Thank you, President [Dan] Pickett, for that warm introduction. I’m honored to join you here at your convention. Thank you!
Thank you for inviting me. It’s wonderful to speak to the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen. What a history you have, and what a future.
Listen, the Railroad Signalmen may not be the biggest union in the AFL-CIO, but you fight well above your weight class. That’s because of your powerful leadership, and the true dedication and skill of your members. When it comes to crossing safety, and freight security, nobody holds a candle to the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.
That doesn’t happen by accident. That’s not a product of luck. That’s a result of strong leadership and hard work. It speaks to the honor and commitment each of you members brings to the job every single day. And I commend you for it.
Let me tell you, when the fighting heats up—and we know it does—it feels good to have trade unionists like Dan Pickett in the foxhole next to me. And I’d take a member of the BRS any day of the week. I mean that sincerely.
Brothers and sisters, let’s give your president a round of applause. Thank you, Dan, for what you do and what you are. I’m proud to call you my friend. I’m proud to call you my brother. I’ll stand with you anytime, anywhere, for as long as it takes. Thank you.
Give yourselves a hand, too! You raised the issue of railroad safety and security, and you made it a national priority. And as a result, you can carry on your important work. And you’re adding members.
You and I know those members aren’t simply numbers on paper. Each one represents a good job with great health benefits and retirement security. You can raise a family on a job like this, and give your children a better life. Each new member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen means one more worker can step with confidence toward the American Dream.
In a nutshell, that’s unionism. It’s that simple.
Sisters and brothers, when one more family can aspire to the American Dream, all of us come a little closer.
The best way to the American Dream, is a union contract.
The best way to win fair pay, is a union contract.
The best way to retirement security, is a union contract.
The best way to a better tomorrow, so you can give your family a decent life and health care and a good education, it all comes back to a union contract.
We want a decent life. It’s not too much to ask. You prove it with everything you do, think of those quad gates at railroad crossings. You make sure our families and freight travel safely, and you create good jobs at the same time.
We’re the workers of America. We create the wealth. We install the switches and maintain the systems. We drive the trucks and make the roads. We build the bridges and bake the bread. We wake our country up every single day, and we tuck her into bed at night. That’s what we do. That’s who we are. The American labor movement!
Brothers and sisters, all across America our labor movement is building power for working people. We’re strengthening our state federations of labor and CLCs. We’re joining together with allies, in ways we never have before. We’re a mainstream movement, and we’re acting like it.
And yes, we will be campaigning hard in this electoral season. All of us will be looking closely at each candidate for local, state and federal office, this year and next year, and the year after that. We’ll ask these candidates tough, pointed questions, and we will get firm answers, solid commitments. We won’t be taking anything for granted.
You see, we don’t work for any candidate. We’re not building power for any political party. Not the Democratic Party. Not the Republican Party. We’re building power for working people, pure and simple. We’re looking at the long view.
Yet I promise, nobody will work harder than we will to elect the leaders who make the right commitments, and nobody will work harder to defeat those who don’t, regardless of political party. We’re not going to hold our nose and endorse Democrats, just because they have a D next to their name. That’s not good enough.
Here’s why this is important. The AFL-CIO did a poll recently about the potential electoral impact of raising wages. We asked a group of voters if they agreed with this simple statement: “We need to make sure that all of us, not just the CEOs get our fair share in our economy.”
When we asked those making less than $50,000 a year, two out of three voters agreed, 66% said, yes, that’s right, we need to make sure all of us, not just CEOs, get our fair share.
Here’s the kicker. This was not a poll of the general public. This was a poll of registered Republicans. You heard me right. Two out of three working class voters registered with the Republican Party say we need to make sure all of us, not just CEOs, get our fair share of the wealth we create.
Here’s what this means to me. It means working people of every stripe share the same basic challenges, the same hopes and dreams. And that’s why in the AFL-CIO we have started educating, mobilizing and organizing workers on a national scale. We’re talking to everybody. Workers in unions. Not in unions. Never heard of unions. We’re wide open.
But we have a challenge. Working-class voters are less likely to turn out in non-presidential elections. So if we want the policies our working families need, if we want all of us to get our fair share, we’ve got to engage and turn out our people.
And by our people, yes, I’m talking about our members and families—but also regular working people who share our basic values, our aspirations. I’m talking about our neighbors, friends we worship with, our cousins and all those people you know on Facebook, everybody. All of us who feel that no matter how hard we work these days, we can’t get ahead. We need everyone to know, we might not be able to get ahead alone, but we can get ahead together.
Sisters and brothers, we have big things to accomplish as a country—put our people back to work, raise wages, restore our democracy and build 21st century infrastructure.
You see, we’ve been talking about America’s infrastructure deficit for years, but maybe not the right way, because some people get frightened by the word “deficit.”
The fact is, the American Society of Civil Engineers says America needs to upgrade our infrastructure to the tune of $3.6 trillion -- $3.6 trillion! That’s a big number, but we shouldn’t be afraid of that number. Because it’s not a sacrifice. It’s an investment. It’s exactly like planting seeds. Put them in the ground. You’ll see. We’ll grow railroad tracks. We’ll grow roads. We’ll grow bridges. We’ll grow an entire economy!
Putting money in roads and railways will give us solid returns for generations. Investing in good jobs yields a good result.
But if we don’t put that seed in the ground, that’s not smart. It’s not sensible. It’s cutting yourself off at the knees. And that’s what these politicians are doing to the American economy.
That’s why, all over the country, I’ve been telling people American infrastructure spending will be the engine of job growth we need. It will spur American manufacturing, with strong Buy America provisions to make sure workers and our companies invest in America’s communities. We will be more competitive with good roads, deep seaports, transit, rail, airports, better bridges!
We’ll build them. That’s how we build America! That’s how we move America!
Every family will share the benefit. Every community.
We’ll build the future we know we can have, and must have, and will have. Because we believe in the power of America. We believe in the American Dream. We’ll never give up. We’ll never back down. We’ll never say quit. We’ll never say die. We’ll fight ‘til we win!
We’re fighting for what’s right, for the people who do the work, and we intend to win.
Let me tell you, infrastructure dollars are just the opener! I’m talking about raising wages, job safety, fair trade and MADE IN AMERICA!
Brothers and sisters, from the Vatican in Rome to the Moral Mondays in North Carolina and a dozen other places I could mention, people want an end to the politics of cruelty, the politics of poverty, the politics of exclusion.
The time is right. The world is changing. America is changing. The power of the 99% is growing. This is the new story in America.
This new national storyline did not start in Washington, D.C. or in the centers of American power. It didn’t come from Wall Street. It has risen up from the railroad tracks and the taxi stands and from the early bus, when the domestic workers travel across town together for a day’s work. It comes from the Facebook pages where Walmart workers meet and learn how much they have in common, and how strong they are. It comes from the college graduates trying to find jobs under crushing debt, and from those earning our terribly low, low federal minimum wage.
Work should never hold us down and trap us in poverty. Work must lift us up. We want our country to work for the people who work!
Power and hope are rising, brothers and sisters.
Power and hope are rising. It’s truly a groundswell, in the words of the great poet Maya Angelou, who died last month:
“Still I rise.”
“Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
You may trod me in the very dirt,
You may trod me in the very dirt,
but still, like dust, I rise.”
America’s workers are rising. We’re standing up, standing together. You’ve seen the fast food workers. You’ve supported the Walmart workers.
Every job has value. There is no shame getting up in the morning and doing a job. None at all. Every job has dignity, and we stand for the ideal that every worker, every single worker, must have a voice on the job for safety, for dignity, for fairness, for good pay and benefits, and for the prospect of a decent retirement.
We’re not where we need to be, but we’re working to get there. The great wealth divide, between the richest 1% and the rest of us, keeps getting bigger. We’re going to turn that around, and start to narrow the gap. But it’ll take a lot of work to get us there. We’re fighting hard to raise wages, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’ve got organizing work to do, and, for the next four months, we’ve got electoral work to do.
Let me re-emphasize that: We’ve got a long to-do list between now and November, and after.
Listen, I know how hard you work. I know how dedicated you are. And I’ve got to tell you, working people need you again. We need your political action. We need you for legislative accountability. We need you for our voter registration drives. This is solidarity, for a better life. And it works.
That’s what all our work is about. It’s about changing our lives, lifting families, and 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. We do what it takes.
What we want is simple. It’s what everybody wants, the chance to work hard for a decent life, for health care, for a secure retirement, and to give a better life to our kids.
We’ll stand together, because we’re stronger together.
We’ll work for it, sisters and brothers. We’ll stand for it. Together. Each of us. With solidarity. Real solidarity. Where your picket line is my picket line. And my picket line is your picket line. And we’ll stand together. Shoulder to shoulder. Arm-in-arm. All day. Every day. As long as it takes. To win together. Because we’re going to win together. Grow together. To bring out the best in ourselves, to bring out the best in America.
Thank you. Thank you, and God bless you!