Thank you, Jim [Ross], for your kind introduction and also for inviting me to speak here with all of you.
We are gathered together at a critical moment for the IBEW, for the AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement—and indeed for working people across America and around the world.
Together we are in the process of redefining our unions and our movement—and in doing so I believe we will alter the prospects for working men and women for generations to come. And I am proud to be standing at these historical crossroads with each and every one of you … and with your outstanding leadership … and I want to specifically name your president Ed Hill… as one of the most principled and effective leaders in our movement and in America today.
We need strong leaders. You see, here in Washington, we are confronted with politicians who too often see the world as a zero sum game, as if points scored in a government shut-down fight on Capitol Hill actually mean something in and of themselves.
Well, I don’t need to tell you regular people are exhausted… by the D.C. gridlock, by the stupid games of the Republican leadership… and yet we can’t tune them out, because we’re the ones who always get hurt.
Right now, House Speaker John Boehner is trying to score a political victory while the federal workers who make America run are trying to figure out how to cover the mortgage and fill up the tank without a paycheck…. And while too many Americans are locked out of the services we count on.
My friends, I’m not concerned with “wins” for Democratic or Republican politicians. I’d applaud John Boehner if he would lift a finger for working people! I’m telling you, I care about one thing: the state of working families.
Brothers and sisters, we are politically independent. We do not… and will not… exist to build any political party or any politician. We are building power for working people. Period.
Our independence is more critical today than it ever has been.
And let me be frank: I am deeply troubled by the way the Affordable Care Act has been administered. Too many calls seem to have been made in the interests of insurance companies and employers. The law is far from perfect…. And yet the ACA gives millions of America’s families access to quality health care they desperately need.
We acknowledge that achievement. And yet… my friends… we will also raise our voices when the law goes astray. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
We will fight anything that hurts working people. We will not be silent. We’ll fight it. We won’t back up or step back… and we will not stand down.
Sisters and brothers… friends… at the end of the day, our job is simply to make the lives of people who work better. I think about the regular people all over this country who get up and do a job… who take care of their kids… and who struggle day by day for a better life.
And no matter what else, each of your members and every worker in America … every single one of us … deserves basic dignity and respect … and to be able to bargain for a fair reward for the job we do. That should be the baseline.
That's what a union does. We stand together for a better life. That's why we struggle for our rights on the job, and that’s why we’re here in Washington… to carry water for the people back home who don’t want … and maybe can’t even survive … another destructive trade deal like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
We need truly fair trade … and environmental laws that work without punishing working people. And we need true immigration reform… including a safe and workable path to citizenship… so every single worker in America can stand up… with confidence… for his or her rights… and stand together with coworkers… for a voice on the job.
We’re done with immigration laws that pit working people against each other and allow corporations a steady supply of workers without papers and without enforceable rights … insecure workers who know immigration enforcement is always just a phone-call away.
That’s what we’re fighting for … federal policy to make our working families stronger -- not weaker.
I'm going to say that one more time. Every single one of our legislative fights will strengthen us… all of us. A union stands for all. That's what makes us strong.
My friends, at the AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, we talked about building community, and reaching out beyond our own members in our communities. We passed resolutions to strengthen the labor movement at every level… in every city and every state… with new levels of accountability for state federations and labor councils and affiliates.
We must make these changes. Nothing is more important to our ability to win good contracts, to gain genuine American living standards, to engage in electoral politics when it matters, and to build real strength in our unions and our communities.
They’re all tied together, and they all come back to that one central idea… we’re stronger together.
Brothers and sisters, by the end of the AFL-CIO convention, we had a full agenda of change… in three broad areas. The first is growth, innovation and political action. The second is building shared prosperity in the global economy. And the last is all about community partnerships and grassroots power.
But you know… and I know… the convention was just the beginning. For the next step, I need your help. I'm asking for your commitment…. Brothers and sisters, I am not satisfied with a few nice phrases on fancy paper. It’s time to use the power we have, and the power we’ll build, to improve the lives of working people. I'm dead serious about that.
You see, the truth is… working people are hurting. The American working class is no longer our middle class. You know it. We all live it. This is our shared experience in America today. Everyone who works for a living, works harder, and creates more value, over longer hours, and yet we earn less.
Think back over the past 15 years—think of all the work you did, all your co-workers did, all your friends and neighbors and family did. All of the wage increases over the last 15 years, not some, not most, not the majority, but every single penny, all of it went to the richest 10%.
I want you to remember this statistic, because it’s the source of so much pain, and because it’s something we’re going to change. All of the wage increases over the last 15 years went to the top 10%. And the incomes of the rest of us—90% of America—went down. And the incomes that went up the most were those at the top already—the richest 1%.
Since 2009, the pay of America’s corporate CEO’s has gone up 40%. Imagine for a second how strong our families, our communities, and our economy would be if the incomes of ordinary people had increased at that rate. Think about it. Forty percent!
The 1% bends our rules, corrupts our democracy, and takes all the money. It's wrong. It’s un-American. It's upside down.
Sisters and brothers, we are going to turn America right-side up!
Everything we do, everything, must be part of our over-arching strategy for winning shared prosperity. I'm talking about everything we do, from the local to the national level. What you do. What I do. Every day. If we're not moving the dial, we'd better stop and think about it. And then do something different.
I’m not talking about a silver bullet, or a magic bean. I'm talking about old-fashioned unionism. About talking to each other, supporting each other, organizing each other, talking within our movement, and with friends and allies outside the walls of our union halls, to find out what we need from each other, to find out what will make us all grow stronger!
And then, we’ll take action, and move forward together!
You know, it doesn’t take but once or twice, standing together, before the strings of our common experience strengthen into the tight bonds of real solidarity. That’s how we’ll build community. That’s how we’ll rebuild an America where you don’t surrender your humanity, your dignity and your rights when you go to work.
Brothers and sisters… between all of us… we’re going to tear down the barriers. We’ll join with anyone … union, non-union, never-heard-of-union. We won’t let employers or politicians tell us who’s in our movement and who isn’t. That’s our job, our responsibility. And we’ll stand and fight, and march, and struggle with every single worker who needs us, because we know solidarity, and we will not be denied!
America will understand our willingness to use solidarity, our willingness to stand together.
We will let it be known that every worker who stands with us… will have a friend for life, a powerful ally, thousands of friends, millions of friends, who will rise together and march together -- not just when it’s easy, but when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. And the harder is it is, the longer we’ll stand.
More than 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to the 4th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. He said:
“Powerful forces tell us to rely on the good will, and understanding of those who profit by exploiting us. They deplore our discontent, they resent our will to organize.”
Dr. King knew all about discontent. He knew all about the will to organize. He was not a union member, but he was a courageous leader who knew how to break the silence, how to stand together, and how to win together. And, brothers and sisters, he was as good a friend as any worker could have. He walked down a line of National Guard bayonets with us. And he gave his life in Memphis, even though he knew his life was threatened, and he died with our union brothers and sisters, those strong sanitation workers in the city of Memphis who suffered discontent, and who stood up with the will to organize.
And I ask you now, who will we stand with? Who shares our discontent? Who needs our will to organize?
We will stand with anyone who needs us. Dr. King said it then. America needs it now!
We need it now!
Everything we’re doing, everything from our growing political independence, to our defense of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps, to our campaign for comprehensive immigration reform and to fix the Affordable Care Act. All of it has one purpose, one purpose… to build power for working people, for you, and for me, and the rest of the 99%.
We’re doing this, because, as my friend Sen. Elizabeth Warren put it, the pundits, and the big corporate lobbyists here in D.C. might be against us, but the American people are on our side.
On every issue we care about, our values are America’s values, and our agenda is America’s agenda.
We’re working for Wall Street reform. The far right-wing is fighting it, but the American people are on our side. More than 80% of the American people are on our side!
We’re fighting bad trade, and no one thinks we can win, but the American people are with us, by a margin of four to one! The American public is on our side!
We’re working for investments in America’s infrastructure, not millions, not billions, but trillions. The right-wing politicians in Washington are fighting us, but more than 70% of the American people are on our side!
We’re working for education, health care, safe jobs, and an economy that works for the people who work. Washington says it can’t be done, but the American people are on our side!
My friends, we’ll start at the local level, and we’ll build to the national level. And we’ll keep building, for global prosperity, for good jobs, for justice, and for a sustainable economy here and abroad.
We’re going to turn America right-side up, you heard me say it. We are going to get it done! Keep reaching. Keep fighting. That’s the key. That’s what we need to bring out the best in our country, and in ourselves, to build the future we know we can have, we must have, for each of us, for our children and grandchildren.
And we will never, never give up.
We will always, always go forward.
And together we will win, for each other, for our future, for our country.
Standing together. Working together. Organizing together. Voting together. Today. Tomorrow. Next month. Next year. It’s our legacy. Yours and mine, sisters and brothers. Let’s do it!
Thank you, and God bless you! And God bless the work you do!
###
