Bob, you embody so many of the values we celebrate this evening, and I am honored and proud to present to you the 2013 Jewish Labor Committee's Human Rights Award.

I know we've got to be brief, but I hope all of you will indulge me, and allow me to offer a few reflections.

For Bob King, unionism is more than a job---it's who he is.  His belief system.  His history.  His calling.

I admire you for the way you always keep moving -- to turn your belief in the basic rights of working people around the world into action, to empower them to join together and bargain for a better life.

And so I want to simply say, "Thank you," for your incredible energy and for your nonstop activism, and especially for the time and resources your union is pouring into helping auto workers in the South to organize, and for the work your union has done in Haiti and El Salvador, and in so many other places around the globe.

Thank you, and God bless you.