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Remembering Cesar Chavez

April 1, 2009

President Obama, commemorating Cesar Chavez on what would have been his 82nd birthday yesterday:

Cesar Chavez's legacy as an educator, environmentalist, and as a civil rights leader who struggled for fair treatment and fair wages for America's workers is important for every American to remember.

Having begun as a farmworker, Cesar Chavez eventually co-founded the United Farm Workers and struggled to provide hundreds of thousands of people with better working conditions and the chance to live a better life. The cause of fair treatment and fair wages for America’s workers lives on today through the work of countless others.

Chavez’s rallying cry, “Sí Se Puede” – “Yes We Can,” was more than a slogan, it was an expression of hope and a rejection of those who said farmworkers could not organize, and could not take on the growers. Through his courage, Cesar Chavez taught us that a single voice could change our country, and that together, we could make America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.

Yes We Can.

Union Members »

December: 500k Jobs Lost, Unemployment Reaches 7.2%

January 9, 2009

In figures released in the December jobs report by the Labor Department, more than a half million jobs were lost and unemployment spiked to 7.2 percent.

The U.S. economy lost 524,000 jobs in December, closing out the worst year for job losses since World War II, the Labor Department said Friday.

Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, with 1.9 million destroyed in just the past four months, according to a survey of work places. It's the biggest job loss in any calendar year since 1945, when 2.75 million jobs were lost as the wartime economy was demobilized.

The 1.5 million jobs lost in the fourth quarter were the most in any three-month period since 1945.
As a percentage of employment, job losses in 2008 totaled 1.8%, the worst since 1982 and the third largest since the war.

The numbers were released as Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-California) began her Senate confirmation hearings as the next Secretary of Labor for President-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration.

President-elect Barack Obama's pick to become the top U.S. labor official said on Friday her priorities would be to boost job training and search assistance to fight a deepening U.S. recession.

Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis, tapped by Obama to become labor secretary, also told her Senate confirmation hearing she would fight job discrimination and ensure employees "get the pay they have earned working in safe, healthy and fair workplaces."

Rep. Solis Named Labor Secretary; Fmr. Rep. LaHood to Lead Transportation

December 19, 2008

California Congresswoman Hilda Solis was named Secretary of Labor, and former Illinois Congressman Ray LaHood was appointed Secretary of Transportation by President-elect Barack Obama at a press conference in Chicago this afternoon.

The President-elect also named Karen Mills as Administrator of the Small Business Administration and former Mayor Ron Kirk as United States Trade Representative.

Hilda has always been an advocate for everyday people. When she received an award several years ago, she said, “Fighting for what is just is not always popular, but it is necessary.” And that is exactly what she has done throughout her career, blazing new trails every step of the way. Whether it’s creating green jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced or expanding access to affordable health care or raising the minimum wage in California, Hilda has been a champion of our middle class. And I know that Hilda will show the same kind of leadership as Secretary of Labor that she showed in California and on the Education and Labor Committee by protecting workers’ rights – from organizing to collective bargaining, from keeping our workplaces safe to making our unions strong. [...]

Few understand our infrastructure challenge better than the outstanding public servant I am asking to lead the Department of Transportation – Ray LaHood. As a Congressman from Illinois, Ray served six years on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, leading efforts to modernize our aviation system by renewing our aging airports and ensuring that air traffic controllers were using cutting edge technology. Throughout his career, Ray has fought to improve mass transit and invest in our highways. But he has not only helped rebuild our landscape, he has helped beautify it by creating opportunities for bikers and runners to enjoy our great outdoors. When I began this appointment process, I said I was committed to finding the best person for the job, regardless of party. Ray’s appointment reflects that bipartisan spirit – a spirit we need to reclaim in this country to make progress for the American people.

Dow Plummets to Lowest Point Since 2004

October 6, 2008

This weekend, campaign advisers to John McCain say they want to "turn the page" on the economic crisis and explore new depths of dishonorable and sleazy campaigning. This morning, the Dow Jones sank below 10,000 points for the first time in four years.

Wall Street joined a “selloff around the world” today, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 400 points and falling to below 10,000 for the first time in four years. As the AP reports, the “markets have come to the sobering realization that the Bush administration’s $700 billion rescue plan won’t work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets, and that many banks are still having difficulty gaining access to cash.”

Think about it -- while untold thousands of Americans lose their life savings or retirement funds because of the greed of Wall Street, John McCain wants to "turn the page" on the financial crisis.

Then again, we've seen this before from John McCain. He knows a thing or two about thousands of Americans losing their life savings.

American Voices Program

Roy Gross, Michigan

My name is Roy Gross. I’m a proud member of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit, Michigan.

When I was a young man and wanted to start a family, I went to Detroit and landed a job as an automobile transporter. I delivered new cars from the assembly plants to dealerships around the country.

It was a great job, a Teamsters union job. You worked hard and it paid good wages, plus health care and pension. I worked there for 18 years. Working class families were doing well in Detroit until the Bush Administration took office, then everything changed.

Manufacturing jobs were exported by the hundreds of thousands and replaced with minimum-wage jobs in the so-called “New Economy.” I’m one of the lucky ones; I still have a job. But many of my friends and co-workers have lost their jobs and their homes.

If you ask me, this so-called “New Economy” is not working. We need a renewed economy. That’s why I’m seeing so many of my friends in Michigan - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - putting aside their differences to join this campaign.

Barack Obama will enact fair trade policies and work just as hard for us as we work for America. I will do everything I can, from now until Election Day, to put Michigan in the Obama column.

Monica Early, Ohio

I’m Monica Early from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Last January, someone sent me an e-mail containing so-called “facts” about Senator Obama. The e-mail painted a scary picture, questioning his faith and patriotism. I decided to do some fact-checking on my own and learned the truth.

What I discovered is that Barack Obama is a man of faith, a man of values and a man of action—someone who has shown his love for America by fighting for our people, helping communities left behind on Chicago’s South Side, fighting today for working families and the tax breaks we need to purchase a home, pay for college and save for retirement.

I am grateful for the e-mail that tried to scare me. It brought me here, an ordinary citizen, empowered by a leader who told me I could make a difference. Ohio is home to four of the fastest-dying cities in America. John McCain promises to continue the Bush economic policies that got us there.

Einstein said a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. If we elect John McCain, then, according to Einstein, we surely would be insane.

We need change. We need President Barack Obama!

Wes Moore

Hi, my name is Wes Moore. Twelve years ago, I took an oath on the Bible to defend, support and protect the United States of America. Today, I cannot fathom a more perfect expression of my allegiance as a soldier and citizen than giving my full support for Barack Obama to be my next commander-in-chief.

Before I deployed for Afghanistan, my grandparents gave me a Bible. Inside, they wrote four simple words: have faith, not fear. Those words protected and guided me and the soldiers under my command during some of the most trying days of my life.

I want a president who has a comprehensive strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan, and who can rally young people to serve, both in and out of uniform, and sees these as complementary, not contradictory goals. I want a president who believes in supporting our troops while we are fighting overseas, and supporting us with proper health care and education when we come home.

This election is not about history. Nor is it about making history. It’s about seizing history.

The charge my grandparents gave me—have faith, not fear—is the same challenge I issue tonight. A faith that this nation can rise to meet any challenge.

Tonight, Senator Obama is not asking you to have faith in him. He is asking you to have faith with him. Let’s make Barack Obama our next president.

The Honorable Janet Monacco, Florida

I’m Janet Monaco from Rockledge, Florida, by way of Long Island, New York. Fourteen years ago I moved to Florida to pursue my vision of the American dream. Within five years, I had bought a house and opened two pet stores. I was living well.

Then disaster struck: back-to-back hurricanes, and rising costs of food and gas. Today, I’m a struggling small-business owner who is diabetic and without health insurance. I work 70-hour weeks at the store and more hours in a part-time job and still can’t afford insurance.

I don’t tell this story to get sympathy. Everyone has challenges. But what gets me angry is that George Bush and John McCain have done nothing for people like me—and, in fact, have done plenty of things that make it even harder to get by. Huge tax breaks for those at the top. Looking out for the lobbyists and not the little guy. And billions spent in tax cuts for big corporations, but not enough for small businesses like mine.

I’m supporting Barack Obama, because we can’t afford four more years of the same. Yes, we can make a change!

Nathaniel Fick

Good afternoon. I’m Nathaniel Fick. My Marine platoon landed in Afghanistan on a moonlit night in 2001. A little more than a year later, we rolled into Iraq. I’ll never forget one dawn after a vicious gun battle. We’d just medevaced one of our wounded Marines, and I turned to see a small American flag hanging from a humvee’s antenna. For a second, it reminded me of the line we all know so well: “And our flag was still there.”

I registered as a Republican at 18 and voted for John McCain in 2000. It took seven years of hard experience to get me on this stage. But we cannot afford more of the same. That’s why we need Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead us beyond the tired divisions of the past. They have the judgment to make the right decisions, leading our military, and uphold our highest ideals.

Everyone who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan has left something: a friend, a limb, a piece of their youth. In those palm groves and on those ridge lines, this is personal for us. I don’t want to retreat; I want to win.

The past seven years have been hard, often heartbreaking. Our flag, however, is still there. Let’s move forward in our quest to live up to the idea of America.

Teresa Brito-Asenap, New Mexico

Buenas noches, good evening.

I am Teresa Brito-Asenap from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first nine years of my life my grandparents worked with me to study and learn. They always talked about the importance of education. But it was not until third grade that I realized that mi abuelita, my grandmother, could neither read nor write.

But because of them, today I hold a doctorate in education. I owe them and my parents everything. Strong families raise strong students. All they need are world-class schools and dedicated teachers. Yet because of George W. Bush and John McCain, our schools don’t have the resources they need to meet the high standards of No Child Left Behind.

We don’t need four more years of the same. We need to turn the page and put our kids at the head of the class. Barack Obama will invest $10 billion a year in early education funding and give any student who wants to go to college a $4,000 tax credit. That’s the change we need and the change Barack Obama will bring as president of the United States.

Arriba y adelante – si se puede!

Pamela Cash-Roper, North Carolina

I’m Pam from Pittsboro, North Carolina. Wait till you hear what’s happening to me.

You might find my story familiar. Maybe it’s happening to you.

My husband, Keith, and I used to have a modest home we could afford, cars, money in a 401(k) plan, health insurance, and our health. We educated ourselves, got good jobs with benefits, worked night and day, raised four happy children, and saved some money.

It was the American dream. We did everything we thought you were supposed to do to live it. We really felt America was working for us.

Then, eight years ago, our American dream turned into a nightmare. Keith needed open-heart surgery. He lost his job and with it the family’s health insurance. I couldn’t afford to pay for health insurance on my nurse’s income, so we don’t have any.

Having no health insurance works – as long as you stay healthy.

Five years after Keith’s surgery, I had a quadruple bypass, and our medical expenses grew.

I’m a lifelong Republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Bush. But I can’t afford four more years like this.

That’s why I am supporting Barack Obama as my president.

Barney Smith, Indiana

My name is Barney Smith.

For most of my life, I was a proud Republican.

Growing up in the Indiana heartland, America was a place of boundless opportunity. You could go to the town factory and get a job the same day. You could start a family and buy a house with your salary.

My father started at Marion’s RCA plant in 1949, manufacturing picture tubes for TV sets.

I started in 1973. My wife worked in a high school cafeteria. Together, we made a living and raised a family.

Then, in 2004, the plant closed. Today, a foreign worker does my job.

After 31 years, I received 90 days’ severance pay and was unemployed.

Thirteen months later, I got a job at a distribution center.

Republicans talk about putting “country first,” but tell that to Marion, Indiana. They sent my job overseas.

America can’t afford more of the same. We need a president who puts the Barney Smiths before the Smith Barneys.

I’m going to put country first by voting Barack Obama for president.

The heartland needs change. And with Obama, we’re going to get it.

Mark Docherty

Hello, I’m Mark Docherty from Sterling Heights, Michigan. I’m a professional firefighter and a proud member of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1557.

In the economy that’s going up in flames, I’m fortunate to have the protection of a union that fights to protect my pay, benefits and rights. That’s not the case for most of working America.

An estimated 60 million Americans would join a union if only given the opportunity, but George Bush and John McCain have made it harder for workers to organize. At the same time, George Bush and John McCain have made it easier for companies to ship jobs overseas.

We can’t afford four more years of the same. We need change, and Barack Obama will deliver that change.

Everyday my fellow firefighters and I see the impact of nearly eight years of the Bush Administration’s scorch-and-burn policies, policies that have reduced the quality of life for middle-class Americans. With John McCain, Americans can count on more of the same. John McCain has voted against the minimum wage not once, not twice, but 19 times.

Because of the failed economic policies of George Bush and John McCain, with nearly every response call firefighters see Americans struggling to get by and forced to make choices that endanger themselves and their neighbors.

With an ever increasing number of empty, foreclosed properties, neighborhoods deteriorate, communities dwindle and what’s left is a situation ripe for fires and arson. All around the country, fire departments are working with fewer personnel and resources, which endangers the lives of firefighters and the residents they are sworn to protect. Since the horrors of September 11, fire departments and other first responders have been asked to carry a heavier load, preparing us to respond to another attack or a natural disaster.

Nearly eight years later the system is in place, but what’s missing is the funding needed to keep up training, staffing and equipment. And John McCain has voted time and again against all the vital increases in funding these dangerous times demand. We can’t afford four more years of the same.

We need change, and Barack Obama will deliver that change. He’ll fully fund our fire departments and first responders. He’ll jump-start our economy and give hardworking families a much needed tax cut. Barack Obama will stand up for collective bargaining, stand up for workers and always fight for the middle class.

The American people have called in an emergency, and Barack Obama will answer that call with the change we so desperately need.

Lily Ledbetter

Good evening. Many of you are probably asking: Who is that grandmother from Alabama at the podium? I can assure you, nobody is more surprised, or humbled, than I am. I’m here to talk about America’s commitment to fairness and equality, and how people like me—and like you—suffer when that commitment is betrayed.

How fitting that I speak to you on Women’s Equality Day, when we celebrate ratification of the amendment that gave women the right to vote. Even as we celebrate, let’s also remind ourselves: the fight for equality is not over. I know that from personal experience. I was a trailblazer when I went to work as a female supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama.

My job demanded a lot, and I gave it 100 percent. I kept up with every one of my male co-workers. But toward the end of my 19 years at Goodyear, I began to suspect that I wasn’t getting paid as much as men doing the same job. An anonymous note in my mailbox confirmed that I was right. Despite praising me for my work, Goodyear gave me smaller raises than my male co-managers, over and over.

Those differences affected my family’s quality of life then, and they affect my retirement now. When I discovered the injustice, I thought about moving on. But in the end, I couldn’t ignore the discrimination. So I went to court. A jury agreed with me. They found that my employer had violated the law and awarded me what I was owed.

I hoped the verdict would make my company feel the sting, learn a lesson and never again treat women unfairly. But they appealed, all the way to the Supreme Court, and in a 5-to-4 decision our highest court sided with big business. They said I should have filed my complaint within six months of Goodyear’s first decision to pay me less, even though I didn’t know that’s what they were doing.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the ruling made no sense in the real world. She was right. The House of Representatives passed a bill that would make sure what was done to me couldn’t happen again. But when it got to the Senate, enough Republicans opposed it to prevent a vote.

We can’t afford more of the same votes that deny women their equal rights. Barack Obama is on our side. He is fighting to fix this terrible ruling, and as president, he has promised to appoint justices who will enforce laws that protect everyday people like me. But this isn’t a Democratic or a Republican issue. It’s a fairness issue. And fortunately, there are some Republicans—and a lot of Democrats—who are on our side.

My case is over. I will never receive the pay I deserve. But there will be a far richer reward if we secure fair pay. For our children and grandchildren, so that no one will ever again experience the discrimination that I did. Equal pay for equal work is a fundamental American principle. We need leaders in this country who will fight for it. With all of us working together, we can have the change we need and the opportunity we all deserve.

Thank you.

Gloria Craven

Hello, everyone. My name is Gloria Craven. I live in Eden, North Carolina.

My story is not much different than a lot of other people in this country. I lived in a town built on textiles. Growing up, most of us didn’t have much use for schools, because we didn’t think a diploma meant that much. The important thing was taking care of your family. A lot of people in our area chose work over school.

I worked at the same place—for a company called Pillowtex—for 30 years. In 2003, the plant shut down for a week. The next week, when we were supposed to report back to work, we were told not to come in. A few weeks later, we were told the plant had closed. More than 8,000 people lost their jobs in one day. And that was it, after 30 years: no notice, no “thank you.” For the job he did, our CEO got a bonus of $300,000. Our union, UNITE-HERE, fought for several years to get back our vacation pay.

Overnight, my family and community totally changed. George Bush told us that we should all just go to college. But 65 percent of the people in the mill could barely read or write. We weren’t in a position to go to college, and we couldn’t afford it anyway.

My husband, Jacob, lost his job, too. Now, we live on his Social Security. I used to think I was middle class, but now we are living at the poverty level. I tell my husband how proud I am because even at his age, he’s going back to school. But for a 62-year-old man, who spent his life in the mills, there aren’t many opportunities.

I used trade adjustment assistance to go back to school myself and graduated in 2006. But I had some medical problems. Turns out walking on a concrete floor for 30 years was bad for my health. My husband and I worked hard all our lives. Now, we’re struggling to get by without health insurance and just a little retirement money.

There used to be a time in America when you felt like there were people in government who were looking out for people like me. But not the last eight years. I know I can’t stand another four years of George W. Bush.

But John McCain will be no different. When he said a few months ago that we’ve made great progress economically, it made me wonder: who does he mean by “we?” And then, I read he owns seven houses, and it was clear that “we” didn’t include “me.”

But Barack Obama has made me believe again. I get the feeling he cares about people like me and will create an America where things like hard work and loyalty mean something again.

My hope is that he’ll bring the change so many of us need.

I can’t wait to see Barack Obama in the White House.

Anna Burger

I grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania, in the 1950s believing in the American dream. My mom was a nurse, working the evening shift. My dad, a Teamster truck driver, was permanently disabled in a terrible accident when I was 9. Dad’s Social Security and Medicare—and mom’s enormous strength—allowed my sisters, brother and me to get by and even go to college, without being buried by debt.

After I got my first union job, my dad gave me some good advice. He said, “Stick to the union. It’s what makes a difference for working people like us.” Unions are the best all-in-one program for working families that America ever had—and it didn’t cost the government a dime.

My dad was right. Unions help ordinary people like me, like truck drivers. Nurses. And farm, factory and construction workers, who work hard to find a way to own a home. Raise a family. Send our kids to college and retire with dignity.

Our unions helped us pass on to our kids a better life than our own. And we call this legacy the American dream. But today, that dream is fading. After eight years of George W. Bush, work hours are up but wages are down. And John McCain is offering more of the same. The gap between the rich and the rest of America—it’s staggering and growing. And John McCain is offering more of the same. Nine in 10 workers have no union, while healthcare costs are exploding, pensions wiped out. Job security, a thing of the past.

Working people in this country can’t afford more of the same. But that’s exactly what John McCain’s offering—more of the same. Brothers and sisters, it is time for change, and I stand here today to tell you that working people all around this country know—Barack Obama will bring the change we need.

Barack Obama believes in an America where workers have a voice on the job and their hard work is valued and rewarded. Where health care is affordable and accessible. Where corporations pay their fair share, and workers are free to join a union without being harassed or intimidated.

Barack Obama believes in an America in which we work with each other, take care of each other and where our kids do even better than we do. Barack Obama will bring the change we need. And when he is our president, working families around this country will again know that the American dream is within the reach of everyone who calls this great country home.

Pauline Beck

Good evening. My name is Pauline Beck. I’m a homecare worker in Oakland, California, and a very proud supporter of Senator Obama for president!

I’m here tonight because one year ago, Senator Obama spent a day with me, doing my job. That’s right, doing homecare with me. He helped me take care of an 87 year-old man named Mr. John. Mr. John is a proud man, and I help him stay in his home.

You know what he did, the next President of the United States? Senator Obama did laundry. He mopped floors. He made lunch. He changed the sheets. He did dishes. And he talked with Mr. John about his family and his career as a cement mason.

Senator Obama spent the day in my shoes. He didn’t want to talk politics or pose for pictures. Senator Obama wanted to work. That’s the kind of president we need, someone who really understands working people.

My job is to help people, and I love my job. But being a homecare worker is hard. The wages are low, the hours can be long, and the work can be physically challenging. Our union, SEIU, is a great help. But workers need a president who stands up for us.

All his life, Senator Obama has understood the importance of work. First from his single mom, then struggling families in Chicago, now all Americans. I’ll never forget the day I spent working with Senator Obama, and I know he won’t either. He was my co-worker, he is my friend, and next November, he will be our president.

Robin Golden

Good evening Denver. I am Robin Golden from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am president of UAW Local 2344. Ten years ago, I started working for an auto parts manufacturer. I am an end-of-the-line inspector: I make sure our products are safe before they get into the cars that Americans drive.

When I first took my job, the economy was growing and business was booming. It looked like I had a great future there. I believed if I worked hard and did good work, I would have a job until I retired.

In two weeks, I will be unemployed. My job is being shipped to Mexico, along with the jobs of most of my 430 hourly co-workers. That means every single member of my local will be unemployed in two weeks. I am not just losing my job; I am losing my union—and all the benefits it has brought me. I feel like I am losing my chance to get ahead.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Senator McCain voted for tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs. Senator McCain voted against supporting those companies whose products are made by American workers like me. It’s time for a change.

I’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes and my health insurance runs out three months after I lose my job. Paying for it out of pocket will be one-third of my unemployment benefit. It’s time for a change.

Gas and grocery prices keep going up, and everyone’s paychecks are buying less. Families all around us in Michigan are losing their homes. I’ve sent out resumes to try and find a new job, but I haven’t even heard anything back. I can’t even think about retirement any more. It’s time for a change.

I have worked hard my entire life. My wife works hard as a librarian. We clip coupons. We make sacrifices. Because we love America, we want to protect and strengthen the American dream. We want a fair chance to get ahead for all who work hard. I want a president who represents working-class families, not big oil companies. I want a president who knows that organized labor helped build the middle class, and that organized labor helps keep our middle class strong. I want a president who will keep American jobs here at home.

The change we need is Barack Obama for president. Americans, unite! Let’s come together to send someone to Washington who will work for American jobs, American energy independence and the American dream. Let’s come together for Barack Obama!