Thank you, Brother Jim [Boland], for your kind words of introduction. And thank you all for having me here at your convention. This is an important year… 150 years of continuously lifting up the lives of working people.
I am extremely proud of this union. You make good buildings. You bargain good contracts. You organize. You stand up for what’s right. You live the theme of this convention… “Build… Adapt… Change.”
150 years ago… bricklayers and stone masons and craft workers of all kinds stepped away from their jobs and joined the fight to end the evil of slavery. After a terribly long and bloody war, the forces of freedom prevailed. Some of those soldiers returned home and founded this union. That is a powerful legacy, and it guides the Bricklayers to this day.
As a union, you remain committed to fairness and freedom for all… for our new immigrants and for our brothers and sisters of color. I see your commitment in your resolution against mass incarceration and your statements for justice and #blacklivesmatter. I see it in your work for immigration reform and for your direct advocacy for union and non-union bricklayers alike.
Every day, and in every way, the Bricklayers are fighting to expand American freedom.
Across our entire labor movement, we’re finding new ways to build bridges within our communities, and one issue is particularly urgent today… and that’s the epidemic of racism. When we are divided by race, it is easier for our political opponents to keep us down, to kill our jobs and lower our wages.
We know racism is wrong. We believe with every fiber of our being that #blacklivesmatter. Our core values tell us every life matters. Every single life. That’s why we must eradicate bigotry in all of its forms. To do this, we need a true dialogue… so all of us can be heard. This isn’t about casting blame against other working people. This is about all of us… together… moving forward toward justice… and shared prosperity… guided by our shared values.
Brothers and sisters, we’re here in Baltimore for this convention because we know work matters and so do the people that do the work. Whether you’re laying bricks to build a school or cleaning its classroom floor, you do your part to make America run.
Together, we’ll rise to create an economy that really works for every single one of us!
To understand the challenges ahead of us, we don’t have to look any further than his great American city.
And I want to personally thank you, Mayor Rawlings-Blake, for your leadership in our united effort to bring jobs and justice to Baltimore. We have a lot of work to do here, but we will persevere. We can and will make progress. And we will stand beside you as together we rebuild Baltimore from the ground up. You’ve got my word on that.
Brothers and sisters, please join me in a show of appreciation for Mayor Rawlings-Blake!
Brothers and sisters, we are activists. We are trade unionists. We know what’s right and what’s wrong, and we’re not afraid to stand up and say it.
We are guided by one central idea. It’s like our North Star. We’re working… for a better life. The way we’ll get there is by raising wages… any way we can and everywhere we can. We want raising wages and everything that comes with it. Good pay, great benefits, fair schedules, paid sick leave and a voice on the job.
We know the best way to raise wages is to organize. The best ladder to the middle class is a collective bargaining agreement. It is the single best way to raise wages and build a ladder to the middle class. Collective bargaining is our priority, but we’ll raise wages any way we can. We’ll campaign to raise the minimum wage. We’ll fight for paid sick leave and family leave. We’ll win fair schedules and equal pay for equal work.
We know what works… and we know what doesn’t work. Corporate trade deals don’t work. That’s why we’re against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The truth is these trade deals have ripped apart the fabric of our nation. You know it and I know it. We know the shuttered factories and the towns that look like they’re stuck in the 1970s. We know workers who lost everything, only to be told they should retrain in another field for half the pay.
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, whatever, ALL working people are tired of these damn bad trade deals full of corporate entitlements.
And let’s be real, our trade policies are a bipartisan failure. For three decades, Democrats and Republicans have sold us down the river. From NAFTA to CAFTA to Korea and now the TPP, our elected officials have continually put profits over people. That’s why we fought so hard against Fast Track.
I want to thank you for everything you did to kill Fast Track. Let me tell you, we came this close to achieving our goal. The corporate lobbyists pulled out every trick in the book and still only managed to squeak by. But listen close. We have forever changed the debate about trade in America.
Our opponents thought the TPP was a slam dunk. It was supposed to be finished by now. But there is still no agreement.
Brothers and sisters, we did that. We made everybody, including the elites, take a long hard look. And if it comes up for a vote, we are going to kill the TPP once and for all.
Not only that… the unity we forged during the Fast Track fight will help us in other important fights… from fair overtime pay to labor law reform. We are demanding more. We are demanding better. We are demanding raising wages and a rising tide for every worker in America!
Raising wages is our measuring stick for the 2016 election. As you know, the AFL-CIO has not yet made an endorsement, but we are not sitting back. We have been grilling presidential candidates on what actions they will take to make our economy fairer for working families.
We also make crystal clear that we do not work for any political party or candidate. We work for working people, plain and simple, because we want the freedom to live better lives, to take care of our families and to improve our jobs and our communities.
Brothers and sisters, for too long we’ve worked for the Democratic Party. It is time to start making the Democratic Party start working for us.
A big part of our raising wages agenda is collective bargaining. And let me tell you, collective bargaining is on the rise. This year 5 million union workers are negotiating contracts. This is the biggest year for bargaining in American history. So why is this important?
In the first six months of this year alone, working people in all kinds of jobs have won an average pay increase of 4.3 percent the old-fashioned way—by demanding it. By standing in solidarity for it.
With our contracts, we can raise the bar for ALL workers. So your contract lifts up my contract, and my contract lifts up your contract. And I want you to know the AFL-CIO will have your back as you head to the bargaining table. And my message to employers everywhere is this: we helped you pull through the hard times. Profits are rising. We expect our wages and benefits to rise with them. We want our fair share.
Raising wages also means investing in our infrastructure.
We need to go big. I’m talking trillions with a T. No more nickel-and-dime transportation bills. America should have the best infrastructure in the world—and I want you to help build it. Investing in infrastructure… whether its school construction or energy… is the smart thing we can do. It will make our jobs better. It will create new jobs. And it will have economic benefits across the supply chain—what people in transportation like to call the multiplier effect. So it is long past time for our elected officials to get off their butts and take care of business. And when they do, they’ll take care of our end, building the infrastructure, together.
Let me close with a story. I remember back when my son Rich was young—maybe three or four years old. Now he’s a lawyer. He’s getting married in just a few weeks. Back then when he was a kid, his grandfather had gotten him one of those battery operated jeeps. You parents know what I’m talking about. He and his buddy Chad were driving around in the backyard.
I was out there too—talking on the phone about what else—unions. Rich must have overheard me because he drove up and said: “Dad what’s a union?”
So I told him to try to push his jeep up the hill in our backyard. He strained and struggled, but he couldn’t get it up the hill. Then I told his friend Chad to give him a hand. Working together, they got the job done. I looked right at my son and said: “That’s a union.”
Today working men and women can feel like we’re struggling and pushing without getting anywhere. Wages are too low. Benefits are too few. Retirement security just isn’t.
It’s hard.
And the corporate right-wing is waging the most sophisticated anti-worker campaign we have ever seen.
But even in the face of these enormous challenges, I know we can… and we will win a new day for working people… together.
The Koch Brothers and Scott Walker can spend all the money in the world, but they do not have the men and women in this room.
I will take our might over their money any day of the week.
When we work together, there is no challenge too difficult, no obstacle too great, no hill too steep.
So brothers and sisters, pledge with me today that we’ll fight together. We’ll stand together. We’ll push together. We’ll organize together. We’ll mobilize together. We’ll register together. We’ll vote together. And we’ll win together.
Thank you! God bless you, and the work you do.
