Pres. Shuler's Speech at the 2024 AFSCME Convention

Thank you so much, President Saunders!

Good afternoon, AFSCME!! Brothers, sisters, siblings-how's everybody doing?

What an incredible month this has been. It feels like we've packed an entire year into the last 3-4 weeks, hasn't it?

From President Biden's announcement, to Vice President Harris kicking her campaign off…to our union brother Tim Walz getting in this fight! There is so much *energy* and excitement all across the country right now.

Do you all feel it?

Did you all see those pro-Kamala Zoom calls that were popping up over the last few weeks? Stood up on, like, 12 hours notice-which shows you how excited everyone is.

Black Women For Harris. Black Men For Harris. White Dudes For Kamala. Deadheads for Kamala-any Grateful Dead fans out there? If we're getting the Deadheads to the polls…democracy is in pretty good shape!

We even had a Labor for Harris Zoom where thousands of activists met-to strategize, to plan for the biggest mobilization of our lifetimes…and just to be together in this moment. Your President, Lee Saunders, gave an unbelievable speech that fired up the whole crowd. But in addition to you, President Saunders…we also got to hear from a lot of our workers.

One of the union activists on that call was an airport concessions worker named David Bonilla from our UNITE HERE family. And he laid out exactly why this fight matters.

David hopped on the Zoom…early twenties…UNITE HERE baseball jersey on. If you look up 'next generation labor' in the dictionary…you'd see his picture.

He grew up in Phoenix. And he talked from the heart about his experience growing up down there.

How he'd lost a father figure, who had been deported when he was just nine.

How he, his mom, and his siblings felt so powerless. What were you gonna do? How are you gonna take on this system, that's so much bigger than any one person?

Who was he, to try to change anything?

Then he got this job, through his mom, as a cashier at a food vendor in the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. She'd told him about the union, better pay and benefits.

And before he knew it…just a few weeks into work, David was thrown into the middle of this massive contract fight.

He saw his coworkers working 60 hour weeks, and still not getting by. And David got active and organized his coworkers and was leading.

And he was part of this historic win for airport workers to raise pay to levels they'd never had before, and get better schedules, and dignity on the job.

And as David was wrapping up that story on the Zoom, he said something that stuck with me.

He said being part of that union, part of that fight…It's the first time in my life…I've ever felt like I could speak up. Like I could actually *do* something.

No matter what kind of work you do, public sector, private sector…so many of us have felt that at some point, haven't we? That we don't have power. We don't have control.

I hear that from workers every single day.

People who are *fed up* with the way things have been going. With the fact they have no control over their lives.

My paycheck doesn't go as far as it used to. My rent is *out of control.* I worry whether I'm still going to have a job in a few years. I don't feel *good* about my future.

Workers have been living on the edge.

And it's not hard to see why. Too many people are struggling every day…while they watch their bosses hand themselves unbelievable amounts of money.

We put out this Executive Paywatch Report every year- and this year's report just came out last week. Do you know how long it would take for the average worker in this country to earn what a CEO earns in one year? Five lifetimes.

Does anyone in this room think it makes sense that Jeff Bezos over at Amazon…makes in seven seconds what one of his warehouse workers makes in a year? That he has enough money to rocket himself into space…while half this country lives paycheck to paycheck?

Does anyone think that's good for the future of this country?

But if you look around right now…something amazing is happening.

All over this country…workers are reclaiming their power.

Workers are realizing: There *is* a way to fight back.

There *is* a way to come together, and fight for our dignity, and protect our freedoms as working people.

It happens IN A UNION. It's BETTER in a union!

Those state employees in Wisconsin knew it back in 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression-when they created what would become AFSCME, to protect and defend public service workers all over this country.

Dr. King knew it when he stood with those striking AFSCME sanitation workers, back in 1968. So did Bill Lucy, and Reverend Lawson, and so many other leaders who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with AFSCME members because they knew this was a movement that would bring change.

Everywhere we look around this country right now…AFSCME workers are building on that legacy.

Just up the road in northern California-where city workers in Burlingame *made history* a few weeks ago, with double-digit raises and cost-of-living increases in one of the most expensive areas in the country, and went from 77% membership to 91% union membership! And we still have more to do, don't we?

Up in my home state of Oregon-where I know *you* just were, President Saunders! Where workers and researchers at Oregon Health & Science University are standing strong with Council 75 against administrators who don't want to pay a fair wage, or give us a seat at the table!

How about the 6,000 workers in the University of Maryland system…who just won a history-making contract with better pay, benefits, and schedules.

How about our museum and cultural workers-in Denver, and Chicago, and Philly, and right here in L.A.-who are the smartest people in the world in their fields, who are passing that knowledge on to the next generation-and now are leading this wave of new organizing, to make sure they get paid and treated with respect??

Every time we stand together…every hard-fought victory we have…we're showing workers all over the world that: IT'S BETTER IN A UNION.

And you have an amazing leadership team who has made AFSCME the envy of the labor movement.

Your president Lee Saunders-thank you isn't enough, Lee, for your partnership, your incredible vision not just for AFSCME but for this entire movement…your groundbreaking leadership in the political arena…and driving organizing in places we never thought possible-I could not be more grateful for you. Thank you.

Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride-my sister! You are an absolute force-of course within AFSCME, but at our AFL-CIO table and in the civil and human rights, and women's committees. THANK YOU for all you do to move us forward.

And to your incredible Executive Board, and your team of International Vice Presidents: I am in awe. All this momentum we've had as a movement the past few years…it would not happen without you and all the activists and leaders of AFSCME being such a driving force. Thank you for your dedication and hard work-AND-for being such leaders at the state and local AFL-CIO level.

It's not always easy, I know.

What hasn't the past few years thrown at us? A pandemic…these threats of A.I. and privatization…these politicians who want to destroy our public sector.

But through it all…AFSCME members find a way to get hard things done.

Whether you're caring for our sick and elderly…maintaining our roads…making sure our streets are clean and livable…making sure our schools are good places to learn…keeping our communities safe-and that's just a small sliver…this country depends on you every single day.

And it's about damn time our leaders recognized it.

It's TIME…to stop this obsession with privatizing our work, that ships money and good union jobs OUT of our communities-and gives us lower quality work in return!

It's TIME…that we protect the retirement and pension of *every* public service worker, who has earned every dollar with years and years of hard work!

And IT'S TIME…to finally pass the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act…so that every public service worker in this country is guaranteed their basic right to organize and bargain on the job!!

And it's time for ALL of us, right now, to get the job done.

Because those forces that want to drag us backwards…they're not going away. Three months-that's it-until the most important election in our lifetimes.

We have two vastly different futures in front of us.

One path that gets rid of our public-sector unions.

That outlaws public-sector bargaining.

That slashes the retirement plans of our public sector workers.

That gives into divisiveness and resentment-and rejects the basic dignity of work.

That *is* the Trump Project 2025 agenda.

But here's the *good* news.

We have a ticket that's running on the other side that has a hopeful vision for this country.

Where we don't fight each other for scraps-we fight the billionaires standing in our way!

Where there's no such thing as a MAN's job or a WOMAN's job-or a BLACK job, Donald Trump-JUST GOOD UNION JOBS!

…where every worker in this country can stand up and say from experience: IT'S BETTER IN A UNION!

Kamala Harris walked our picket lines back in 2019…when JD Vance was still giving TedTalks to billionaires at the Aspen Institute and Donald Trump was crossing a picket line.

Kamala Harris has been instrumental in this historic record we've achieved over the past three-and-a-half years-and now she's picked a running mate in Tim Walz who has lived his life in public service, as a coach, a teacher, a congressman, a governor…and a UNION MEMBER.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have made it clear they believe in our public service workers and our unions. And we believe in them!

Everything we want to build on-all this momentum, and taking all these *wins* to the next level, it's all riding on November 5.

And when we look at these battleground states that are going to determine the election…labor support for Kamala Harris is PLUS FIFTEEN. Non-labor is negative TWO. We are making the margin that is lacking with the public, so we WILL BE the difference maker.

So here's the question-will you promise, right here, right now, to bring in one, two, five new voters back home between now and November? Can you do that? Think of those young people around you-everyone says they're not motivated to vote-a neighbor, a co-worker…

Will you sign up for a Day of Action-we've got huge ones in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada coming up even this weekend.

And Labor Day is right around the corner. Will you sign up to join a canvass to go knock on doors, or a phone bank for those statewide or local races that are so important down ballot too.

If you're wondering where to plug in to the solidarity program you can visit BetterInAUnion.org and get connected to your local central labor council.

And here's the easiest ask of all.

On that site…there's an option to share your story, just like David Bonilla did a few weeks ago on that Zoom. Tell people what being in this union, this movement means to you-and why this election is so important.

That's what reaches other people. That's what breaks through…your story shows others, that if you care about your dignity as a worker…you care about your rights as a union member…if you care about your freedom…it's ALL on the line with this election.

We can be the ones who make history.

We just need to go get it done. Are you ready AFSCME?? Let's do this. Thank you!!

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