Thank you, Tim [Burga] for your warm words of introduction. It’s great to be back in Cleveland.
Listen, I’ve got plenty of notes in front of me about the elections this year, but before I get into that, I want to talk about the state of our movement.
The public profile of unions in America is improving, according to Gallup, a strong majority of Americans support the labor movement. A growing number of people—especially young workers—want us to have a greater influence in our economy and our politics.
These trends are important, but none of us can take them for granted. Our popularity is growing because of our values and our effectiveness. Americans are also giving unions a new look because we put our agenda before our politics and not the other way around.
We’ve made rewriting the economic rules the central issue of this campaign. We’ve built new alliances and strengthened old ones. We’ve won raises for minimum wage workers and bargained pay increases for millions of union members.
And thanks to you, we put the brakes on the job-killing, no good Trans-Pacific Partnership. Nearly everybody thought the TPP was a done deal. It had the support of the president, Congressional leaders and an army of special interests. But the Wall Street and Washington elite underestimated our strength. Working people stood up and said: Enough. Enough shuttered factories and devastated towns. Enough corporate giveaways and empty promises. Enough of doing the same thing over and over again and wishing for a different result.
In the labor movement, we don’t hope and wish. We mobilize and organize. So we’re stopping the TPP. And I promise you, if that bad deal comes up for a vote after the election, we’ll kill it once and for all.
Our growing and powerful impact is evident in political races across the country, and especially in the presidential election. Hillary Clinton is looking to us for genuine guidance on working family issues. Even Donald Trump is stealing our language to pretend like he’s on our side.
It’s clear that working people are setting the tone and direction of this campaign. You could see it plain as day in the strongest, most progressive, pro-worker Democratic platform in a generation.
When we put our agenda first, when we make it clear that we work for working people, and not any political party, candidates start to embrace our agenda instead of taking us for granted. When our support is based on issues—not political affiliation—we are better able to hold our elected leaders accountable.
Sisters and brothers, here is what I tell the candidates I talk to: our economy isn’t like the weather. It doesn’t simply happen to us. It’s a set of rules shaped by the people we elect.
It is time for a new set of rules. We want rules where wages are high and rising, and inequality is shrinking. We want rules that make it easier to organize and bargain collectively. We want stronger rules on Wall Street and fairer rules for the working poor, immigrants, women and people of color. We want trade rules that create jobs and shared prosperity.
Give us fair rules, and we’ll give you a new era of shared prosperity where all working people can get ahead.
In the next six weeks, we have the power to determine the future of these rules.
There’s a new, brighter day in front of us. A union resurgence. It’s so close I can feel it. All we have to do is reach out and grab it.
Our labor movement built the American middle class once, and we’ll do it again. We know unity. We practice solidarity. When we stand together, we cannot be turned aside.
We generate the power and run the plants. We teach the classes and carry the loads. We patrol the roads, stock the shelves, build the trucks and ride the rails. We do it all. We do what it takes. We answer the call. We wake our country up every single day, and we tuck her into bed at night. We don’t mind hard work. We do it with pride. We won’t be faced down or pushed around, and we will not be denied.
Listen, I meant what I said about our independence in politics. Our support is not unconditional, and it is not unlimited. We look at every campaign and every candidate with fresh eyes. I focus on exactly how our families would be affected. This isn’t just important, it’s my mandate. It’s my job.
The choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton—it isn’t a choice.
Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He is anti-worker. He would tear America apart. Hillary Clinton is better in every objective measure. Clinton is reliable. Trump is not. Clinton is responsible. Trump is not. Clinton is civil. Trump is anything but. Clinton has a track record of fighting for workers. Trump has a track record of ripping workers off.
A business group analyzed Trump’s economic plans and concluded he would cost America 3.4 million jobs. Do we really want more unemployment—just as we are finally getting back on our feet? We know what economic downturn looks like in Ohio. Steel and auto would be hard hit. Local and state governments would be forced to cut services and lay off nurses, firefighters, teachers and police. The building trades would lose work. We simply cannot afford to go back.
The same business group that gave Trump’s plan an F-minus gave Hillary Clinton an A+. They say she would create 10.4 million jobs, and her website tells us exactly how she’ll get it done.
Hillary Clinton wants massive investments in infrastructure, which will create millions of jobs and strengthen our economy across the supply chain. She has a detailed plan to educate and train workers for careers of the future, boosting our competitiveness in the global marketplace. She will make the largest investment in infrastructure, workforce development and manufacturing since World War II. And when it comes to workers’ rights, she knows the single greatest tool for economic mobility and a growing middle class is collective bargaining.
What about Donald Trump? He thinks our wages are too high, and he has stolen our pay time and time again. Literally. He said outsourcing creates jobs. He supports right to work 100 percent. He rooted for the housing collapse and is closely tied to a new effort to gut Wall Street reform.
And what about his tax returns? Why is he refusing to release them? Does anyone else find this fishy? Does Trump have money stashed overseas? Has he failed to pay his fair share? Is he somehow invested in Russia? He certainly talks about Vladimir Putin enough. Trump’s lack of financial transparency is just the latest red flag from a candidate who is equal parts shady and shameless.
Donald Trump has it all wrong: America is tilting toward unionism. This is our chance. This is our moment. To bring out the best in America. To bring out the best in ourselves, and each other. We won’t back up or back down. We’ll stand tall. We’ll register. We’ll vote, and we’ll win new rules for a new economy!
Brothers and sisters, a few days ago, we got results back from an internal poll of union members in five key states, including Ohio. The findings exposed another one of Donald Trump’s lies—the idea that he has “tremendous” support among union members.
In fact, Trump’s numbers are lower than Mitt Romney’s in 2012, and dropping. This year, America’s labor movement has unleashed the most comprehensive and sophisticated electoral program in our history. It’s working. Since June, Trump’s support among union members has dropped five points because of the conversations each of you are having.
But that’s just the beginning. We have a lot more work to do. There are school levies and other important local measures here in Cleveland, in Toledo and in Cincinnati that need our legwork. We need to elect state legislators that will work with us and lay the path for a working family governor in 2018. We need to send Ted Strickland back to Washington and Rob Portman back to Wall Street. Don’t worry about the polls. We repealed SB 5. We’re stopping the TPP. Trust me, we can defeat Rob Portman.
But it takes work to win. Send your release staff. Engage your members. Send your apprentice teams. Ask them to volunteer and turn out at the polls. I want to see union members vote at unprecedented levels. If you haven’t done it already, talk to our campaign staffers in Ohio. I know them. They’re hard-working true-believers, and they are here to help you. Name a coordinator for each worksite, so our team has someone to communicate with.
When your membership gets involved in the ground campaign, nothing can stop us. When working people speak the truth about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we will move the needle. When you get behind Ted Strickland, the polls will change. You know what it takes. Keep leading the way. Keep blazing a trail forward.
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 results are in, we’ll be in a better position to improve our communities, to organize in the workplace and to win strong contracts and better pay.
We’ll fix what’s broken in America. Together, we will create a better tomorrow. We’ll 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. Pipefitters with UFCW. Steel with Autoworkers. Painters and Electricians. All of us together. 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!
