Update: Here's the full video from Obama's speech in Cincinatti yesterday, where he praised the accomplishments of unions and reaffirmed support for Employee Free Choice.

As we take the day off from work, attend healthcare send-off rallies or parades, and spend time with family and friends this Labor Day weekend, many of us will be thinking about the state of working America.

Ensuring that American workers are treated with dignity and respect and that a lifetime of hard work leads to a comfortable retirement is something our President values very highly. In his prepared 2009 Labor Day message, Obama explains his proposal to help us get there:

This afternoon, Obama spoke at the AFL-CIO's annual Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati, Ohio. Among his comments was unmitigated support for unions.

"So let us never forget: much of what we take for granted--the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, health insurance, paid leave, pensions, Social Security, Medicare--they all bear the union label. It was the American worker--union men and women--who returned from World War II to make our economy the envy of the world. It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. So even if you're not a union member, every American owes something to America's labor movement."

AFL-CIO live tweeted the President's comments from the picnic, one of which was this: "Labor is not the problem. Labor is the solution. When Labor is strong, America is strong!"

We couldn't agree more. Visit SEIU's Labor Day page for labor union facts and lots of action opportunities here: http://www.seiu.org/a/a/labor-day-2009.php