Speech | Civil Rights

Trumka to Boilermakers Convention: Your Values Are In Exactly the Right Place

Las Vegas, Nev.

Thank you, Brother Newt [Jones]. I appreciate you and your union tremendously. Solidarity and a commitment to America’s middle class are front and center for the Boilermakers. Thank you for bringing me to Vegas to speak to your convention. Your union is strong and has a powerful future, because your values are in exactly the right place.

I particularly want to acknowledge the Boilermakers’ vision and activism when it comes to the responsible stewardship of union financial resources. I’m talking about your leadership with the Bank of Labor.

Sometimes I run across people who don’t understand why the labor movement needs a bank, or why we should use our assets to be active corporate shareholders, to make our voices heard on Wall Street.

Here’s how I explain it: Money is just like anything else. It can be organized as a tool for us, or a weapon against us. When we don’t use it as a tool, our opponents use our own dollars to beat us down, our own money. Think about that.

Well, for nearly a century, the Bank of Labor has organized the financial resources of working families for working families. Now, with the leadership of the Boilermakers, we have taken that small bank to a much larger platform. It is primed for major growth, and as it expands, so will the fortunes of working people.

Brothers and sisters, thanks to the leadership of the Boilermakers, we can earn solid returns, create union jobs, strengthen pensions and expand the middle class.

That is our vision. It grows from our values, and what we need to live a good life.

And our agenda drives our politics, not the other way around. America’s labor movement doesn’t work for any party or candidate. We work for working people, period. Yes, we will stand with candidates who stand with us, but we will never stop holding them accountable, we will never put the interests of any candidate, or any party, above our own.

When we mobilize around our issues, we build power. Just look at how raising wages has grown as an issue this election season. Together, working people have changed the debate. We’re no longer just talking about jobs. We’re talking about good, union jobs that allow you to support yourself and your family.

That’s not all. Look at trade. For years, the Wall Street and Washington elite have tried to paint us as against trade. We’re not. This isn’t a yes or no question. It’s about the kind of trade we want. Show us a trade deal that raises wages and standards, and we’ll be the first to support it. But what we won’t do, what we refuse to do, is allow another corporate trade deal to be shoved down our throats. That’s why with your help, the labor movement kicked the Trans-Pacific Partnership to the curb. That’s not all. Because of our leadership, the Democratic Party recently adopted the most pro-worker trade language in its history. And if elected, Hillary Clinton has promised no TPP and an entirely new direction on trade.

We have seized the momentum. Good wages and quality jobs are mainstream ideas in America today, and that’s why our labor movement is popular. That’s also why our popularity is growing among young workers, women and people of color. We’ve expanded the scope of what our labor movement fights for, and we’re expanding our democracy by registering and empowering hundreds of thousands of new voters.

All of this and more is why we are poised to turn our vision into action.

Our vision starts with the absolute truth that each and every one of us should be decently paid for the work we do. And we define what decent means!

That means having the right to join together and negotiate for better wages and benefits, a reasonable work schedule and a voice on the job. We know that being part of a union is the surest way to get better wages, equal pay, health care, sick days and vacation time. When we stand together, we’re stronger. But this is about more than dollars and cents: it’s about a better life, for all working people, no matter who you love or how you worship, no matter the color of your skin or where you were born.

Our vision will unite this country and build a better future. America is hungry for it. We can do it, because we’re the ones who light the fires and run the trains. We build the bridges and light the fires. We teach the classes, clean the schools, clear the roads and load the trucks. We do America’s work. We make America go. And we want our share of the American Dream, brothers and sisters. So let’s stand for it, let’s march for it and let’s win it!

Listen, in the midst of a major electoral season, we can never lose sight of the needs and priorities of our members, and of America’s working families. That means maintaining a strong focus on winning good contracts, organizing new members and pursuing policies that improve our lives.

Let me give you an example, like the fact that America will need baseload power from coal-fired plants for the foreseeable future. Even the Department of Energy predicts that we will have coal generation for decades to come.

We know carbon capture, use and storage is necessary to reduce global emissions. The truth is, developing countries around the world are building coal-fired power plants as fast as possible. We can address climate change and be an international energy leader by investing in and developing clean emissions technology. It exists. Let’s make it work for us.

The same goes for nuclear power. We need to save what we have and build more. We can’t meet our climate goals without nuclear power, and that’s not an opinion, it’s simple math. There is a right way to clean up the environment and a wrong way, and the right way is by picking technologies that create high-paying jobs for crafts like the Boilermakers, and workers everywhere.

You see, this isn’t a Democratic or Republican concept. It’s simply an idea that makes sense, regardless of your politics.

Now I respect the fact that you have not endorsed a candidate for president, but I also know Boilermakers across the country are engaging in the electoral process.

Today, in the beautiful city of Cleveland, Ohio, an ugly spectacle is taking place. I’m talking about the Republican National Convention. But it’s not ugly because it’s a function of the Republican Party. It’s ugly because many of today’s Republican leaders—foremost among them Donald Trump—are selfish, divisive, often racist and always mean-spirited. Republicans have a strong tradition of working with unions. It was two Republicans, James Davis and Robert Bacon, who came together to pass the national prevailing wage law that bears their name. We will happily work with any politician who will work with us. The doors of the labor movement are always open.

But make no mistake, Donald Trump is a liar, a hypocrite and a fraud.

Through his actions, his words and his ideas, Donald Trump is profoundly unfit to be president. And it’s not just me saying that. It’s Republican leaders, too. It’s Mitt Romney. It’s George W. Bush. Look how many Republicans aren’t at the convention this week.

Seventy percent of Americans view Trump unfavorably. Is it any wonder? Name any core American value, and Donald Trump is against it. Freedom of religion. Freedom of the press. Responsibility. Equality. Unity. Integrity. He stands against everything we stand for!

Listen to this: Trump thinks our wages are too high. Really, he said that.

He spent over half a million dollars trying to prevent employees at his hotel here in Las Vegas from organizing. Workers won the election anyway, and now he is refusing to bargain a fair contract. Workers at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City are on strike as we speak. How exactly does denying workers good wages and benefits make America great?

Trump talks a good game on trade but he ships jobs overseas every chance he gets, and he manufactures his products in countries with low wages and nonexistent labor protections. He personally profited from NAFTA and said that outsourcing creates jobs.

If there was any doubt Trump detests working people, just look who he chose as a running mate. Mike Pence repealed Indiana’s prevailing wage law. Carrier decided to move 1,400 good union jobs to Mexico on his watch. And Pence is an unabashed supporter of right to work.

Sisters and brothers, Donald Trump made himself rich by making the rest of us poor, and we are going to kick his ass in November.

In the end, the 2016 presidential election isn’t about left versus right or even Democrat versus Republican. It’s bigger than that. We’re going to find out what we are made of as a country. Are we small-minded, mean and weak? Or are we ambitious, responsible, courageous and strong?

In the last few years, something has started to change in America. Working people have come alive. We have said “enough.” Enough to an economy designed to keep us down, lower our pay and damage our families and communities.

We made it clear that any candidate who wanted our support must offer a bold and comprehen-sive raising wages agenda. Hillary Clinton did exactly that. She earned the AFL-CIO’s endorsement and more than that, she won our respect.

Hillary Clinton is a pro-worker progressive who has always fought to make life better for working people, families and children. Time and again, Hillary has gotten the job done. She is tough. She is smart. And she understands that to truly make America great, unions must lead the way.

Hillary knows that our economy is not like the weather. It doesn’t just happen to us. No drought dried up our pensions. No summer storm blew away our good pay. Greedy corporations drove down our wages. Ruthless CEOs and anti-worker politicians stole our pensions. Billionaires like Donald Trump sold our jobs overseas, because our trade deals and tax policies encouraged him to.

What we do in this election cycle has the potential to transform our entire economy. It’s about workers having an equal shot and a fair shake. We’ll keep fighting. Keep marching. Keep building. To win a new era of good jobs, strong unions and raising wages.

Let me tell you something: This year, America’s labor movement is unleashing the most comprehensive electoral program in our history.

Our strength grows from our unity. It comes from our activism. It’s up to us to motivate each other. As the leaders of the Boilermakers, it’s on you to move your members to volunteer and turn out at unprecedented levels.

Keep leading the way. Keep blazing a trail forward. As a national movement, we’ve been under attack so long, it can be hard to get out of a defensive crouch.

So it’s time for us to stand up strong, brothers and sisters. It’s time to mobilize and organize. This electoral season is all about raising wages. We’ll hit the worksites. We’ll talk to members. We’ll walk the streets and knock the doors. This is what a unified labor movement does. This is what it looks like when working people stand together, union strong!

And after the ballots are counted and the election has been won, we’ll be in a better position to organize in the workplace, and win strong contracts and better pay.

We’ll fix what’s broken in our country. We’ll heal through solidarity. Together, we will create a better tomorrow. It won’t be easy. It won’t happen in an instance or through one election. We’ll have to work for it, sisters and brothers. Together. Each of us. With solidarity. Where your picket line is my picket line and my picket line is your picket line. Shoulder to shoulder. Arm in arm. All day. Every day. Voting. Fighting. Winning. Together. To bring out the best in each other and ourselves. To bring out the best in America. To build the nation we can have and must have and will have!

Thank you! And God bless you!

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