Thank you all so much! Hello BROTHERS, SISTERS, SIBLINGS! APWU family!
It’s great to be here in Detroit with you. Motown! Labor’s town!
So much of our labor history and our story has been written here in Detroit. From the autoworkers to our teachers to the immigrants who built this city…to our APWU family down the road at Detroit District Area Local 295!
I’m looking out at all of you with so much pride and so much joy…but we’ve got to be honest about what we saw this weekend, on Saturday.
I know details are still coming in. I know—as we’ll talk about later—a lot of us have disagreements with Donald Trump and the way he wants to run this country.
But political violence is not how anyone wins, is it? Never. We win with our ideas. We win by building a movement. We win by standing together—peacefully but forcefully. THAT is the path forward. THAT is what this union knows.
A few weeks ago…I was honored when your leadership team—your President, my brother, Mark Dimondstein…my sisters and my good friends Debby Szeredy and Liz Powell…asked me to join the kickoff rally for the negotiations.
And it got me thinking about the history of *this* union. The story so many of us know well: 1970. “The strike that stunned the country.”
One of the most courageous acts we’ve ever seen in the modern history of labor.
When postal workers who didn’t have the freedom to collectively bargain…
…who didn’t have the freedom to advocate for their right to strike…
…Postal workers who worked full-time but were living on food stamps in big cities across this country…decided to stand up. Together.
First in New York…and then New England, and then 200,000 all over the country…looking the Postal Service in the eye, looking Congress in the eye…looking President Nixon in the eye…and demanding better.
Things change over 50 years. Our movement is a little bigger now.
But the lesson at the heart of that story…that will *never* go away…is it reminds us about the most important thing we have as workers.
We have the power to take things into our own hands.
Even when the laws aren’t in our favor…
Even when Congress doesn’t do its job…
We can win. We can seize our power. If we stand together.
These past few years…workers all over this country are realizing that.
They’re looking at this labor movement and they’re seeing: I can have a voice. I can win better pay. I can put myself on the path to a good retirement, a good future. I can feel hopeful again, by joining this movement.
71% of Americans support unions right now. 9 in 10 workers under 30.
We’re growing our labor movement in ways people told us was impossible.
We’re organizing in places we never have—down in the South. In new industries like big tech, and with young workers all over the country.
We’re demanding a seat at the table so OUR VOICE is heard when it comes to Artificial Intelligence and the future of work.
And we’re winning. It’s that simple.
We’re winning hearts and minds across this country. We’re winning better contracts that secure our dignity and our futures: Autoworkers. Public sector workers. Nurses. Baristas. Actors. Writers. Hotel Workers.
And guess what? APWU is NEXT! That momentum across the country is carrying right on into your negotiations!
You’ve already proven: You can take on extraordinary challenges.
A pandemic.
Vote by mail elections even with outdated equipment.
Reform battles.
Heat waves.
Harassment.
And they think…you’re going to be intimidated by a contract negotiation?
Day after day you keep this country moving.
You’re the connectors. You make sure that grandparent can get the life-saving medication they need. You make sure that 5 year old little child gets the birthday card that means so much to them.
Your work binds this country together.
And this contract is going to recognize that sacrifice and dedication.
I’m talking about a contract that…
…protects your JOB SECURITY!
…defends COLA!
…pays a GOOD WAGE a family can live on!
…and keeps every postal worker in this country SAFE ON THE JOB!
Those aren’t radical ideas, are they?
And I’ll tell you something: There isn’t anyone else I would want leading me into this fight than this leadership team you have.
A president in Mark Dimondstein…
Who speaks truth to power!
Who is one of the most principled people I’ve ever met in my life!
Who will not back down for one second!
A Secretary-Treasurer in Liz Powell—my friend and my sister—who is helping us grow this movement in ways we never have before!
An Executive Vice President in Debby Szeredy—who has been in the trenches and showing up for working people for decades!
And all the elected leaders, staff and activists that power this incredible union.
When you win this historic new contract…it’s going to be one more thing that people all over this country can point to and say: There is a better way forward.
People are fed up—are you hearing it out there? Damn right.
Does it make sense to anyone in this room…that the richest people in this country have seen their wealth go up by $1.8 TRILLION—trillion with a T—while workers struggle to put food on the table?
Does it make sense to anyone in this room…that Jeff Bezos makes in seven seconds what an Amazon warehouse worker makes in a year? That he has enough money to rocket himself into space…while half this country lives paycheck to paycheck?
People are doing MORE AND MORE…for LESS AND LESS. They have less control over their lives; less time to spend with their families.
They want to know that things can change. That it doesn’t have to be this way.
And they’re being offered two paths right now.
One is to demonize. To turn on their fellow workers. To divide ourselves by race, by orientation, by religion, by immigration status.
Then there’s the better path.
Where we come together. Where we take on our *real* enemies. Where we bring hope and better lives to tens of millions of people.
That’s OUR LABOR MOVEMENT, isn’t it?
WE are the place to go to make change.
We know…no federal agency, no company, no one period should tell a woman what to do with her own body!
We know…you can’t bring a machine in to do the job of a SKILLED WORKER!
And we know…the best path to a middle-class life…to a family and a home and a good retirement…is a GOOD UNION JOB!!
We’re going to tell that story every day, for the next four months, ahead of the most important election of our lifetime.
Because here’s what I hear from workers:
- Don’t tell me *who* to vote for.
- Don’t tell me from the top-down.
- Just give me the facts. No B.S.
So let’s talk about some facts.
It’s a fact that Democrats in this country are having hard conversations right now. Rational people are entitled to their opinions—and I fully respect that.
But let’s talk about a more important fact. One that I don’t think any of us can dispute:
The alternative on the Republican side…would be a living, breathing disaster for every worker in this country.
We can condemn the events of Saturday…and still speak honestly about the kind of future Donald Trump wants our workers to face.
Let’s talk about the fact that he sold us down the river for four years—so his billionaire friends could get even richer.
Let’s talk about Donald Trump calling our Postal Service “a joke” in the middle of a pandemic. Insulting every postal worker who put their life on the line to keep service going.
Let’s talk about him saying there was “corruption” and “mass fraud” in vote-by-mail—when every data point in existence suggests it’s the opposite.
THOSE are facts.
And here’s some more about what a future with Republicans would look like. You all know about Project 2025 by now, don’t you?
So let me ask you a few things.
Do we want a world…where public-sector bargaining is OUTLAWED?
…Where our employers face NO CONSEQUENCES for making us work in brutal conditions, with equipment that isn’t safe?
…where the retirement plans of federal workers are slashed?
…Where it’s damn near impossible to protect our right to organize and strike across the labor movement?
THAT’s the future they’re talking about, behind closed doors right now.
And I’ll tell you why: These employers…these billionaires…these far-right politicians…they’re scared. They’re scared of the power and the momentum we have right now.
They’re scared that working people are standing up for ourselves and winning.
And that’s their response: To try to rig the rules even more against us.
We can’t let it happen. We cannot let that happen. It’s too important to our movement. It’s too important to the future of workers all over this country.
So I want to ask you…are you ready to do everything you can to fight back?
Can you get out there and shout our story FROM THE ROOFTOPS?
Can you show Donald Trump just how wrong he is about those mail-in ballots?
Can you get out there and MAKE A DIFFERENCE every day, from now til Election Day to get people registered to vote?
I’m FIRED UP. I hope you all are too! We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. But if we stick together and leave nothing to chance, WE WILL WIN. Let’s get to work. Thank you.