PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL be in Boston on Monday to recognize the central role of the Massachusetts labor movement when he speaks at the Greater Boston Central Labor Council’s annual Labor Day Breakfast.

By any metric, the president’s visit to Boston on Labor Day is a mark of distinction for the Massachusetts labor movement. But it’s also something much more. It’s an acknowledgment that Massachusetts and this administration share a common vision – that working men and women deserve greater protections on the job, better wages, more comprehensive benefits, and stronger say in shaping what their working lives will be like.

Here in Massachusetts, we’re proud of the strong values we share with President Obama and the many goals that we have worked on together to implement during his historic presidency.

President Obama has spoken movingly of the need for parents to have paid sick time to care for their children and themselves when illness strikes. Massachusetts heeded that call and became the fourth state in the nation to provide paid sick time to the Commonwealth’s working people.

In recent months, a broad array of Massachusetts workers – from hotel cleaners, parking attendants, janitors, and home care attendants to construction workers, nurses, and professors – have stood tall and joined unions. President Obama has argued convincingly that getting more union cards in the hands of working people is one key to rebuilding America’s middle class.

The Massachusetts labor movement is unified around the goal of combating the crippling income inequality that is creating a second Gilded Age. Organized labor has embarked on a process to ensure that earners at the top of the income scale pay their fair share – through a “millionaire’s tax” that would appear on the state ballot – so that we can build a better and stronger Commonwealth for all of our citizens.

The labor movement stands firmly beside President Obama, who has zeroed in on income inequality as a key issue. He’s also suggested that the very top income earners should pay their fair share in taxes to ensure that government is able to provide essential services for the needy, to rebuild crumbling infrastructure, and to ensure that students can earn degrees that provide strong employment prospects without a mountain of debt.

President Obama and the Massachusetts labor movement don’t agree on everything, and labor leaders here have not been hesitant to point out places of disagreement – sometimes vociferously.

But without question, President Obama and the Massachusetts labor movement have always agreed on broad and important principles: that economic policies designed to cater only to the needs of financial elites have made America a less fair place for too many workers, while robbing the nation of economic vitality. And we also agree on the troubling reality that for millions of Americans, earning a piece of the American Dream has become much tougher and more elusive than it should be.

As President Obama celebrates Labor Day with the Massachusetts labor movement, he’ll continue to outline a roadmap for building a better future both for Massachusetts and the nation.  The men and women in the Massachusetts labor movement will stand ready to make that roadmap a reality.

Richard Rogers is the executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Veronica Turner is the executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.