Thank you, Brother Harry [Lombardo], for your kind words of introduction. I’m glad to be with each and every one of you.
The TWU has such an incredibly diverse membership, from public transit to aviation, from railroads to universities, utilities, service and gaming, from Philly to Miami, Ann Arbor to Omaha, San Francisco to New York City. You’re everywhere.
Your jobs, held up and maintained by your union contracts, make you an integral part of your local and regional economies. When you prosper, your communities share in that prosperity. American workers are American consumers, and consumer spending makes up 70 percent of our economy. That’s why the saying is true, that a rising tide lifts all boats.
When working people rise, America rises. When we fall, America is left high and dry.
We know the best way to win raises is a union contract. It’s the best answer when you’re looking for good health care and a secure retirement. But it’s more than that. Our unions give us a voice.
We use our voice to challenge the bosses, who threaten to fire us for speaking up. We use it to hold politicians accountable when they fail to deliver on their promises. And we use it to confront those like South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, who unapologetically violate federal law in their quest to destroy unions. We use our collective voice on the job, in our communities, at the ballot box and in the halls of power.
Let me tell you something: America needs that collective voice now more than ever. We need the TWU and all the unions of our labor movement, because we’re standing at a crossroads. Down one path is division and isolation, and the ruins of a once-great American middle class. Up the other path is the solidarity highway. It’s built on integrity and unionism, and the deep truth that we are in fact created equal, born with certain inalienable rights, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Brothers and sisters, we know where we have to go. And we know who’s got to lead: America’s working people.
Our country is in the midst of a historic presidential primary season. We’ve seen inspiring ideas brought forward by some of the candidates, and we’ve also heard the ugliest and most divisive rhetoric imaginable. On the Republican side, we’ve been exposed to hate-filled claims that are flat-out un-American, like the offensive notion that certain people are somehow better or worth more than others. Under the guise of “speaking their mind,” candidates for the highest office in the land have tried to push racism and bigotry into the mainstream. It’s truly frightening.
Brothers and sisters, we won’t stand back while this kind of trash is being thrown around. We’ll raise our voices now, and by God we’ll mobilize to make them count on Election Day.
I want every single one of you to get your members registered. Register your families, your neighbors, your friends and relatives. We’ve got to spread the word. When the time is right, I want your members pounding the pavement, knocking doors, leafletting worksites, meeting with workers and families, and turning out the vote, because we need progress in America for working people and we need it now!
We need it now because CEOs have profited from four decades of our rising productivity, leaving us with flat wages and financial insecurity. I’m sure you’ve seen the charts, but this is not an intellectual exercise. We’ve felt it. We’ve seen this national story play out in the lives of our family and friends, union and non-union alike, white collar and blue collar.
During contract negotiations and election years, our members want us to analyze the facts, to explain what the bad guys are doing, and suggest a path forward.
But our members also look to us to see what’s possible, for a positive vision of where we can be, where we will be, when we stand together.
Working people everywhere are realizing that the only organized voice for our interests is us. It’s the American labor movement.
This is important because we are not the only ones speaking to working families.
One of the loudest voices in America today is Donald Trump. He’s compelling. And he’s dangerous.
Donald Trump is tapping into the very real and very understandable anger of working people. In a national survey last month, 63 percent of Americans said they don’t have enough savings to cover a $500 car repair, or a $1,000 medical bill. A majority of people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck. It’s a precarious way to live. A car accident or an illness spells disaster.
So when Trump says we’re losing, his message resonates with some folks. And when he yells or lashes out, he finds a sympathetic audience who wishes more politicians would express the frustration they feel in their hearts.
Listen, I know realdown-home talk when I hear it, and I know a load of baloney and bluster, too, and I don’t think I have to tell you that Trump is full of baloney and bluster.
He is also a bigot. From his anti-American proposal to ban Muslims to his horrendous comments about women and immigrants, Trump is running on hate. It seems the only group he won’t criticize is the KKK.
Those statements and positions are bad enough. But what’s getting less attention is how Donald Trump really feels about working people. That is the untold story of this campaign, a story we must share with our members and all working people.
First, Trump loves right to work. He said it is “better for the people” and his position is “100 percent.” Meanwhile, he is fighting tooth and nail against workers at his hotel in Las Vegas.
Second, Trump was a major financial backer of Governor Scott Walker. Enough said.
Finally, and most disturbingly, Trump says our wages are already too high. Can you believe that? Trump has also said outsourcing creates jobs in the long run. He is advocating the exact opposite of our raising wages agenda.
Just look at who Trump would tap to lead the American economy: a billionaire named Carl Icahn, a corporate raider who made a fortune using bankruptcy to destroy pensions and end union contracts. He did it at TWA. He wrecked the pensions of your brothers and sisters. He bled that airline dry, and walked away with $500 million. That’s who Trump wants to make his Treasury Secretary!
You see, Trump says he’s with the American working class, but when you look close, it’s just hot air.
America needs a truth-telling moment. Here it is: The answer to our nation’s challenges isn’t anger and division. It’s raising wages. And the best way to raise wages is through collective action and collective bargaining.
When we look up and down the American landscape, we see a lot to love and plenty to fix. It all starts with unity, by standing together with like-minded allies and friends. We’re going to fight for a higher minimum wage, expanded overtime pay, paid sick leave and fair work schedules.
We’re going to fight for our immigrant brothers and sisters, until we win comprehensive reform. We’re going to fight to turn back bad trade deals, and let me tell you, we’re going to win! We’re going to fight to end the era of outsourcing so no more workers have to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance. EVER!
We’ll fight to win labor law reform like the WAGE Act, so working people everywhere can join our proud movement and get a union contract!
And while we’re at it, we’ll push each and every obstructionist senator to fulfill their constitutional duty to hold hearings and vote on the nomination of a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court!
There is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together.
In the labor movement, we know it’s the UNITED States of America. United we stand. Or divided we beg.
This is a year for the American labor movement to stand up as the leaders we are. This is the year we define America for the ages.
What kind of a country will we be? Will we retreat from each challenge, and sneak back into hatred and fear? Or will we stand strong on our values?
I know the answer to that question. I know what we’re made of. We stand together in solidarity, and we’re going to show America how to stand up, too.
I’m proud of our unionism. How we come together in the good times, and how we stay together when it’s hard.
Brothers and sisters, let’s stand together for raising wages, for a better America and a better tomorrow. Let’s march together. Let’s organize together. Let’s register together. Let’s vote together. And let’s win together.
Thank you, and God bless you.