Demos Conference: A Better Deal—Securing Our Economic Future Now

Wow—what a great group!

Talk about energy!

I'm glad Demos organized this meeting of young leaders—at a time when our country so badly needs your leadership.

You know, maybe not among this group, but in the labor world—I'm the equivalent of a teenager…at 39! 

I'm making it my personal mission to change that.  

As the AFL-CIO's new secretary-treasurer, I lead the federation's work with young people on the economy.

The AFL-CIO is made up of 57 unions, representing 11 and a half million workers—all kinds of workers—from pilots to plumbers, to actors and pro athletes. 

Being here is a great opportunity for me to connect with you and build some bridges I hope we will cross together in the years to come.  

I've been asked to talk today about the economy, how it fell apart and how we can build something new and better.

I don't need to tell you that we're in an economic crisis.

Your generation is living it.  

You're like the reality show—but without the great apartment.     

But I do want you to think about two upsides of our economic meltdown:

First, it exposes the bankruptcy of the economic ideas that have prevailed for a generation or more.

It proves that an economy built to work only for the wealthy…

…for profit-driven corporations…

…and for speculators who end up begging for bailouts

…WILL fail.

And second, it's presented us with the best opportunities in our lifetimes to create a new economy—

—an economy that works for you and for all people who work for a living.  

Sometimes it TAKES a crisis to shake us out of the status quo.

And when the crisis comes, it's young people who drive change.

The civil rights movement…the anti-war movement…the movement for women's equal rights…the environmental justice movement…the LGBT rights movement…

Martin Luther King Jr. was 26 when he led the Montgomery bus boycott.

At 25, Cesar Chavez was registering Mexican Americans to vote.

Walter Reuther headed strikes demanding GM recognize its workers' rights starting when he was 30.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was 33 when she drafted the declaration of women's rights.  

Look back at the labor movement's history, too—

—When the labor movement really grows, it's because of young people.  

My friends, America needs you today.

It looks like we have averted a full-blown depression—

--Thank you, President Obama and all those members of Congress we elected!--

But I am looking into the faces of the first generation in America likely to be worse off than your parents.

That is a tragedy. 

It runs counter to everything America has stood for—basically – an affront to the legacy of all those who came before you.

So you are the guinea pigs of the so-called "new normal" economy.

In which education—even when you can get it—does not guarantee you a foothold …

In which hard work doesn't mean you can feed your family…

And everything your parents expected from an employer—job security, health care security, retirement security—sounds like fantasy to you.

The AFL-CIO and our community affiliate Working America recently surveyed young workers—and I'm not talking about 17- and 18-year-olds. I'm talking about 18- to 34-year-olds.

No surprises for you:

In the last 10 years, young workers have suffered disproportionately from the downturn in the economy –

·        One in three young workers is worried about being able to find a job…let alone a full-time job with benefits.

·        Only 31 percent make enough money to cover their bills and put some aside—and that is 22 percentage points worse than it was 10 years ago.

·        31 percent are uninsured, up from 24 percent 10 years ago.

·        Nearly half worry about having more debt than they can handle.

·        Less than half have retirement plans at work. (which surprises me that young people are concerned about this…Univ. of Akron example)

·        One in three still lives at home with their parents.

Can anyone here relate to that?

The parents' basement might be a drag, but the rent is cheap…!  

I know what it's like to piece together part-time, dead end jobs like so many of you.

I used to be the McJob woman.

I know how it feels to rely on mom and dad.

For me, it was a union job that put me on the path to a better life and a future. 

And part of my job now is to make sure the labor movement makes a difference in the lives of your generation—for students, for young workers and for young activists looking to build the kind of country you want to live in.  

Let's step back for a minute and ask, "What went wrong with America's economy?"

What happened??

What happened was a 30-year campaign to create a low-wage workforce.

It succeeded.

The mantra of the right was that government should clear the path for corporate profits, then get out of the way….get government out of the way…Did anyone see Michael Moore's new movie?  He mentioned Ronald Reagan's philosophy, remember…?

Ronald Reagan told the country, "Government is not a solution to our problem, government IS the problem."

Grover Norquist  -- You all know him, right?  The anti-tax zealot who runs the organization that is waging a war against progressives all across this country – he told us we should shrink government down to a size he could drown in the bathtub.

So we had the anti-government era of deregulation…

…privatization…

…refusal to invest in infrastructure or communities or skills…

…globalization that was designed only to grow corporate profits—

—and if that meant sending good U.S. jobs overseas…

…where children and forced laborers and workers who weren't allowed to have unions did the work…

…and where toxic dumping and environmental pollution were allowed to poison children and spoil the earth—

—well, so be it.

At the same time, we had massive government-sanctioned attacks on unions and workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for decent wages and benefits.

Imagine a line chart that features two parallel lines going up and up, then going down together.

That tells the story of wages, benefits and unions in America.

When unions are strong, paychecks grow and workers have benefits like health care and pensions.

When unions are under attack, paychecks shrink. Pensions vanish. Health care becomes the emergency room.

And that's what happened.

We continued to be the most productive workforce in the world, but pay stagnated.

Working families did everything we could to patch things up and bring in the income we needed.

We sent more people into the workforce—a parent staying at home to care for the kids used to be commonplace – now, it's a rarity.

We worked longer hours and more jobs—two or three, balancing shifts between parents to avoid paying for child care. Of course, those parents rarely saw one another. "Family dinner" went the way of  Friendster.

Even so, we were barely keeping even, not getting ahead.

Families that were solidly middle class on one income for an eight-hour day were just getting by on two incomes and longer hours.

So we stopped saving…then we consumed our savings.

And we borrowed—with credit cards, against our homes, to go to school—

—all without the paychecks—or even the hope of future paychecks—big enough to pay off that debt.

Sound familiar?  

Maybe not to you…but maybe your parents?  Not working so well, is it?  

Meanwhile, we had elected leaders who were dedicated to shrinking government and making the rich richer.  They ignored the big challenges of our time.  Health care.  Climate change.  Retirement security.   You know the list.

So they cut taxes.

And we got bridges that are ready to collapse—some already have—classrooms with 50 children in them, community colleges that are closing their doors, teachers and police and fire fighters ill-equipped and laid off.

They got cozier and cozier with the corporate giants who were putting our entire economy at risk. A

nybody ever heard of a company called Enron?

Waaaayyy back in 1997, a coalition of labor, community and environmental activists and I, as legislative and political director of my electrical workers local union, took on Enron in Oregon.

We blocked Enron's lobbying attack when they tried to push an energy deregulation scheme through Oregon's legislature.

We won that battle.

But Enron kept going.

And four years later, my parents were among the many innocent workers who lost their pensions because of Enron's recklessness. 

Enron was a symptom of a disease that was even bigger than we could imagine.  It was a signal of things to come – that unchecked corporate greed had permeated our system in a big way, and we had no idea to what extent until the financial meltdown recently…maddening, isn't it?!

When the house of cards collapsed, not just for Enron but for the housing market, the banks and all of us, it was pretty easy to see the problem.

We were trying to fuel an economy that is based on how much the American people can buy—without the wages to do it.

And the clearest lesson of this economic crisis is that you cannot base a consumer economy on debt and low wages.

It is not sustainable.

It has failed.  

It's time to move beyond coping strategies and into rebuilding an economy that works—

—An economy based on prosperity…an economy you can be proud to pass on to your children…

…so that you will have confidence that they will be better off than your generation.  

Yes, we urgently need some quick fixes to see us through the current crisis—

—new economic recovery legislation to jump-start jobs, for example—

But our economy also requires rebuilding from the ground up.

As you are painfully aware, this "new normal" economy is really not working for young people.

If today's workforce will indeed be expected to move easily and frequently from job to job, then the security and health care and retirement benefits that previously came with tenure—well, they have to come from someplace else, and they have to be portable.

We need a whole new mindset to address these issues—based on the realities of young people today and the labor market we face.

And, of course, we need the people to do the thinking and reshaping.

That's you.

That young workers survey I mentioned earlier?

It also showed many very encouraging things about young workers.

·        You have a whole new level of civic engagement, with the surge of new voters in the 2008 election.

·        You're well-informed and following government and policy news.

·        You believe in collective action, and understand the power of having a union.

·        You have hope for the future, and the vision of a savvy, diverse movement to bring about progressive change.

You're going to need that optimism, because the work you have before you is hard…it's long…it's the work of a lifetime.

It will take a broadly shared sense of wartime urgency to replace today's low-wage economy with a high-wage, high-skills economy.

The kind of national effort we poured into World War II—your grandparents may have been part of it—that's what we need now.   

The truth is—time is not on our side. 

The cost of the Bush administration was not just everything it did wrong—

It was the time wasted while other countries were facing the challenges of the future.

Basically, we must create a new national economic strategy for a globalized world—with rules that reflect the priority we place on workers and the environment, here in the U.S. and everywhere.

We are in this global economy and we're in it to stay—you know we are not retreating.

But we need a strategy for how our nation can prosper in a global economy.

We need new rules, new institutions and new laws to reflect the values we share: that the environment and basic workers' rights must receive at least as much respect as corporate interests.  

Let me talk a little more concretely about the next steps:  

Items one through five on my list are JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS and JOBS.

Make that items one through 10.

Every one of us needs to push and push and push for public investments to create jobs and put people to work in this struggling economy.

To create GREEN jobs here at home—

—and to make sure they're good, family-supporting green jobs that aren't just the flavor of the moment…

Jobs that give us the opportunity to increase America's energy independence…

…combat global warming

…revive our manufacturing sector…

—and make America a global leader again and an exporter of green technologies.

America needs to be a provider of solutions to the world's great problems—climate change, water supplies, AIDS—not an exporter of financial crises.  

President Obama is for it—he gets it.

We can do this.  

We also need to win the fight on Capitol Hill for comprehensive health care reform.

Tell your members of Congress—not once, but every day, on the phone, online, in person—that we need health care reform to:

…control costs…

…end abusive insurance company practices…

…include a strong public health insurance option to force insurers to compete

…and NOT to slap working families with new costs or taxes.

And we need it NOW.

No one in America should go without health care.

No one should choose between food and medicine.

No one should go bankrupt or lose their home because their insurance company decides not to cover treatment.

The AFL-CIO is drawing a line here. 

We will not accept more handouts to insurance companies disguised as real reform. 

Help us draw that line.  

And while you have Congress on the phone, tell them to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, too.

That legislation will restore workers' lost freedom to join unions and bargain collectively without corporate intimidation, harassment and even firing.

It will let us make sure that new jobs are GOOD jobs, where employees can negotiate to raise their wages and get the benefits we all need.

In case you haven't already discovered this in the world of work: You may like your boss, he or she may give you a nice birthday card or even a cake.

But you can't always count on your boss to take care of you.

You can't count on a college education, skills training or experience to gain you decent wages and benefits.

In most cases, you can't even count on laws to protect you from being fired or denied sick leave.

You have to be able to join together with your coworkers and bargain with collective strength.

Let me tell you from experience: The best resource you will ever have to improve your life is a union card.

One summer during college, I worked in the Payroll Department at Portland General Electric, where my father worked in the line department.

The nonunion clerical employees were really at a disadvantage, compared with the union linemen like my dad, who had better pay and benefits because they negotiated for them.

So after college, I went to work for the local union when I heard those clerical workers were trying to form a union.

And tens of thousands of workers are struggling to do that today.

Whatever kind of work people do, there's a union for them.

A lot of people who haven't had unions in their own life have a stereotype of union workers: white men in hard hats.

Yes, they're union members.

But so are engineers and letter carriers, actors, utility workers like my dad, teachers, football players, writers and office workers.

Here's a little stat that might surprise you: Today, 52 percent of union members in this country are professional and technical workers.

Many of you know this because you're already labor activists.

But, when we pass the Employee Free Choice Act, everyone can find out how forming a union makes each of our voices heard in the places where we work.    

While we're changing America, we've also got to take on financial reform and student loan reform.

We've got to get our financial system out of its Wild West mentality, and adopt some real rules.

It's time to put limits on corporate greed and outrageous executive compensation and actually hold CEOs accountable for failure—for driving companies into the dirt and taking jobs and workers' savings with them – and collecting ridiculous bonuses for doing so!

Imagine being able to trust CEOs…to trust Wall Street and the banks.

Well, you should be able to!

Because one way or another, they've got your money.

Anybody here trying to pay off student loans?

Anybody here wonder how on earth they'll be able to feed themselves AND put away a hundred or two hundred thousand dollars to send a kid through college?

Right.

 

So I say it's time for major student loan reform, don't you? Time to make higher education accessible and affordable...

…with Pell grant increases…

…cutting the wasteful subsidies to student loan companies

…expanding the Perkins loan program…

…and making the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent.   

I know you believe in and are willing to work for good jobs, health care reform, workers' rights, environmental protection and world-class education.

You've got a great partner in the labor movement

These are our priorities, too.

And unions don't only work to win good contracts for their members.

Our commitment is to social and economic justice for ALL.

Union members, non-members, white-collar, blue-collar, pink-collar and green-collar.

The AFL-CIO has the strength of 11 and a half million members.

And our strength brings a unique asset: We are everywhere.

The union movement is in every state and in communities and workplaces throughout this country.

For so many campaigns—from ending child labor and winning the weekend to health care reform today—we are the grassroots, the boots on the ground.

And every young person who joins us increases our strength exponentially.

You bring the new ideas, the new energy, the new perspective.

One of my personal commitments since taking on this job is to work with young activists like you—students, young workers, union members and leaders, community activists, organizers.

I'm not talking about engaging young people just to be foot soldiers when we need help in a campaign.

I'm talking about shaping the labor movement's agenda to place a greater focus on the concerns and aspirations of young people.

So I've been meeting regularly in person and in conference calls with representatives of many of your organizations.

We're planning a major summit after the first of the year to bring all our ideas and voices together.

And I want to hear from you—in fact, put this in your address book: Liz@aflcio.org.

That's me—and that's how you can share your ideas with the elected leadership of 11 and a half million working people.

I might not be able to respond to every e-mail, but I promise you, I will read them and they will influence what we think and what we do.

As I said, the AFL-CIO is everywhere.

I hope you'll look us up in your state or local area.

Get involved—we're active in coalitions of community, student, environmental, faith and civil rights organizations that offer great opportunities to win change at every level.

And in the past couple years, the union movement has been connecting in new ways with communities and with workers who don't have the benefit of a union contract.

We started Working America, our community affiliate, which now has 3 million members.

If you're not already a union member, join Working America—go to workingamerica.org and—what a deal!—dues are optional.

We've also formed partnerships with worker centers, we help convene workers' rights boards, we partner on so many efforts to win justice for workers—from the carwash workers in Los Angeles to teachers in Washington, D.C.

I hope I'll see you in some of these places.

I hope I'll hear from you.

And I hope I'll have the opportunity to celebrate your success as leaders of a new economy that works for you and for all of us.  

Thank you.