Thank you, John, for your extraordinary leadership, which has inspired me every day for the 10 years I have been privileged to serve in this humbling job. And thank you for the ways I know you will continue to inspire me in the years to come.

And Linda—thank you for filling this team with your heart—with your unwavering focus on the most vulnerable among us…

…the working women and men with the most to gain from union membership.

…The single moms…people of color fighting just to get a fair shot at a fair share of America’s bounty… people with disabilities…our LGBT brothers and sisters…our elders, many of them battered from decades on the job.

Linda, your heart can fill this room.

Thank you, Cecil Roberts.

Thank you, Leo Gerard.

Thank you, Bill Lucy.

And I also want to thank my terrific assistants Brad Burton…Joe Jurczak…Norma Itz…Angela Forsythe…and Amy Strauss.

I thank my wife, Barb, and my son, Rich, for always being there…and standing by me.

You’ll never know how much strength I draw from each of you—each and every day of my life.

And I want to thank each of you for allowing me the great honor to serve our union movement and our members for another four years.

Thank you all for standing by me.

I promise…I pledge to each of you…I will stand by you.

Always.

Because that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

That’s what this movement is all about.

I learned that early, from George Holupka, a coal miner, a local union officer and a very, very good friend of mine.

He taught me that to build a labor movement we have to look beyond our own personal interests…

…We have to look beyond our own local…look beyond our own union and remember that ALL workers…

…every last one of them…

…are our brothers and sisters.

Not just when it’s easy…not just when I get my way…not just some days…but every day.

Every last day.

Because when it comes down to it, that’s all we have—each other.

I also learned that from my dad and my grandfathers.

In the belly of a coal mine, life depends on standing by one another.

If something goes wrong—and when my dad and grandfathers were down there, that was all too common—if the guy working next to you doesn’t get out, chances are you don’t either.

It’s not so different today.

We’re in the belly of a dangerous beast.

Where corporate greed has swallowed too damn much of what rightly belongs to working people.

And where the people we elect to guard our interests don’t fight the beast—they feed it.

Sometimes I look around and I don’t recognize my own country.

When Maryland’s governor vetoed a bill that would have made Wal-Mart—with $10 billion a year in profits—pay a stinking 8 percent of payroll so its workers can send their kids to the doctor when they need it…

…when he signed that veto in May, standing right there beside him—shamelessly—was a Wal-Mart honcho.

Things like that make me wonder WHERE THE HECK I AM.

When our president takes away workers’ overtime pay…

…When he pushes for another trade deal he KNOWS—he KNOWS—is going to throw more hard-working men and women out of the jobs that support their families—it angers me.

...When he tries to make our jobs LESS safe…when he lies to us, AGAIN and AGAIN…

…When he rips away the sacred right of workers to join together and work together in unions to improve their lives…

…well, quite frankly that ISN’T MY IDEA OF AMERICA.

It’s at those times when I think about that old Ben E. King song:

‘When the night has come

And the land is dark

And the moon is the only light we see

No I won’t be afraid

No I WON’T be afraid

Just as long as you stand by me.”

I can’t take back America for working families.

You can’t do it, either.

I can’t make our employers or George Bush Reward Work and Respect Workers—and neither can you.

We can’t do it alone.

BUT TOGETHER WE CAN.

TOGETHER WE CAN.

Like my dad, my grandfathers and George Holupka—and Ben E. King—said, we can do all this…and more…

…just as long as you stand by me and I stand by you.

I was raised believing and I will die believing that there is no greater power than the collective will of workers.

There is no greater power and there is nothing and no one that can stop it.

The thugs who beat—and killed—organizers and strikers—innocent men, women and children—they haven’t stopped us yet.

The political prostitutes who take the money from ruthless employers and do whatever they’re told—they haven’t stopped us yet.

And they never will—just as long as you stand by me and I stand by you.

One of my greatest heroes was a union leader named Jock Yablonski.

He died fighting to get mine workers safer jobs and decent pay and a more democratic union…

…A union of the members, by the members and for the members…

…He is one of far too many martyrs in our movement.

Chances are, I’ll never be asked to die for our cause.

But I sure as hell will live for it.

And fight for it.

As you do.

As John and Linda and all my brothers and sisters up here do.

And as do the millions of union member activists out there who stand by one another every day.

When you gave me your vote today, you gave me your faith and your trust.

I will never, never take that lightly.

Because I stand here on the shoulders of my father…my grandfathers…George Holupka, Jock Yablonski…

…and I’ll never take that lightly either.

We have a fight to fight…

We have a fight to WIN.

A fight for the heart and soul of America…

…A fight for the people who raised us…

…who are now retired…

…and who need us now to protect their dignity and their way of life…

…A fight for the next generation of workers and the generations after them.

We’re in this together, and together…together…we will win.

Because I know you will stand by me…

And I swear, I will stand by you.

Thank you.