Thank you SO MUCH, Fred!!
Can we give it up one more time for my friend, my brother…one of the greatest labor leaders I know…our Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond??
Good MORNING, everyone! To our union family, friends, and everyone watching along: Welcome to Year Two of State Of The Unions!
I’m Liz Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO.
We represent nearly 13 million workers in our Federation across 60 unions.
I’m so proud to be up here bringing their voices into the room.
So…this time every year, we come together to put the LABOR back in Labor Day.
People have been asking me, what is the state of our unions?
I’m here to tell you, from the picket line, to the bargaining table, to the ballot box in November…
The state of our unions is Battle Ready!
As much as we love the barbecues, the mattress sales…this is OUR week, isn’t it? This is about recognizing and appreciating the workers who make this country RUN!
Last year, for the first time, we started a conversation about how workers are doing in this country. We showed you some numbers that might have surprised you—ones up on that screen right now.
71% of Americans support unions.
And nine in 10 young people under the age of 30.
Today is about the next chapter.
It’s about workers continuing to find their power in two very distinct ways.
First: *WE ARE* the ones who are going to decide this election. In these swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada that are going to come down to one, two percent…union voters are 20% of the electorate. One in every five.
And second: Our workers are powerful because they have something that is so rare today: They have the trust of those around them. They are credible political messengers. They can connect with each other and people in their communities…in a way no one else can.
Raise your hand if you’ve felt…it’s hard to just have a conversation, about politics, with someone you disagree with? Where someone has figured out what team you play for…and then just tuned you out? Or—let’s admit it—maybe *we’ve* done it to someone else.
And yet here we are in a room full of union members…and we don’t see that playing out. Because when you ask a union member who their most trusted source in the world is on politics…it’s not their friends. It’s not their family, or their loved ones. It’s their fellow union member.
That is a fascinating data point, isn’t it? First off: I’m not sure what it says about some of those family members we all have, but hey!
But it’s not hard to see why union workers trust each other.
We talk to each other in the break room every morning. We carpool home. We’re on the factory floor together, or in the teacher’s lounge, or outside on a construction site, braving the elements, while everyone else is asleep. We know each other, inside and out.
And when you combine that trust with this organizing machine we’ve built, this ability to connect with our members, our families, our neighbors, and mobilize on a dime…you have a force multiplier. You have a movement that can actually deliver voters and win an election.
A few days ago, I was on the stage in Chicago at the DNC Convention.
And I looked out at the sea of delegates on the floor…knowing almost one-quarter of them were union delegates. More than we’ve had in a long, long time. And whatever party you belong to…here’s what it says: Workers are growing our power in this country in a way we haven’t in a generation. We are seen as a force to be reckoned with.
And it’s about damn time.
Because when I travel the country and talk to working people—our members, but also people who aren’t yet in a union—you know what I hear them say?
I hear them say, I’m *tired* of the way things have been going. I’m *tired* of going to the grocery store, and seeing it take more out of my paycheck than it ever has.
I’m *tired,* for people my age in the sandwich generation—trying to care for my kids and my parents at the exact same time.
And I’ll tell you what I hear from this young generation of workers coming up:
I can’t believe there used to be a time when you could work one full-time job…and then put a down payment on a home. I don’t let myself even *think* about the future.
And it’s crazy that’s the daily reality for people all over this country.
Because here’s the truth:
Workers in this country have never been more productive.
We have never created the kind of wealth for companies…that we are creating right now.
So where’s it all going?
[BILLIONAIRE VIDEO PLAYS]
NOW…this isn’t about “picking on” these guys who have made a few bucks. Just a few.
It’s about reminding ourselves: What we just saw should not be possible.
This game has been rigged against most of us for a long time.
And we need to fundamentally re-write the rules—by winning elections, by passing laws, by having the right to stand up for ourselves—if we’re going to balance the scales.
We are the ones to do that.
We can’t let them divide us anymore.
Every minute we let them talk about an immigrant coming here to ‘take our job’…is a minute we’re not focused on a system where Jeff Bezos makes $7.9 million every hour.
Every second we let Elon Musk talk about people going ‘woke’…is a second we don’t spend on him and Donald Trump laughing at their ability to fire us. Listen to this.
[TRUMP/MUSK VIDEO PLAYS]
They used to say that in back rooms. Now they’re saying it out loud.
But all over the country…people are realizing there’s a movement where you actually *can* fight back against people like that.
Where you *actually can* get some power and some control over your future.
Where it’s not about your race, your gender, age, orientation, religion—it’s just about standing up for your freedom.
To everyone out there who feels *tired* right now…who feels *alone* right now…who doesn’t feel *happy* with how things are going…look at the joy on that screen right now.
That is our UAW autoworkers in Chattanooga, right after they made history at Volkswagen.
That’s our Machinists in Seattle…who filled a freaking baseball stadium to tell Boeing: GIVE US THE CONTRACT WE DESERVE!
Those are our sisters in the National Women’s Soccer League players association…who rewrote the sports rulebook, and GOT RID of their draft…and set a new standard, so they can have a voice in where they go to work, like every other worker in this country!!
Think about those workers we heard from, just a minute ago…
David Walrod and the Fairfax teachers…
Autumn Mitchell and her Code CWA family…
Jazz Baxter and everyone at UNITE HERE, who are kicking ass and taking names!!
Every one of these workers…is proof that something better is out there.
That there’s a movement full of JOY, and LOVE, and a way to have some FUN and make your life better at the same time. And to anyone sitting at home watching this right now: If you feel like you’ve been in this fight alone…COME JOIN US.
COME FIND YOUR FAMILY IN A UNION.
NOW…all these wins…they’re not accidents.
They’re happening because we’ve invested in our grassroots network all over the country. Building local power and organizing capacity.
Nearly half a million workers on strike in 2023.
More than 2,700 union election filings—the most we’ve EVER SEEN.
900,000 workers in unions who won double-digit pay increases last year ALONE!
That is power.
And what’s the point of building all this power on the ground…if we don’t use it when it really matters? When absolutely everything is on line?
In 2016…a lot of folks in this movement—like so many people in this country—gave Donald Trump a chance. He did that same trick we talked about earlier, didn’t he? He divided us.
And then we watched for four years—four awful years—as he tried to destroy us.
Workers literally DIED because of how he responded to the pandemic.
Workers are worse off because he undermined our basic right to come together in a union.
This country is worse because he took 1.5 trillion dollars—that could have been used for our schools, roads, hospitals, communities—and gave tax cuts to the billionaires he golfs with.
When the next election came around…we delivered Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House—and every single day since, we’ve seen the difference.
Now…it’s time to go even bigger. Because it’s all on the line on November 5.
I’m going to quote Coach Walz here for a minute when it comes to Project 2025: You don’t spend so much time coming up with a playbook you’re not gonna use.
If you’re a woman or you care about your spouse, your sister, your daughter, your mother…you should be appalled by what’s on those pages. By a party that believes we don’t deserve to make choices about our own bodies.
If you want a stronger economy for all of us…you know the answer isn’t a mass deportation of workers and families with nowhere to go.
If you’re a worker or just think workers should have basic fairness—to organize, strike, and retire with dignity—you should not stand for a Project 2025 agenda that guts those rights.
There is a better future out there.
Where we don’t fight each other for scraps—we fight the billionaires standing in our way!!
Where there’s no such thing as a MAN’s job or a WOMAN’s job—or a BLACK job, Donald Trump—just GOOD UNION JOBS!
…. Where every worker in this country can stand up and say FROM EXPERIENCE…
IT’S BETTER…IN…A UNION!!
Kamala Harris was walking our picket lines…while Donald Trump was crossing them, and JD Vance was still giving TedTalks to billionaires in Aspen.
Kamala Harris has delivered for working families—and has a running mate in Tim Walz, who is our union brother. Who has dedicated his life to public service.
And they’ve put forward a vision of freedom, and dignity, and fairness we can *all* be part of.
Labor has never been more important than we are right now.
In those swing states we talked about earlier—Pennsylvania. Michigan. Wisconsin. Nevada—I’ll tell you what the union margin is for Kamala Harris: PLUS FIFTEEN. Guess what it is when you take labor out of the equation? NEGATIVE TWO.
We *are* the difference.
We have the trust—with our union members, and spouses, children, parents that we bring along. There’s a reason they call it a union household which doubles and triples our impact.
And we know how to do it. We have a well-oiled organizing machine in every state, especially in the battlegrounds with our state and local AFL-CIO networks. We have workers who are actually trained in how to have those tough conversations. How to steer them toward kitchen-table issues. How to challenge someone, respectfully, if we need to.
A few months ago I walked up to this guy in a MAGA hat on a picket line. And in any other situation…the two of us probably aren’t talking, right? Maybe a door gets slammed in one of our faces. Maybe we trade insults on Twitter.
But we started to talk a bit about politics. And he looked at me and said: “I’ll hear you out…because I know we both love our unions.”
Those conversations are the key to *everything.*
Talking to each other again.
Empathy and grace, instead of vitriol.
Coming together—to solve problems that actually matter to our families.
And our members know how to do it.
To everybody watching…all we need now is YOU.
Whether you’re in a union yet or NOT…let’s mobilize together like never before.
So I need to hear it: Are you ready to bring one, two, FIVE, TEN new voters to the polls?
Are you going to show up for a canvass this weekend and knock doors for Labor Day?!
Can we count on you to sign up for a Day of Action in one of those big swing states?
Are you ready to do everything humanly possible to win this election?
And in case you wanted somewhere to get started…look at that BLINKING SIGN on screen like an infomercial. This isn’t a sales pitch it’s just an easy way to sign up and make a difference RIGHT NOW!
Every time we come together like this…there are a lot of people who love to tell us “you can’t do that,” or “that’s impossible.”
They say we’re dreaming too big.
Or up against too much money, too much power.
But they said that to our educators and school staff in Fairfax County, didn’t they?
They said it to our video gamers at Code CWA, didn’t they?
They’re telling that to our UNITE HERE family in Baltimore right now, aren’t they?
I gotta tell you…nothing gives me more JOY and satisfaction than proving them wrong, every…damn…time!!
Are you all ready to prove them wrong???
Because when we fight…(we win!)
Let’s get it done! Thank you!!