Speech | Better Pay and Benefits · Corporate Greed

Trumka to Charter/Spectrum Strikers: This is what solidarity looks like

Brooklyn, New York

Thank you, brothers and sisters.

It is great to be here today.

The AFL-CIO has your back. We stand with IBEW Local 3!

Your hard work has made Charter/Spectrum one of the most profitable cable companies in the United States.

You did that!

You aren’t asking for the world.

You want a fair return on your work.

You want good wages and a decent retirement.

You want to provide for your families and enjoy the good things in life.

That’s not too much to ask.

So where the hell is the company?

I have a message for Tom Rutledge: get to the table and negotiate a fair deal today.

Tom took home $100 million last year. More power to him.

We don’t begrudge CEOs that do well.

We begrudge CEOs that do well and then ask us to pay more for health care and retirement.

We begrudge CEOs that do well and then try to strip away our job security and overtime pay.

That’s not right. It’s not fair. And workers will continue to exercise their right to strike until you give them a fair piece of the pie!

IBEW has a long and proud history of partnering with employers to the benefit of business and labor.

Your relationship with Time Warner spans decades.

Cooperation is one thing. Retreat is another.

We will not retreat in the face of corporate greed.

I am proud of every single one of you. Going on strike takes tremendous sacrifice.   

And I am encouraged by all of the unions here today.

Public and private. Big and small.

This is what solidarity looks like.

We’re going to stand together. Arm in arm. For as long as it takes.

We are the labor movement—and no one pushes us around.

Thank you! God bless you! Keep up the fight!

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