ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
On this Labor Day, we're going to examine a promise from the president.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I meant what I said when I said I'm going to be the most pro-union president in American history, and I make no apologies for it.
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SHAPIRO: So how has the Biden administration been for workers? NPR's Andrea Hsu takes a look.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Let's start with workers themselves - people like Laura Leguizamo (ph), who works in housekeeping at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Los Angeles.
LAURA LEGUIZAMO: No. Everything is expensive. I have to move from my home because they sell the property, and I couldn't find any place, you know, cheaper.
HSU: Her union has been staging strikes and rallies and demanding an immediate 20% raise in their next contract and more in years to come. Leguizamo says she simply can't afford to live on her salary, which is...
LEGUIZAMO: Twenty-five an hour.
HSU: Twenty-five dollars an hour - well above LA's minimum wage of 16.90 an hour, but still not enough.
LEGUIZAMO: All the payments and bills and rent...
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LEGUIZAMO: ...And the food is very expensive.
HSU: Now, workers in LA have it particularly bad, given soaring housing prices. But, all over the country, workers are finding that even though their wages have gone up a lot since Biden came into office...
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BIDEN: Pay for low-wage workers has grown at the fastest pace in over two decades....
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