Biden: Labor movement ‘keeps the barbarians at the gate’

Members of the labor movement are ‘the only ones who have the power to keep the barbarians at the gate,” Vice President Joe Biden said at a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh on Monday.

{mosads}“Without the ability to sit down with the most powerful entities in the world, without that ability to negotiate, there is no shot, no shot for any American worker,” Biden said. “I don’t mean labor, I mean any American worker.”

Biden didn’t mention a potential presidential run during his speech, though he has acknowledged he is mulling one. Instead, he delivered a fiery, populist call to action for the labor movement and warned that the rich are beginning to collect too much wealth and exert outsized political influence.

“I hope everybody in America has the chance to become a millionaire and we need some billionaires,” he said. “But let me tell you something, man, the tax code isn’t fair, it’s simply not fair. The wealthy aren’t paying their fair share.”

Biden plugged President Obama’s proposal to make community college free, and suggested ending a trust fund tax credit to pay for the plan.

“We could eliminate that tax cut, put everyone in community college who wanted to go,” he said.

On a warm morning in Pittsburgh Biden said he was “hot, I acknowledge that, I’m mad, I’m angry” about the state of the American middle class and called for more government action to help it grow.

Biden has said he’s considering a run for president, and polls show him as a popular alternative to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

An NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday showed Biden with a net 57 percent favorability rating among Democrats, compared to only 42 percent for Clinton. Biden was shown to perform better in head-to-head general election match-ups with leading Republicans Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, as well.

In Pittsburgh, Biden lavished praise on Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO president who has yet to endorse in the presidential race.

“In the neighborhood, you always knew the person you could turn to and have your back,” Biden said.

“This is the guy who would have your back. He’d had your back in a fight, he’d have your back in an argument, he’d have your back no matter what. And I’ve had his back and he’s had mine, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your friendship.”

Biden then participated in a Labor Day parade, passing supporters who chanted, “Run, Joe, run. Run, Joe, run,” according to a reporter traveling with the vice president.

Biden also passed several people carrying homemade Bernie Sanders signs.

“Love you Joe but I’m voting for Bernie,” read one.

“Corporatism is NOT democracy! Everyone gets to vote!! Bernie 2016!” read another.

The reporter saw no signs supporting Hillary Clinton.

Biden later repeated his call to end tax breaks during remarks at an event in the lobby of the United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh.

“And by the way, this isn’t Joe Biden, pro-labor, liberal Democrat talking like this…or competing with Bernie Sanders — whose doing a hell of a job by the way.”

At the end of those comments, a man urged Biden to “run for president!”

“I gotta talk to my wife about that,” the vice president responded.

–This report was updated at 1:52 p.m.