Thank you, Brother Cecil [Roberts], for those generous words of welcome. And thank you all for the honor of this recognition from an organization that does such important work. You see, paychecks and purchases go hand-in-hand in America, so when the National Consumers League fights to protect consumers on issues including fair and equitable access to credit, food safety and safe housing, you are fighting for workers as well. And we appreciate that.
We also appreciate an ally who stands with us when the going gets tough. That’s why I want to particularly thank you, Sally [Greenberg], for the stand you took last year in St. Louis alongside retired coal miners and the United Mine Workers.
I’m not sure if everyone here knows the story, but a profitable coal company tried to break its pension and health care promises to its retirees. You protested, Sally. You stood with miners and retirees. You got arrested. You got loaded into a paddy wagon with other protesters, and your demonstration of solidarity helped us hold that company accountable. And today the lives of thousands and thousands of retired miners and their families are better off because of it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And God bless you.
Solidarity works. Standing together works.
Sisters and brothers, I am especially privileged to receive this award alongside an activist as inspiring as Lara Granich. What an honor. Thank you. And I want to echo Lara’s sentiments on the importance of addressing social and economic justice in America today.
And there’s one point I want to make about doing the right thing, about doing things like fighting against predatory bank lending, about organizing against discrimination, and doing everything we can to treat each other with dignity and respect and decency. When we protect each other, we do not draw down on the balance sheet of our prosperity. It does not impoverish us to do the right thing. It enriches us.
Some people would have us believe otherwise, believe America is poor, and that our poverty should prevent us from pursuing the course our values would have us follow. Some people would have us believe it would be nice to stomp out racism, and poverty, and hunger, if we could afford it. It would be nice to honor pensions, and the rights of workers to form unions, if only we could afford it. It would be nice to invest in American jobs, to enact comprehensive immigration reform, to rebuild our highways and bridges and to strengthen Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and public education and the whole nine yards, if it didn’t cost so much.
That argument is a sham. America is as rich as it’s ever been in our history. We’re not too poor to do the right thing.
And in fact, when we follow the course set by our shared American values, we will strengthen the bottom line of our families and of our nation. This is important. We cannot afford not to pursue our vision of the America we want for ourselves and our children! Good jobs, good roads, safe food, secure retirements and a quality public education, all those things will carry America along the road to prosperity. That’s how we get there. And the way we get there is together!
I’d like you to think about this fact: from 1978 to 2013, CEO pay rocketed up by almost 1,000%, but the typical worker’s pay rose only 10%.
Here’s another fact. Over the past 15 years, all of the income gains, not some, not most, not the majority, but every single penny, all of it went to the richest 10% in America. Everybody else works harder and harder, for less and less.
Those numbers are the reason working people are so exhausted, so disappointed. Those numbers are the source of so much pain. I’d like to I ask you to think about what those numbers mean, in human terms. Imagine the rising pressure of a lifetime of working but never getting ahead. Think about the stress of retirement, and how do you retire when you’re only making a few dollars more than 10, 20 or even 30 years ago?
Think about how low wages could push you toward credit cards and then payday lenders, and how fees on that quick money pull you into a deeper and deeper debt. That’s real pain that hurts men, women and kids, families. And that matters.
I suspect, no, I know, that you understand how wrong this is. You’re not alone. All across this country, in poll after poll after poll, we hear self-described Democrats, Independents and Republicans say, “We want an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.”
Three out of every four voters think we should raise the minimum wage. Nearly 70% of working-class Republicans say, “It shouldn’t be this hard to support a family.”
And you see, it doesn’t have to be this way. The economy is not like the weather. It doesn’t simply happen to us. If we don’t like it, it’s not like it’ll simply change in two days, or two hours, depending on where you live.
Our economy is shaped by rules created here in Washington, rules created by politicians we elect. Our economy is ruled not by chance but by choice. It’s broken, but we can fix it.
We’re fighting alongside the National Consumers League here in Washington for strong financial safeguards for working families. We’re organizing in workplaces all over America, because collective bargaining is and always has been the best way to turn bad jobs into good jobs.
And we can, and are, taking our economic message to the streets. Volunteers all across this great country are knocking on doors and explaining these simple truths, so we can mobilize more voters for the November elections. We’ll push our candidates to the finish line and then stay involved so we can hold them accountable after they take office.
Politics is important. Advocacy is important. But the most transformational change is happening among workers who are standing together for a better life. Think of the fast food workers who have struck for $15 an hour. Think of the Walmart workers who stand together, and who find out how strong they are, how strong all of us are.
We’re fighting as working people for a new chance to earn a decent life and to take care of our families. We may not know all the specific solutions to the problems we face, but we have the best tool there is, our solidarity. And with it, we will reshape the American economic landscape to make it more fair and equitable for all working people in a way that hasn’t been done in generations. You see, work should never trap us in poverty but lift us up.
We want to stand with you, with all of you, whether you come from the world of labor or business, academia or advocacy.
We in the labor movement hold powerful opinions about the rights of workers and the importance of collective bargaining and dignity and fairness on the job, but we don’t see ourselves as essentially in conflict with any institution or group in America.
We will rise or fall together, all of us. And that’s why, when I became president of the AFL-CIO, I met with Tom Donahue of the Chamber of Commerce as soon as I could. Since then, Tom and I have spoken on Capitol Hill together for infrastructure investments, among other things. I have addressed the board of the Chamber, and Tom has spoken to the AFL-CIO.
We may not agree on a lot of things, but we do agree on some. And I believe you learn more when you speak with people who don’t always agree with you, and you also have an opportunity to grow your circle of friends.
In that way, I suppose, the AFL-CIO today is a lot like the National Consumer League. We have deep progressive roots. We build bridges and bring people together around common values and a shared vision. We are guided by solidarity. And we are always ready to make a stand for what we believe, and fight for what working people want and need, for what’s just, and what’s right. And that is how we win what working families need, in the workplace, the community and in our nation as a whole.
Thank you for this honor, and God bless you.