Thank you so much, Anita, my sister from the Northwest—thank you for your amazing leadership of Local 8!
HELLO, UNITE HERE!
I’ve gotta tell you all: Watching these strike videos today, seeing those videos from Atlantic City, LA, and all over North America…it brought back some memories!
Last October, I got to stand with those casino workers up in Detroit. Does anyone remember what they were calling it? Strike City, that’s right.
I was up there walking alongside Nia Winston and UNITE HERE Local 24—who had been out there on the line for week after week after week. Who had put up with rain and sleet and snow.
And yet to a person…what they would tell me, over and over again, was one simple phrase: As long as it takes. As long as it takes.
They were walking those picket lines with a toughness that only comes from a core belief, deep in your bones…that what you’re fighting for is right. And when you have that, and an entire movement behind you—brothers and sisters and siblings from every walk of life…nothing can stop you.
Especially when you have such extraordinary leadership—the best I’ve seen in the labor movement. That spirit that D Taylor brought—to try new ideas, to innovate, to organize in new ways and not be afraid to fail—that spirit is alive and well not just at UNITE HERE but across our labor movement, inspired in no small part by you.
D, we are grateful for that drive and unrelenting focus on Organizing you brought to the AFL-CIO, and I personally am grateful for your partnership and cousel over the many years.
And I know Gwen and this team are ready to keep building on that legacy in their own way!
I first met Gwen when she was immersed in the graduate workers organizing drive at Yale in May of 2017—we protested at the graduation and I’ll never forget that sea of bright orange Local 33, 34 and 35 shirts and caps. In typical Gwen fashion, she was leading, but by uplifting others—the graduate workers were in front.
I admired how she was ready to roll up her sleeves no matter what was needed, whether it was printing up flyers or chanting with a bullhorn, she made it happen. Gwen jumps in with both feet, no matter if it’s managing the finances as SecretaryTreasurer, building a world-class political program, or uplifting, immigrant, and women voices within the union.
No matter where I go to stand with UNITE HERE workers…I’ve seen that same resolve. You do whatever it takes to get the job done.
I see it down in New Orleans, with members at the Superdome and Smoothie King Arena, and the history-making new contracts they won for themselves!
I see it out in Southern California—with the thousands of room attendants and hotel cooks who just took on some of the biggest chains in the country and WON.
I see it in Philadelphia—with the cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers and concessions workers at Aramark who put their bodies on the line, just a few days ago on Market Street…in Vancouver, with the airport workers who are fighting for better wages.
I see it all over North America.
In every hotel worker…
Every casino worker…
Every garment and textile worker…
Every Amtrak dining car worker…
Every food service worker—in our airports, colleges, schools, stadiums, and parks…
When someone asks me…what does a modern, inclusive, innovative labor movement look like today? I say: GO LOOK AT UNITE HERE!
What a difference five years makes.
At your last convention five years ago…Donald Trump was our president.
We didn’t know that in just a few months we’d face one of the greatest challenges we as a labor movement have ever seen, with the coronavirus pandemic.
NO ONE was hit harder than this union. 98% out of work as hospitality came to a halt.
And it would’ve been easy to just give up at that point.
But that’s not what this union does.
You got creative. You innovated. You found a way to campaign and canvas virtually.
You pushed lawmakers to pass legislation to help those in need.
You took this moment when folks were ready to write you off…and you came out of it even stronger.
That’s the exact same story as our labor movement right now, isn’t it?
There have been a lot of folks over the past few decades who have written us off.
We are proving them wrong every single day, aren’t we?
We are growing our labor movement in ways people told us was impossible.
We are the REASON 71% of Americans support unions right now, and 9 in 10 workers under 30.
And we need every bit of that momentum. Because we’re in one of those moments, right now, that’s going to be remembered for a long time.
Today I want to talk about the *next* five years.
The *next* time we gather together for this Convention…what we want to be able to say to each other.
Because the pendulum is gonna swing, one way or the other.
We’re either going to look back and say…“We did everything we possibly could…to grow this movement, to protect our democracy, to show people something better is possible…”
OR…we’ll say to ourselves, “If only we’d done just a little bit more. If only we reached out to a few more people…if only we made our case a little bit better.”
I don’t want to wake up with that feeling in five years knowing I could have done more. I know no one in this room does, either.
But that’s what’s on the table.
People are fed up—are you hearing it out there? Damn right.
Does it make sense to anyone in this room…that the average CEO is making 272 times what the average worker is making?
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…an immigrant doesn’t stand between you and a good job, a BILLIONAIRE does.
We know…one job should be ENOUGH!
The best path to a middle-class life…toward economic security…to a family and a home and a good retirement…is a GOOD UNION JOB!!
We’re gonna tell it by organizing in new sectors and new places.
The exact same way UNITE HERE has reached out into brewers…and college cafeteria workers…and Disney cast members…and said: COME BE PART OF THIS MOVEMENT.
Going into the Deep South—where companies and right-wing politicians that has *always* tried to keep us out—and taking the fight right to them.
Bringing in more women and people of color—and making sure they are trained not just to be part of this movement, but to LEAD.
We’re gonna tell that story by defining the future of work on OUR terms, too.
Making sure we have a VOICE when it comes to AI and automation—the same way UNITE HERE has done for a long time now.
Finally: We’re gonna tell that story every day, for the next five months, ahead of the most important election of our lifetime.
Everyone in this room knows the choice couldn’t be clearer.
But even if *we* know that…we need to connect that story to people’s lives.
What I hear from workers over and over again is this:
Don’t tell me *who* to vote for.
Don’t tell me from the top-down.
Just give me the facts. No B.S.
Well we can start making the comparisons clear:
We have a President Joe Biden who WALKED A UNION PICKET LINE for the first time in American history…versus a guy who walks into a courtroom every other day!
We have a President who has created more than 14 million jobs…running against a guy whose best job creation right now is for his own lawyers!
We have a President who actually meets with our hotel workers, and listens to them…versus a guy who runs hotels into the ground!
And if we do this right…there is *no one better* at doing that than our labor movement.
Our members can be that trusted source for people.
Our members can have those one-on-one conversations—with their friends, their neighbors, their loved ones.
Our members can speak to the issues that matter.
Member-to-member. Not talking about political parties. But about the actual difference in someone’s life that is at stake this November. About how this vote isn’t red, or blue, it’s about YOU. Your family. Your power that you have as a worker.
If we connect with people that way…we’re going to lead the largest labor mobilization in American history on November 5.
And we’re gonna build something bigger than any candidate or election cycle.
So that’s my challenge as I leave you all here today.
Be louder than ever about telling our story.
Leave this convention fired up—to go talk to more people about the union difference has made in your life.
We have more credibility than ever before—let’s use it.
Let’s keep building together.
I can’t wait to see where we go from here. Thank you.
