Washington, DC
January 24, 2024
What a privilege to be here this morning, to speak alongside such powerful and visionary women.
To my good friend, Shawn Fain, thank you for that kind introduction. But more importantly, thank you for proving a few things that I know we both believe: that you can't win anything you don't fight for and when workers organize and stand in solidarity, what was once thought impossible becomes possible.
Last year was a big year for workers in America.
And you, UAW, are a big reason why. You organized. You bargained. You chose solidarity.
You know, I was in the room for many of the contract negotiations—across industries—that went on last year. And I heard corporations say, "the wage increase you want, it's too high, it's too far above the market wage." Above market wage. My response to that is instead of telling workers that their demands are too high, maybe it's time we question why the market wage is so low?
Why should we accept as normal the fact that workers have to work full-time, year-round, even multiple jobs and still can't afford to live a decent life and retire with dignity?
The UAW is resetting and lifting up that market wage.
Not only did you win a 25 percent wage increase and improvements to your health and retirement benefits. Not only are you charting a future in an industry that is undergoing massive change. Not only is your contract re-opening plants to bring back lost jobs and creating new, good union jobs. But almost immediately after reaching your agreement, non-union employers in the auto industry began giving unprecedented wage increases to their workers, too.
President Fain calls that the UAW Bump. And he's right. But I've also got another name for it: the Fain Gain.
Because the other thing President Fain proved is leadership matters. And a leader who is willing to fight, who re-imagines what is possible and then dares everyone around him to prove him wrong, makes all the difference.
Now there is another leader who has helped to make these victories for working people possible, and that's "Union Joe." President Biden vowed to build the most pro-worker pro-union administration in history, and I said "sign me up."
Since then, we have been redefining what is normal in America.
As President Biden says, for too long we've exported jobs. Not anymore, not on our watch. President Biden's Investing in America agenda means massive investments in our nation's infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing and this is creating jobs in communities all across America, in your communities.
"Made in America" is not just a slogan in President Biden's America, it's an economic strategy.
And we are using the levers we have to make sure those jobs are good union jobs. And that they are available to all workers, including women and people of color.
I call this the high road to the middle class.
But we can't build the high road if we don't also combat the low road. So we are enforcing laws to stop wage theft, to protect workers' health and safety, including exposure to toxic chemicals, to send a clear message to employers who have decided that it's cheaper to break the law, the chances of getting caught are slim, and the consequences if you do get caught minimal—we are saying, not anymore, not on our watch.
And let me ask you this. Before President Biden joined the UAW on the picket line, when was the last time you saw a President walk a picket line? That's right. Because it's never happened before.
This Administration's clarity—that when ALL of America's workers do well, businesses prosper and the nation is stronger—is helping to fuel this new surge in worker power.
Expanding worker power is key to the America we can and want to build. Building worker power is key to preserving our democracy. Because the same values that animate union organizing—people being heard, building solidarity to secure just conditions for the collective good, and demanding dignity and equality for all – those are the same principles that are necessary for a vibrant democracy.
So if we want a strong democracy, we need strong unions—a place where every worker is treated with equality and with dignity.
And unions are one of the most powerful forces for closing gender and racial wage gaps.
So in the Biden-Harris administration, it's not just that "union" is not a bad word. Unions are the reason America is strong. It is the way that America is going to grow stronger. It is how we are going to strengthen American democracy.
My friends, 2023 was a big year for UAW and for workers around the country.
So, keep on organizing. The Biden-Harris Administration has your back. Keep on lifting that market wage. We have your back. Keep on demanding worker justice. We have your back. The Fain Gain was unimaginable, thought to be impossible, until you made it happen. Let's keep on reimagining what is possible for workers together in this country.
Let's keep on fighting for our democracy together. And 2024 is going to be our biggest and best year yet.
So let's get it done together.