Charlotte, North Carolina
September 24, 2024
Anthony, thank you very much for your life story and for sharing it with all of us. It's very, very powerful and you are why we do all of this. And, your message that there is hope, there is opportunity for everybody is something that we want everyone to hear and that we are deeply committed to making sure that is really real for everybody.
So, thank you so, so much for what you are doing here. And it's a testament to what we talk about a lot in the Biden-Harris administration, but also the conversation we had among all of us here in Charlotte, that good jobs change lives. And, so again thank you for so concretely confirming just the truth of that.
And of course, the amazing Robyn Hamilton, who you also acknowledge, right? Good jobs require someone who creates those good jobs and then decides that they are going to hire people who come from communities that might otherwise never have been given a chance. And so, Robyn, you live and breathe the work that you do. I know that because I got to be with you a few months ago, in May, when you invited me, it's a true honor, but to speak at the graduation of the largest class of the Urban League at the Center of Carolinas.
And it was really a remarkable, again, testament to when you invest in people, give them hope, give them a sense of their own power, and promise, and then you help set them on a path, just how incredible that is.
And so, that is work that you are doing every day here at the Urban League. Thank you for hosting us. Thank you to both of you for showing that what we're doing is really real, and that it really, really matters, and that if we roll up our sleeves and work really hard and work together can actually make that happen. So, I'm just going to give you both a round of applause.
You know, as Anthony also said so clearly, good jobs do change lives. It's not just about your income, it's about what you can do with that, right? It's about what President Biden always says, the ability to have a little bit of breathing room at the end of the day. It is about respect and dignity. It's about sustaining your family and be able to lift up your entire community.
And a good job, as the Vice President often says, is about not just getting by, but actually being able to get ahead.
And we would like to see that promise—that promise of a good job with fair pay, decent wages, where every worker gets to come home healthy and safe at the end of the day. Where you have benefits so you can go to the doctor when you're sick and not have to pay a fortune for it, and when you know that you can retire with dignity—are fundamental parts of the American promise that has been broken in far too many places and for far too many communities. And we are committed to making sure that it is a promise that is actually kept.
And a big part of that promise is having a good union job. And you have heard the President and the Vice President say that unions make America strong because it is true. So, I also want to acknowledge all of our union brothers, the union sisters who are here and who are doing this work every single day.
David, thank you for your leadership and for your words. You had talked about all of you doing bargaining, and it is so important because what unions do is get workers more than the minimum standard, right?
There's the sub-minimum wage, the unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, and then there's what is required by law and what is the minimum. But then there's what a union job gets you and it is higher than that.
And I have had the privilege of being at the bargaining table for some of the big negotiations over the last couple of years, and one thing that companies will often say is, "Well, we can't pay that amount. We can't give you that benefit because it's too high above the market wage. It's too high above what the market allows."
And my response to that is, instead of telling working people that their demands are too high, it's time we question why the market wage is so low.
It's time that we challenge the idea that what the market has done for so long is the only way to go. So thank you for the union leaders for doing that and for being here and in every room that I am in to show what is possible.
So, this summer, since I was here in May, I've traveled around the country on a Good Jobs Summer Tour, and my message is the same everywhere, that a good job is not something that people should dream about. A good job is something that people should just hope for and cannot get. A good job is something that everybody should be able to have.
And as part of the Good Jobs Summer Tour, I've been able to sit down at tables across the country to talk about how we delivered that promise and how we make sure that everybody has access to that promise.
And that's why today's commitment by so many leaders—and we already talked about how leadership matters, right? So many of you mean so much because we can't make it concrete unless we make it concrete, right? And these good jobs principles are about saying concretely this is what we mean when we say a good job. These are some of the non-negotiables in what it means for someone to live a decent life. To go to work every day and be able to feel a sense of security and real sense of dignity.
And the work of everybody in this room is going to breathe life into these principles.
Now, through President Biden and Vice President Harris's economic agenda we have made tremendous progress over the country. We talked about that a little bit in the room, but I think we should take a moment just to think about how far we've come by remembering where we were, right?
So, just about four years ago, this country was in the midst of a global pandemic and there was no national strategy to get it under control. And many of the people who paid the biggest price were working people. They were communities of color. And still there was no national strategy to do anything about it. Unemployment was at sky high. Remember when we went to the store, we didn't know if we were going to find toilet paper? Remember the panic buying?
We are a long way from that. And North Carolina was rocked by it. In fact, at the height of the pandemic, the unemployment in North Carolina was 14.7%.
Now let's compare that to where we are today. Since President Biden and Vice President Harris came to office, we have created in this country almost 16 million jobs. That is most jobs under any administration in the same time period in history. That is an incredible contrast. And 512,000 of those jobs were created right here in North Carolina.
At the same time, the unemployment rate has been at historic lows. Most people said, "we're never going to get close to 4% unemployment" for years. We not only got to 4% we got under 4% and we kept it under 4% for the longest stretch since Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. That is an accomplishment as well and it just didn't happen by accident. In fact, most people said it was not going to be possible.
And we've done this by building an economy where workers come first. By rejecting the idea of the past, including the immediate past administration, that somehow if we just did right by the billionaires, if we just made sure the rich did well, that somehow there'd be a trickle-down effect on everybody else. Anybody believe that? Anybody see that happen?
That's right. And we did it the other way, right? That's what President Biden says. We did it from the middle out and the bottom up, by making sure that those who have been at the bottom too long are actually lifted up by our policies. And we've done it through historic investment in America and in America's workers.
So, Anthony your story was lovely because that American Rescue Plan Act that you talked about, when President Biden was talking about that, most people said, "Oh no, that's way too much money to put out there," right? But what that money did was exactly your story.
And we believe that you can never invest too much in America's people, in America's working people. And thank you for sharing just what a concrete impact it made. The other investments that we're making are historic investments in our nation's infrastructure, in our nation's manufacturing, in clean energy so we're combatting the climate crisis.
That we are now seeing, and Robyn mentioned this too, roads and bridges are going to be repaired in this community, airports are being modernized, right?
We are making sure that federal investments are actually translating to real benefits for the American people.
Remember what the last administration promised? Remember that infrastructure week? Now, I know my Building Trades brothers are here so, you know what I'm talking about—anyone who thought a week was enough does not understand infrastructure.
Yeah. Well, we're investing in an infrastructure decade, and we are seeing the results of that in communities all across the country including right here in Charlotte, and including right here in North Carolina. We are making it real because it's not enough to talk about something, you've got to deliver it.
And, here in North Carolina, that means $10.3 billion of investments in roads and bridges, in clean air, in water—so that everybody who turns on the faucet knows there going to get clean drinking water—and renewable energy. So, everyone can breathe clean air. And we'll save this precious planet that we live on.
And, with today's announcement—and with the partnership that you all signed—we are going to make sure that every penny of that $10.3 billion goes to creating good jobs in every single community. Because when the federal government puts out money, its should not be blank checks to corporations, right? They should be attached to something, to standards, to a way that we want the world to look, and we want to make sure the workers benefit, and all communities benefit from these investments.
Now, we also know we have work to do and that's why the commitments being made here are so powerful, right? For a long time, the building and construction trades were considered a man's job.
We know, you all know, that women can do anything when given a chance, but we've got to make sure that that chance is available. We've got to make sure that that happens. And today, women in this room, women running organizations who are making that happen, are showing what is possible.
For example, LaToya, and She Built This City. Part of the reason why I so believe in everything in this city is one of my first visits to Charlotte was actually meeting you and hearing what you were doing, and the type of opportunities you were creating, and the holistic way you were thinking about that.
And so, now that you've been able to sign this partnership to expand your reach, to expand your model, to make sure that those incredible women who I got to meet when I came to your office are going to get these opportunities we're talking about. I just think there's nothing more important than what we are doing here.
And this whole Charlotte Registered Apprenticeship Partnership is going to make sure that the opportunities that are being created are going to be available to every single community.
And so, today, we really celebrate the equity commitment so that when the I-85 is rebuilt, it's going to be rebuilt by workers in good union jobs, representing a diverse workforce that is the Charlotte community.
This morning, I visited—many of us went to visit—the Mecklenburg County Detention Center. And there are incredible people there who know that when given a shot, they can do anything, too. And we just have to make sure that they're given that shop.
So, to the Sheriff for your incredible vision, your commitment to dignity, to jobs, to all the folks who are doing that work, who've lived it and who know that everybody just needs to know that there's a path for them, that there's a place for them. They can do the rest, right? But we have to make sure that we build those roads and bridges to opportunity for every single person. And…
That's right. And, we've talked about infrastructure, but I want to talk about a different kind of infrastructure. I want to talk about the roads and bridges that connect people to the good jobs they want and need and employers to the people they want and need. That's a kind of infrastructure, too.
And, I call that our nation's Opportunity Infrastructure. And we have to think about an infrastructure because otherwise what happens is we think about individuals not being able to find opportunity and we say it's somehow their fault. Right?
Now, when somebody needs to get somewhere and the roads and bridges don't go there, we don't say that's their fault. We say we need to fix the infrastructure, right?
And so, if somebody can't get the opportunity, that's also an infrastructure problem. And we, this community, all of us, are building the infrastructure that will connect everybody to the good jobs in their community.
And that starts with a good job. It starts with real opportunity. It starts with somebody knowing that when they go to work, they're going to get the pay that they earned, and it's going to allow them to live a good life. It's going to allow them to do what Anthony just did which is go look at a few homes to see which one he wants to buy.
So, it starts with a good job. But it also starts with connections, right? It starts with training programs that reach into communities that have been long left out and bring them into that opportunity, right?
It requires supportive services because a lot of times the reasons why people can't get to training programs or to stay in jobs is not that they don't have the hunger, not that they don't have the passion, not that they don't have the desire, not that they don't have the skill, but because the roads and bridges don't connect them there. There's no on-ramp.
Like you said Robyn, they've been told they're training for skills they might need for a job that might exist. Why would anybody do that? That's not a rational choice. And to make sure that people have transportation, child care, the things that help them to connect to that good job.
And it means breaking down systemic barriers that have kept some communities shut out—women, justice-impacted individuals, people with disabilities, right? Single moms, people who are housing insecure. All of them deserve and need that chance and by building this Opportunity Infrastructure we can make sure that they get it.
It also includes bringing in the educational system, right? Our K-12 system, our community college. All of them our on-ramps to this Opportunity Infrastructure. And we've just got to make sure that all of it is connected.
So, to do this work right, to strengthen our Opportunity Infrastructure, we need all of us in this room. And so, that's why the folks who are signing this today—it's so meaningful for me to be part of seeing that.
Our Opportunity Infrastructure requires local leadership and there's tremendous local leadership right here in Charlotte. And, Anna, every time I meet with you and talk to you about what Charlotte Works is doing, it opens my mind to what is possible within the workforce system. So, thank you for your leadership.
Thank you to all of the County Commissioners who are here. Again, all of you…
Right? That local leadership is so important because that's where it really happens. We don't want to be making these policies from Washington, DC. We want to come out here and figure out how we support the work that you are all doing here on the ground.
It requires civil rights organizations, and organizations that serve those who have been left out. Those who we say we want to lift up the bottom, those who have been pushed to the bottom for too long. Organizations like the Urban League and Robyn's work. Organizations like She Built this City and LaToya's work. Organizations like Good Will and Marvin's important work.
And it requires also employers, right? The employers who are in this room and many more employers to come to the table to be part of this opportunity infrastructure.
And, of course, it requires our union sisters and brothers and the unions who lead the way in defining what a good job is and show what is possible and show us what everybody should have.
So, let's sign these principles. Let's do this work because signing them is not the end. It is one step in doing what we need to do.
But I want you to know that the Department of Labor, that President Biden, that Vice President Harris are 100% in this with all of you because we also know that there are forces in this country that would turn back the clock if they had the chance. That would remove the progress that we have made, that you also have made, that we have made together. And we're not going let that happen.
So, we're signing these principles to say, we are in this, we are in this, too, at the Department of Labor. Thank you for letting us be your partners in this work. Thank you again for, again, demonstrating of all the cities that I go to what is possible because, if it's possible here, we can make it happen anywhere else as well.
So, let's sign the good jobs principles and thank you all so much let's roll up our sleeves to get this done together.