On January 20th, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in during a scaled back inaugural ceremony on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Twentyfive thousand National Guard troops were brought in to secure the Capitol because of the threat of violence from Trump supporters who assaulted the US Congress two weeks prior.
The ILWU released a statement congratulating the incoming BidenHarris Administration:
“The International Longshore and Warehouse Union congratulates the 46th President of the United States Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on their historic inauguration today. ‘Today marks a new direction for our country,’ said Pres- ident Willie Adams. ‘The hope of unions and the working class has been restored.’
“After four years of division, we look forward to working with the Biden administration to solve the many crises facing the American people today. The new administration must confront a daunting set of challenges: the worst public health crisis in 100 years, the worst economy since the Great Depression, massive wealth inequality, and a political crisis brought on by a sustained attack on our democratic institutions by the outgoing president.
“With these crises comes the opportuniy for new beginnings. The American people voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We have put our trust in their leadership to not only undo the damage from the last four years but set a new course that addresses the country’s deep racial inequities, confronts the existential threat of climate change, restores voting rights to all Americans and rolls back the decades long assault on the rights of workers to organize and join a union.
“This task does not fall on the new administration alone. A union’s strength rests on an active and engaged membership. This is also true for our country. Today we celebrate this inauguration. Tomorrow, we roll up our sleeves and get to work by healing our divisions, restoring faith in our democratic institutions and building an economy that benefits and uplifts all workers.”
First day actions
President Biden, who has pledged to be the most pro-union president in history, got to work quickly. With a bust of labor leader Cesar Chavez on the desk behind him, Biden signed several Executive Orders reversing actions taken by his predecessor, including changes to the U.S. response to the pandemic, measures to ease some of the financial strain resulting from COVID-19, rejoining the Paris Climate Accords and World Health Organization, initiating immigration reforms, making changes to the U.S. census count of immigrants, and actions to advance racial equity throughout the U.S. government.
The first ever second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden, and President Joe Biden
Shake-up at the NLRB
In a move that was praised by labor leaders, Biden also fired the Trump-appointed general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Peter Robb, a former management-side labor attorney who played a key role in Ronald Reagan’s crushing of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike in 1981 and firing of more than 11,300 air traffic controllers. Robb brought a staunchly pro-business voice to the NLRB, an agency which is tasked with overseeing union elections and upholding workers’ rights to organize.
ILWU denounces attack on the US Capitol
The ILWU was one of dozens of labor unions that denounced the shocking attack on the United States capitol building on January 6th, by supporters of Donald Trump as the Senate met to officially certify the electoral college win of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol following a rally which included a speech by Donald Trump. One Capitol police offer was killed by the mob and a second officer took his own life a few days following the attack. On January 13th, Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote. He is the only President in United States history to be impeached twice.
“I was saddened, angered and outraged watching the attack on our democracy yesterday. Donald Trump, after weeks of spreading dangerous conspiracy theories and lies about his election loss, incited a mob of supporters who then assaulted the Capitol Build- ing with the intent of preventing Congress from certifying the 2020 election. Trump’s role in instigating this attack on the US Congress was despicable and impeachable,” said ILWU International President Willie Adams in a statement released on Twitter.
“They will not succeed in preventing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris from being our next President and Vice President, but those who participated in or supported this action represent a dangerous and growing threat to our republic. The labor movement has a vital role to play in countering this threat.
We must answer the division and demagoguery of Trump with working class solidarity and democracy. We must work to strengthen voting rights throughout the country to ensure everyone has the ability to participate in elections and we must continue to organize and build strong unions to bring democracy, economic justice and a voice for workers to every workplace.”
The ILWU’s Titles Officers released a statement on January 8 denouncing the attack.
“We condemn the riots and violence that took place at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 as a heinous act against the American people and our democracy. On the day of the certification of the U.S. Presidential election, we stood in shock as we witnessed an uncontrollable violent mob of domestic terrorists storm the Capitol in an effort to intimidate elected members of Congress from counting the states’ electoral votes because they did not like the results of the election and refused to admit defeat,” the statement said.
“Words cannot describe how reprehensible these actions are against our most sacred and valued tradition: our democracy. These anti-democratic acts were incited by President Trump, who has spent the past four years using his office to stoke division within our nation. Trump has marginalized workers, immigrants, women, people of color, and anyone he perceives as his enemy. His rhetoric has encouraged a rise in hate crimes, and he has repeatedly refused to condemn acts of violence perpetrated by some of his supporters. He has single handedly deteriorated the reputation of our country. Although promising to ‘Make America Great Again,’Trump has splintered our country in a time of heartache and suffering.”
