Biden creates national monument for pioneering labor leader

President Joe Biden on Monday established a national monument honoring the late FDR-era Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet and a driving force behind Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs after the Great Depression.

Perkins is “one of America’s greatest labor leaders, and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said. Perkins “cemented the idea” that “if you're working a full-time job, you shouldn't have to live in poverty,” Biden said.

The outgoing Democratic president signed the proclamation establishing the monument in Newcastle, Maine, after a speech at the Department of Labor as he seeks to burnish his legacy as a champion of women's and labor rights with just over five weeks left in his term.

The department's building is named after Perkins, who helped President Roosevelt formulate policies behind the 1930s New Deal agenda and create safeguards in the national economy following the Great Depression that began in 1929. Perkins was the longest-serving labor secretary in U.S. history and is credited with helping establish the Social Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act, establishing workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively.

“Frances Perkins accepted the position as the first female Cabinet member only after President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to support her goals to improve working conditions for all people,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “She worked tirelessly to see them to fruition, and she set a standard of excellence that is a beacon for all of us who serve.”

Perkins and her family had deep roots in Newcastle, where she was buried after her death in 1965. The monument would be established on her family homestead and managed by the National Park Service, an arm of the Interior Department.

Julie Su, who has been serving as acting Labor secretary, announced Biden's induction into the department's Hall of Honor. Biden, who has said he is the most pro-union person to serve as president, said it was an “incredible honor.”

Last year, Biden became the first sitting president to walk a picket line when he joined striking United Auto Workers' members in Michigan.

Haaland on Monday also announced five new national historic landmarks recognizing women’s contributions to American history: the Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina; the Furies Collective, and Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill House, both in Washington; Azurest South in Petersburg, Virginia; and the Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth House and Studios in San Patricio, New Mexico.