the moral compass of a "saint."

Vice President Harris, in turn, was effusive in her praise of Biden, calling him "one of the most transformative presidents in the United States."

Biden had not appeared with Harris together since he withdrew from the White House race last July and threw his support to her candidacy as his replacement on the Democratic ticket. He made the keynote address on the first day of the Democratic convention in Chicago last August. He had not appeared either alone or jointly in a rally since then until Monday in Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, a strong union city and one of the main battleground states en route to the White House.

"She has a backbone like a ramrod, she has a moral compass of a saint," President Biden said to boisterous applause from the audience, "This woman knows what she's doing. Folks, I promise you, if you elect Kamala Harris as President, it will be the best visit you will have ever made. Kamala thinks, as I do, unions are the spine of this economy. She'll be a historic pro-union president."

Biden remains popular with labor unions. But there are questions about the clout of the once powerful unions. Only one in 10 members of the American workforce is now represented by a union, half the percentage of the representation in the 1980s, according to *The New York Times*.

Biden, who speaks frequently of his unremitting faith in unions, remains popular with their members, and he appealed to them on Monday to support Harris. "Folks, we've made a lot of progress, and Kamala and I are going to build on that progress, and she's going to build on it," he said. "I'll be on the sidelines, but I'll do everything I can to help."

President Biden described Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as "anti-labor and anti-union" and said he had installed union busters on an independent federal body authorized to protect workers' right to unionize or be represented by a union. "We're gonna let that son of a gun do that again?" he said of the former president.

Referencing the progress his and Harris' administration made, Biden said, "It's all at risk because of Donald Trump. Literally, with the stroke of the pen, he can get rid of a lot of this. And do you think this guy gives a damn about your pensions? Do you think he loses even an instant of sleep over it? You think he cares about all the work you do every day and how hard it is? You think he cares about good-paying jobs for hardworking people who built this economy.Hell."

Speaking last, Harris made clear the centrality of unions to the welfare of all American workers-whether they belong to a union or not. "For over 150 years, the sisters and brothers of labor have helped lead the fight for fair pay, better benefits, and safe working conditions, and every person in our nation has benefited from that work. You know, everywhere I go, I tell people-you may not be a union member, but you better thank the unions for that five-day workweek. Thank unions for sick leave, thank unions for paid family leave, thank unions for your vacation time, 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.