Speech | Global Worker Rights

Trumka to ITUC: Organize, Organize, Organize!

Berlin, Germany

Brothers and sisters, I am honored to be with all of you, because together we stand alongside the working men and women who are the backbone of the global economy. And I don’t mean only union members, I mean all working people. Whatever our line of work, from taxi drivers to teachers to autoworkers to bidi rollers, we create value. And whatever our personal beliefs, we are unified by basic interests and a common vision, in which all people who work get a fair share of what we produce. It’s that simple.

And yet our vision is far from reality. We have plenty of work to do.

First, let me say I fully support the priorities outlined at this Congress to transform our movement into a global power to organize workers and to shape pro-worker policies. We’re creating a new and vibrant global labor movement, and I want to thank Sharan Burrow for her tremendous leadership and for making the ITUC a place of action. We will continue to work with you and your team. And many thanks, also, to Michael Sommer for your commitment and leadership here at the ITUC.

As we speak together today, our economies remain sluggish, held down by the politics of austerity. Workers everywhere are living with the worst global jobs crisis in almost a century. This is no accident. It was designed. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Fortunately, many people, including some of our leaders, are starting to get that. Yet while we hear less about austerity and more about investment and good jobs, it’s been too much talk and too little action.

Our leaders must invest in our future to promote real growth, growth based on rising wages and good jobs, instead of cheap credit and giveaways to the super-rich.

Yet as a global labor movement, we have our own work to do. My friends, it’s time for all of us to renew our investments in the future of working people, by putting resources into organizing new members. Our priorities are the same as workers everywhere, and if you have any doubt of that, you need only review the ITUC global survey. So let’s reach out to those brothers and sisters who need unionism the most. Let’s reach out to unorganized port workers in Colombia, to sub-contracted workers in Indonesia, to bank workers in the U.S., to healthcare workers in South Africa.

You see, the ideals of unionism are something we all share, just as we will all share the same fate if we allow these ideals to be trampled on. Employers like WalMart and Foxconn, T-Mobile, Amazon, Kellogg’s and temp agencies like Kelly, are eager to do just that.

It’s our responsibility to stand with every worker who needs us, but our labor organizations aren’t large enough to do it alone. If we want to build transformational power, we must build broader coalitions. We have to join forces in civil society, on education and women’s rights, migrant rights, young workers and so much more. Let’s open our doors and stand together with anyone who shares our values and wants to stand with us.

We will have to struggle for every inch of progress. Workers always have. Yet we can and must win. We’ll use every tool at our disposal. For example, some of you may have noticed that I asked the General Council to include the U.S. on the ITUC’s country watch list. The American practice of firing workers who stand up to form a union—it happens routinely—puts us on this list. The American practice of deporting immigrant workers who speak out to form a union—it happens all the time—puts us on this list.

Well, what do we do when employers threaten us? We organize, organize, and organize!

We’ll stand together to create power, and we’ll use our power to create good jobs and a new, greener economy. We’ll use our power to support collective bargaining and minimum wage laws and social protections and fair tax policies that make corporations pay their fair share.

In this global economy, we are all connected. Together we will make work pay for the people who work. Because we wake the world up each and every day, and we tuck her into bed at night. We forge the steel, sail the ships, mix the asphalt, bake the bread, wash the clothes and so much more. We will not be turned aside, and we will not be denied!

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