Good MORNING, everyone!
Thank you so much, Kanitra [Porch, IBEW Local 103]! I’m so proud of your incredible work, not only as a 4th year apprentice, but how you inspire others, and give back to our movement and the community.
And thank you ALL for being here. On a Monday, Earth Day, here at the House of Labor.
I couldn’t even think of starting today…without talking about something extraordinary and historic that happened, 72 hours ago, down in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Where Volkswagen workers—after a decade of threats, intimidation and union-busting—voted overwhelmingly to join our UAW family. To build their power and send a message all across the South, that workers can join together and win!
A few weeks ago…we all watched the eclipse up in the sky, didn’t we? We saw something historic happen right in front of our eyes. THAT’s what it felt like on Friday night.
And just like we saw history made on Friday…we want to make some more history together, again this morning.
NEVER BEFORE in this building…have these three movements all come together in quite this way: the labor movement; the racial justice movement; and the environmental justice movement. This is the first, but not the last, of these critical conversations on the climate crisis.
And that speaks to two things:
First: It speaks to the way our labor movement is evolving and changing. This is not your grandfather’s labor movement, is it?
This gathering wouldn’t have happened a generation ago.
But Fred and I and our unions are working around the clock to build a modern labor movement that responds to the needs of a changing workforce and economy. One that centers racial justice. Centers young workers. Centers the experiences of Black and Brown workers who have been left behind, for too long because of systemic racism and bias. So, we’re showing up in a new way with all of you on this issue.
The second thing that’s unique about this convening and what it speaks to…is the urgency of this crisis in front of us.
Many of you know I grew up in Portland, Oregon.
When I was a kid, the summer temps were mostly in the 70s and the 80s. Maybe a rare day or two in the mid-90s.
Fast forward to today…wow, have things changed. In the past few years, it’s not unusual to have temperatures into the 100s for weeks at a time. In 2021, one of the most heartbreaking stories I remember was about Sebastian Francisco Perez, an immigrant farm worker from Guatemala who came to the U.S. to work to support his family.
And two months later…on June 26, 2021…he was working on a farm in St. Paul, Oregon, when the temperatures hit 115. He kept going…because that’s what the bosses demanded and he had to do.
His co-workers found him unconscious that afternoon. And he died. One day after his 38th birthday.
That story gutted me, as I’m sure it does everyone in this room. And just to be clear: So often these tragedies get spun as, Hey, THE CLIMATE is to blame here.
“The climate” isn’t a person. We can’t just blame the climate.
GREEDY CORPORATIONS are to blame—when they make us work in 115 degree heat, and go without water breaks and without shade…just so they can make more profits.
FAR-RIGHT POLITICIANS are to blame—when they deny that this climate crisis is even happening.
And when they refuse to vote for the most basic laws that would give us shade and water breaks.
When they refuse to invest in the public sector and infrastructure that would protect our families and communities from floods, hurricanes, and wildfires.
Our workers are at ground zero of this crisis.
We are the ones out there building factories and schools when it’s 110 degrees.
We’re the first responders and the sanitation and municipal workers who show up after a hurricane or a flood destroys a community.
We’re the workers getting sick on the job, and communities choking on polluted air and toxic water.
We’re the families who live in—and have to rebuild—our communities after a disaster.
The AFL-CIO has a network of local labor movements in every state, and every city across the country. We meet together monthly—and I don’t think a single call has gone by in the past year, when we haven’t had to talk about relief efforts as a result of the climate crisis: Fires in Hawaii. Flooding in Vermont. Undrinkable water in Flint and Jackson. Every month—every week—our labor movement and communities are responding.
This is not some ‘far-off’ issue. It’s here. And it’s hurting our people, on the job and at home.
But here’s the flip side of that coin:
We as workers, we as unions…we as environmental and civil rights leaders, and community leaders ... WE together can bring about change.
Right now…we have this HISTORIC opportunity, when it comes to the federal investments by the Biden-Harris Administration.
Hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into clean energy and infrastructure that will transform the economy; create safe, good-paying, union jobs; and make our communities more resilient.
But we have to get it right.
We have to get it right.
The corporations aren’t going to do it. They’ve shown us—over and over and over again—where they stand. Companies respond to strength; to power.
And I gotta tell you: I’ve seen the power of our movements when we come together—look at what happened in rural Georgia last year at Blue Bird, the electric bus manufacturer—Black workers coming together with allies and partners to form their union with the Steelworkers, in the south. We saw it again in Chattanooga, on Friday, as I mentioned up top.
We are proving again and again how much power we have when we stand together. Using our collective strength, we can define the future we want to see.
And I’ll tell you this: We’re not going to buy into this false choice these companies and these right-wing politicians give us. It’s not an EITHER / OR…It’s a BOTH / AND:
It’s the climate…AND our workers.
It’s the economy…AND the environment.
It’s jobs…AND justice.
It’s all of us.
And the labor movement is ready to fight on all fronts with all of you:
First: We believe that every worker and every family…deserves to be safe from these extreme climate disasters. NO ONE dying on the job from heat stress, or being caught in a warehouse in the path of a dangerous storm. Our firefighters and first responders coming home safe to their loved ones at night.
SECOND: We have to address the inequities we *know* exist in Black and Brown communities all over this country: The dangerous air quality. The drinking water. The pollution that leads to disease later in life. We need to invest in communities of color the way this country never has before: in our electric grids, pipelines, public housing, and schools.
THIRD: EVERY WORKING PERSON who wants to work in these new clean energy careers should have access to these jobs—jobs that are safe, good-paying, UNION jobs. Jobs that can help an entire family join the middle class in a single generation.
And finally: We’ll fight to make sure no worker, no community gets left behind in this new future.
This is our chance to write the next chapter in the story.
But it’s going to take all of us.
This is going to be a long road. And something tells me we will have bumps in the road and we might not always agree. We know that.
But let’s find common ground. Let’s walk this road together.
And with this gathering, with these minds in the room, we are putting a stake in the ground with all of us here together.
Thank you so much for being here and I’m excited for the conversation.
