Thank you, Brother Pat [Finley]. Thank you for your truly overly generous words of introduction. And thank you for inviting me to your convention. I’m honored to join you here. Thank you!
Pat, you’re a good union man. And I’m proud to call you my brother.
And let me tell you how much I admire your union, your members bring tremendous skill and professionalism to masonry and plaster work and all of your trades. It’s hard work, physically taxing and complicated, but your training is top-of-the-line, and your members earn good pay because first of all, you deliver a quality product every single day, and, just as important, you stand together, so you can bargain effectively for good pay and quality benefits. It’s been a winning combination for about 150 years, which is quite a long time, and from day one, your union has been especially valuable for veterans. You have helped thousands of veterans build good careers, and I thank you for that. I’ve heard it said—and I believe it’s true—that soldiers fresh from the Civil War joined the ranks of the National Plasters’ Union back in 1864, to learn a skilled trade and to build a better life for themselves and their families. That’s one hell of a fine legacy, a legacy to be proud of.
And right now, today, veterans are still finding a home with OPCMIA, through the Helmets to Hardhats program. That’s a modern achievement that matches your past excellence. Thank you for your work for America’s proud veterans.
And another thing, sisters and brothers, and that’s the positive employment picture for your members. I’m telling you, it feels good to hear good news. After six long years of layoffs and unemployment, your members are fully employed, and you’re looking for new apprentices. I’ve even heard you’re bringing retired members back onto the job to meet demand. You’ve weathered a hard, hard storm, my friends, and you can hold your heads high.
I’d like to mention one other thing, your success has been well-earned. It speaks to your powerful leadership, to the true dedication and skill of your members. It speaks to the honor and commitment your members bring to the job every single day, and I commend you for it. So let’s all stand up and give a round of applause, to your history and your future, a strong future.
When we talk about the future of America, sometimes we hear a lot of doom and gloom. But I see a world of opportunity. I see millions of workers who want the benefits of solidarity. The kind of solidarity that built and grew your union.
The labor movement has an opportunity, an opening. All over this country, people are talking about economic inequality, people who never spoke the words before. The public is debating big issues, like wages good enough so we can really live. The public is debating collective bargaining. We’re talking about rights on the job. We’re talking about raising wages—and let me tell you something, the same people who like the idea of raising wages, are going to like the reality of raising wages a whole lot more.
We know what brings fair pay and rights on the job. We know that the best way to fair pay, is a union contract.
The best way to retirement security, is a union contract.
The best way to a better tomorrow, so we can give our family a decent life and health care and a good education, it all comes back to a union contract.
You see, unionism works. It’s the ticket to the middle class, and that’s not too much to ask, because we’re the workers of America.
We built the American middle class once, and we’ll rebuild it again.
From the building site to the factory floor, we do it all. We build archways and overpasses. We carry the load and answer the call. We do what it takes, no matter what the cost. We wake our country up every single day, and we tuck her into bed at night. We won’t be turned aside. We won’t be faced down, and we will not be denied.
Brothers and sisters, we’re all too familiar with the story of the past 40 years. We know how productivity rose while wages froze, which meant virtually all of the wealth created by our constantly growing economy has gone to the richest 1%.
And we know, our economy doesn’t work when work doesn’t pay.
You see, we’re done with quietly sliding down the downward spiral. I can’t promise we’ll win every fight, but I can promise we’ll fight like hell.
When we fight, we win, because our values are mainstream values. You see, 72% of the American people say federal investment in infrastructure to create jobs should be a top national priority. Eighty-two percent of the public wants good American manufacturing jobs, not more bad trade deals. That’s an idea that unites us, and 90% of the American people want an end to Chinese currency manipulation, 90%, that’s an idea that unites almost every single one of us! You see, working people may embrace a range of philosophies, religions and political points of view, but we are still united by the circumstances of our lives, and by the vision and the hopes we share.
And so it is up to you and me, to each of us, to help bridge the gap for the workers who share our values, but who don’t yet see how our interests come together. That’s why we’re reaching out to all workers, even if they fly the Tea Party flag, I won’t write anybody off, certainly not the Tea Party populists, because when it comes to economic issues, we must stand together with anybody who will stand with us, so the voices of America, our America, can be heard in the workplace and in our national life. Together, we can turn cynicism into stubborn action.
I want to tell you about one of the polls we did at the AFL-CIO. Recently 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. Guess who we asked in that poll? Registered Republicans. That poll was of voters registered with the Republican Party. Here’s what this means, strong majorities of all working class people, even working-class Republicans, share our values. This means working people of every stripe share the same basic challenges in our work and home lives, and we recognize economics are at the heart of our problems. We may have our differences, but we are united by the circumstances of our lives.
The possibility exists for us, once again, to build a consistent bipartisan majority for working family issues. We will stand with leaders who stand for the priorities of working families.
Democratic, Republican, Independent, whatever we call ourselves, we are tired of losing middle-class jobs. We’ve been wondering why the deck seems stacked against us. We’re sick of the politicians who keep pushing corporate free trade agreements on us. We’re done with those job-killing corporate hand-outs. Those are the most unpopular things in the country, except among Wall Street executives who want to ship our jobs overseas.
Here’s a new one. Now, some corporate CEOs want to forsake America entirely and ship their patriotism overseas. It’s called corporate inversion, and it’s when profitable corporations more or less open a P.O. Box in another country, just so they can call it home, and avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes. It’s un-American. And it’s offensive to patriotic Americans who do our duty and pay our taxes. And it has to stop.
It’s the same old game from the same corporate players. We’re done with that. The rest of us want an end to the politics of cruelty, the politics of poverty, the politics of exclusion, the politics of racism, the politics of do-nothingism. The time is right. The world is changing. The power of the 99% is growing.
There is a new story in America. You see, people are starting to understand the connection between good jobs and a strong economy. A powerful majority says our growing inequality is bad for America. And more than 70% of America’s voters support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. You know, it’s been so long since the minimum wage last went up. Sarah Palin was still governor of Alaska, that’s true. And the last time the minimum wage went up for tipped workers, was back in 1991, when Bill and Hillary Clinton still lived in Little Rock, Arkansas!
We’re going to fight to raise the minimum wage, because work should lift us from poverty, not trap us in it. That’s a popular idea in America today.
People are starting to understand how the minimum wage is connected to everybody’s wage, that lifting the wage floor will lift all of us together.
It works like this: household expenditures make up 70% of the American economy. That’s how raising wages will create jobs, because when workers do well, America does well. We buy goods and services to improve our lives. We create demand, and then corporations hire more workers to meet that demand. It’s what you call a virtuous cycle. It’s the opposite of a race to the bottom. It’s the foundation of a strong economy built on raising wages, not credit card debt and asset bubbles.
This is the new story in America. It’s the story of the great wealth divide, and what we’re doing to fix it. This new story in America didn’t start in Washington, D.C., or in the centers of American power. It didn’t come from Wall Street. It comes from masons, and plasterers, from worksites, and office buildings. It comes from the domestic workers and the day laborers, and the recent college graduates who search for work under a cloud of crushing debt. Working people are standing together again, and thinking about politics in a whole new way. If you remember one thing I say today, remember this: We are fighting for our values, not for candidates or parties.
You see, we do not work for any candidate. We are 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. We’ll work with anyone who will work with us. And we’re not afraid of holding anybody’s feet to the fire. Working families need results. Period.
We’re asking hard questions of every candidate who wants our support, and one question we want every candidate to answer is, do you support America’s workers? Do you support our right to bargain collectively for a better life? Will you grow our economy, not shrink it? Will you raise wages?
And I promise, I swear, nobody will work harder, or smarter, or longer, to elect the leaders who make the right commitments, and nobody will work harder, or longer, to defeat those who don’t, regardless of political party.
This electoral season, I have a big ask for you. I want you to do this with me. I want you to lead with me. I want you to work like never before. Be the leaders who lead by example. Be the first to knock on doors. Be seen at the phone banks. I’ll be doing it, too.
We’ll motivate our volunteers. We’ll strengthen our activists. We’ll help each other connect with more working-class voters, get more working families to the polls, because if we want the policies we need, if we want all working people to get a fair share, we need the right leaders in our states and for this country. We’ve got to engage and turn out our people. When I say, “our people,” I mean union members and families but also like-minded folks in our neighborhoods and communities.
And here’s the best part, after the polls close on Election Day, we’ll have a stronger network of activists and local leaders, ready to mobilize and pressure our state and national leaders for the policies we need, and we’ll stand ready to support our organizing for the union members of tomorrow.
Standing together, working people will change this country, our country!
And 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!
Brothers and sisters, we’re fighting for what’s right, and we intend to win. Power and hope are rising. America’s workers are standing up, standing together. You’ve seen the fast food workers. You’ve supported the Walmart moms.
And listen, I’ve heard some people, good people, talk about fast food workers. I’ve heard people say $15 an hour is too much for a burger flipper.
Two things about that: Number one, it’s disrespectful. Fast food work is tough, hard work. It’s not shameful—and it deserves the respect all work deserves. Number two, I can remember a day when people said $4.25 an hour was too much for a cement mason! Do any of you remember that?
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 respect, for fairness, for good pay and benefits, and for the prospect of a decent retirement.
We’ve got a lot of big things to accomplish.
We’ve got to work hard through Election Day, and then we’ve got to push for the policies that will build an American economy for the long haul.
And 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 your legislative accountability. We need you for our voter registration drives. We need you for your solidarity. For a better life, for unionism!
That’s what we’re about. We’re about changing lives, lifting lives, and scrambling and reaching for a little more hope. We have a vision, and we’re going to make it real, because when all of us pitch in, that’s shared sacrifice. That’s shared responsibility. We do what it takes. 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.
We’ll rise together. We’ll march together. We’ll fight side-by-side. We’ll win arm-in-arm. To bring out the best in ourselves. To bring out the best in each other. To bring out the best in America. Together. Standing together. Fighting together. Voting together. Winning together. Winning for America!
Thank you. Thank you, and God bless you!