(Washington, D.C.)—AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued a video response to President Trump’s joint address to Congress tonight.
In the video, Shuler speaks about the country’s working class, “united,” she says, “in how fed up they are with the system we live in.”
“A system where CEOs at our largest companies make 238 times what we make, a system where an unelected billionaire is literally taking a chainsaw to cut critical government services, and fire our veterans without any thought or regard to the negative impact and consequences on everyday working people’s lives.”
Shuler emphasizes that working people are looking for common sense from “Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.” But right now, they aren’t getting it.
“Does it make sense to get rid of the people who inspect our food, protect our nuclear weapons, run our child care centers, and keep our planes safely in the sky? Does it make sense to give two trillion dollars in tax cuts, to people like Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg at the expense of workers who make less in a year than those guys make in a day? The answer is no.”
Shuler concludes: “Working people don’t have to accept the current state of our country. And the solution to these problems likely won’t come from political parties; it’ll come from us.”
The full video can be viewed here and a transcript is below.
Transcript
LIZ SHULER, AFL-CIO PRESIDENT:
Good evening, everyone.
Like a lot of you, I just watched President Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress. Politicians on both sides of the aisle will be giving their responses, talking about the state of our country, the state of our union. But, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on behalf of our 63 unions, 15 million members, and everyone who works for a living in this country.
I don’t know about you, but the world feels heavy right now. At a time when working people need real solutions to things like the rising cost of groceries, housing that gets more unaffordable by the day, and a sense of stability in the world—all I’m hearing about is what divides us.
And not only is that unsatisfying; It’s unsettling. It’s unsettling because when I go around, state to state, job site to job site, what I see for the most part is the opposite of that.
I see the working class of America united in how fed up they are with the system we live in.
A system where CEOs at our largest companies make 238 times what we make. A system where we work too many hours — just to live paycheck-to-paycheck, still without enough time to spend with our families or afford the things we actually need. A system where an unelected billionaire is literally taking a chainsaw to cut critical government services, and fire our veterans without any thought or regard to the negative impact and consequences on everyday working people’s lives.
The other thing I hear when I talk to workers—and it doesn’t matter if they’re teachers, electricians, nurses, engineers, retail workers, bus drivers—what I hear is they want to feel secure. They want to know what they can expect when they wake up in the morning from their bosses, from their jobs, from their government. They want common sense. That goes for Democrats, Republicans, Independents.
And I’d encourage every worker out there tonight to ask themselves: Am I getting common sense right now?
Does it make sense to get rid of the people who inspect our food, protect our nuclear weapons, run our child care centers, and keep our planes safely in the sky?
Does it make sense to give two trillion dollars in tax cuts, to people like Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg at the expense of workers who make less in a *year* than those guys make in a day?
Does it make sense, and do these things make our families and futures safe? Does it make sense to live in a paralyzed state of wondering how far is too far when it comes to the path our country is on?
The answer is no. Working people don’t have to accept the current state of our country. And the solution to these problems likely won’t come from political parties; it’ll come from us.
If you want to create a better way forward, join the Department of People who Work for a Living by clicking on that link below and join the fight to create a better future.
Know the labor movement is fighting for you, every single day—no matter your political party—because we all want economic security, safety, stability and to provide for our families.
We’re standing up to these attacks and protecting workers all over the country, in the courts, in our communities, and on the job. Because we are stronger when we stand together.
Thank you.
Contact: Mia Jacobs, 202-637-5018