Thank you, Brother Mike [Langford], for your overly kind words of introduction. Also, I want to thank you for inviting me to this important convention, and to thank the UWUA for hosting us all.
Lastly, I am glad to acknowledge my fellow attendees. It’s good to be here with each and every one of you, union members in a critical industry, at such an important point in our history, and in the history of our country.
Brothers and sisters, I want to talk to you about some difficult subjects, about politics and politicians, about Democrats and Republicans, about the economic and social issues of our day, and where we stand in the middle of it all, as working people and as a labor movement.
Politics matter, elections matter, and I’m going to ask you to get to work, when you get back to your locals, to fill your phone bank with volunteers, to knock on doors, to leaflet your worksites, because in every corner of this country, we have ideas and plans to rebuild the American middle class and shared prosperity.
We are building a movement, and the issues you are most concerned about, about investments in America’s infrastructure, about projects to repair and improve natural gas lines, and smart government regulations to make sure America’s natural gas infrastructure is reliable and our neighborhoods are safe. Those priorities require the right leaders, leaders who listen to working families, who sit across the table from us, to turn our priorities into realities.
As a movement, we’re putting our agenda out front. That’s what’s driving our politics. Not the other way around. We’re not building power for any political party. We’re not building power for any candidate, no matter who. We’re building for working people, period.
For 40 years, our economy and the prospects of our working families have suffered and declined. We’ve seen an ever-larger share of America’s productivity go to the wealthiest 1%, and the lion’s share has gone to the richest one-tenth of 1%, leaving very little for the rest of us.
We’ve seen jobs outsourced and off-shored. Retirement security, all of it, has gone downhill. College debt is at an all-time high, and there are too few jobs for today’s graduates. But that’s the old story. Something new in America is happening today. The new story is people are ready to do something about it.
All over this country, from fast food restaurants to taxi stands, from Walmart and Target to the growing ranks of Working America, people are ready to take action. Just take a look at the workers at Market Basket, who fought against greedy shareholders to bring back a good CEO. That’s what it means to stand up and take action.
Workers are debating big issues, like wages good enough to live decently, and raise a family if we want to. The public is debating collective power. And collective bargaining. We’re talking about rights on the job.
We’ve been wanting this conversation for a long time, and guess what? We’re winning.
Let me tell you something, it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to turn the tide, because we’ve got what America needs. America wants and needs good jobs, and unionism works. We know how to stand together for a fair share of what we create. When we bargain for good pay and benefits at the power plant, our entire community does that much better. And we’re here to say, to every worker out there, if you stand with us, we’ll stand with you.
That’s how we’ll build a movement big enough to lift up all working families, big enough to rebuild the American middle class. We did it once. We’ll do it again.
Sisters and brothers, we will help working families use unionism to build a better life. Solidarity builds strong careers, strong families, strong communities and a bright future for the United States of America.
We know a union is the best tool to win respect, to turn a bad job into a good job, one with good pay and benefits and a chance for a secure retirement, because when we stand together, we’re powerful. We earn respect. There’s no denying it. Unionism works.
The best way to fair pay, is a union contract.
The best way to retirement security, is a union contract.
The best way to a safer job, to a better tomorrow, so you can give your family a decent life and a strong future, it all comes back to a union contract.
We live in the richest country on this Earth, at its richest time in history, and a decent life is not too much to ask, because we’re the workers of America, from the power plant to the pipeline, we build the systems and keep them running. We fix the gas mains and answer the call. We do what it takes, no matter the cost. We wake our country up every single day, and we tuck her into bed at night. We won’t be turned aside. We won’t sit down or back up or shut up, and we will not be denied. This is our country, and it’s time we made it work for workers!
Just about a week and a half ago, in Dallas, Texas, in the early morning hours, a natural gas leak caused a home to explode. We hear about news like this all too often. This time, a mother and her child went to the hospital with burns. Both are expected to do fine.
No one was injured in another explosion in Missouri on the same day, but similar blasts in Kansas, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania—in just the last few weeks alone— seriously injured some people and killed others. That’s not right. That’s not just.
Time and again, fire officials and investigators point the finger of blame at aging pipelines and other infrastructure failures.
We’ve got to do something about this. Our infrastructure, which is supposed to benefit us all, has become a danger to gas workers. Our infrastructure poses a threat to our communities. We’re talking about the safety of our families, the lives of our children, the lives of workers.
In California, our labor movement helped pass new regulations to upgrade our infrastructure, and not one single legislator stood against it.
Yet a similar proposal on Capitol Hill wouldn’t stand a chance. Too many politicians refuse outright to consider any regulation at all. Too many politicians simply won’t make any investments in infrastructure, not at all. They say we can’t afford to roads or bridges or to repair leaky gas lines. They say we have to cut back. They say we can’t afford to create jobs. They say it’s too expensive.
It’s up to you and me, it’s our job to spread the word, because we can’t afford not to fix those leaks. Not acting is the most expensive idea out there.
Listen, I’ve been meeting with workers all over this country, from Alaska to Nevada and from Pennsylvania to Florida, people are concerned about jobs. I hear talk about infrastructure, and the need for us to build a new union tradition for our children, and our children’s children.
You see, a new caliber of activism is spreading across our entire labor movement. At the
AFL-CIO we’re strengthening our state federations of labor and central labor councils. And believe me, that strategy alone could transform our movement. We’re joining together with allies, in ways we never have before. We’re a mainstream movement, a growing movement, a powerful movement, a popular movement, and we’re acting like it.
You see, we can and will bring working people together. We’ve already started. Working people share a lot more than most of us think. In our research, we’ve found what we’re calling Tea Party populists, and we’ll stand with them. Together we can turn sour cynicism into stubborn action. It’s time for us to believe in our movement. It’s time for us to believe in ourselves, believe in the progress that’s possible in our democracy when workers stand together.
You see, we care about the same thing, 75% of American voters want investments in infrastructure, schools, research and transportation, paid for by closing tax loopholes for the rich. It’s an idea that unites America, and 82% of the public wants good American manufacturing jobs, not more bad trade deals. That’s an idea that unites us all.
The issues go on and on. America’s workers want work to pay. We want work to lift us up, not hold us down. Those ideas unite America!
It’s up to you and me, to each of us, to help make the voices of America, our America, heard at the ballot box, in the workplace and in our national life. And we’re doing it.
Power and hope are rising. We’re ready to rebuild America’s middle class. We did it once. We’ll do it again.
We’ll stand together, to raise wages for all. We’ll fight for utility workers and day laborers, for bakers and drivers and teachers! We’ll march together! For working families! For good pay. We’ll stand together! For a strong future. For each other! We’ll shout here in Florida and all across America. And we’ll show how much good raising wages can do.
Brothers and sisters, we have big things to do as a country—put our people back to work, restore our democracy and build 21st century infrastructure. We’ve got ideas on how to build American manufacturing, to strengthen our communities and rebuild our tax base. We’re going to invest in American jobs, not throw them away.
And we want labor law reform, so all workers can stand together to bargain for a better life.
Listen, I know when we talk about labor law reform, it brings up bad feelings. Let me tell you something: as labor leaders, we have learned some hard lessons, really hard political lessons.
Yet I want you to listen very closely to what I have to say, we’re stronger because of the lessons we’ve learned. We’re more independent because of the lessons we’ve learned. We’re more focused, more disciplined, more creative, and ultimately more powerful because of the lessons we’ve learned.
All across our labor movement, we’re looking to fight for our values, not for any political party.
You see, we don’t work for candidates. We are not building power for the Democratic Party. Not the Republican Party. We’re building power for working people, pure and simple. We’re looking at the long view. We’ll work with anybody who will work with us. And we’re not afraid of holding anybody’s feet to the fire. Working families need results. Period.
And I tell you, we’ve got a long memory, and we will not hold our nose and endorse Democrats, just because they have a D next to their name. That’s not good enough. It won’t happen.
We’re looking close and asking hard questions of every candidate who wants our support, and one question we want every candidate to answer is, do you support America’s workers? Do you support our right to bargain collectively for a better life? Do you believe in pensions? Will you grow our economy? Will you raise wages?
And I promise, I swear, nobody will work harder, or smarter, or longer, to elect the leaders who make the right commitments, and nobody will work harder, or longer, to defeat those who don’t, regardless of political party.
I’ve got a big ask for you this electoral season. I want you to do this with me. I want you to lead with me. I want you to work like you never have before. Be the leaders who lead by example. Be the first to knock on doors. Make the first call at the phone banks. I’ll be doing it, too.
We’ll motivate our volunteers. We’ll strengthen our activists. We’ll help each other connect with more working-class voters, get more working families to the polls, because if we want to win the policies we need, if we want infrastructure investments, we’ve got to engage and activate everyone within our reach.
We need release staff, and we need them now to turn out our people. Make the commitment. I’m asking you to make it now.
When I say, “our people,” I mean union members and families but also like-minded folks in our neighborhoods and communities.
And here’s the best part, after the polls close on Election Day, we’ll have a stronger network, of activists and local leaders, ready to mobilize and pressure our local, state and national leaders for the policies we need, and we’ll stand ready to support our organizing for the union members of tomorrow.
Standing together, working people will change this country, our country, America the beautiful!
We’re lifting up lives. We won’t settle for less. We want a bold future, and that’s what we’ll get. We’re scrambling and reaching for a little more hope. We have a vision. And we’re going to make it real, because all of us pitch in, that’s shared responsibility, shared sacrifice. That’s how we win.
What we want is simple. It’s what everybody want, the chance to work hard for a decent life, and to give a better life to our kids. We’ll stand together, because we’re strong together.
We’ll work for it, sisters and brothers. We’ll stand for it. Together. Each of us. Utility workers with crane operators. Letter carriers with hotel workers. Taxi drivers with mine workers. With solidarity. Real solidarity. Where your picket line is my picket line. And my picket line is your picket line. Shoulder to shoulder. Arm-in-arm. All day. Every day. As long as it takes. To win together. To raise wages. To grow together. To bring out the best in ourselves, to bring out the best in each other. To bring out the best in America. For the America we can have, and must have, and will have. Keep fighting. Keep winning.
Thank you, and God bless you!