Shuler: This result is a blow for every worker who depends on our elected leaders to fight for our jobs, our unions and our contracts

By LIZ SHULER

AFL-CIO President

Presidential administrations change, but the labor movement’s values do not. We stand for the freedom to organize and for the right to collectively bargain. We stand for solidarity—the kind that is built when working people stand together to take on the biggest, richest bosses and the most powerful extremist politicians. Most importantly, we know how to fight back when anyone comes after our freedoms. 

This result is a blow for every worker who depends on our elected leaders to fight for our jobs, our unions and our contracts. We organized for months to produce a nearly 17-point advantage for Vice President Kamala Harris with union members. But it is clear that the economic struggle working-class people are facing is causing real pain and neither party has sufficiently addressed it. 

Now we are faced with the reality of a second Donald Trump term. The Project 2025 agenda promises to dismantle labor unions because we are a pillar of democracy and a check on power. We’ve seen assaults on our fundamental rights before. In the days, months, and years ahead, labor’s task will be to defend working people when it happens again. The labor movement gives voice and clarity to the struggles of working people—that’s what we do, and what we’ve always done.

Every workplace we organize is a victory for democracy. Every contract we bargain for is a step toward a fairer economy. Every strike is a lesson for rich bosses that they can’t keep the working class down. No one—not Donald Trump or JD Vance, nor any one CEO—can stop solidarity. 

Organized labor is the path forward. In unions, people have power to build a stable foundation for themselves and their families. To say, “It’s Better in a Union,” is not simply a slogan—it’s the way to level the playing field and create a path to economic security for every working person. The nearly 13 million union members of the AFL-CIO won’t be divided and we won’t back down. We will be there for each other and we will fight every step of the way for every worker in this country, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.