Thank you all.  I’m so happy to be in Ohio, and in Cleveland, and believe me I’m made many, many trips to your great state and this great city.

Ohio as been Ground Zero in the political fight for many years, and I’ve been pounding the pavement and beating the Bushes – literally – trying to get every vote we can for progressive candidates

My background is as a political organizer, out of AFSCME in California. But I’ve been working on political campaigns for the AFL-CIO for 14 years.

And on our campaign to ensure a Voice@Work, which goes hand in hand with our political work – democracy in our communities and democracy at work

Sisters and brothers, we need the Employee Free Choice Act

Workers must be free to choose a union if they want one … we must have labor law reform … we’re going to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act

And also health care reform

Reforming our broken health care system is not just about making sure that everyone has coverage … but that’s very important

So often today people are using the emergency room as health care of last resort. And that uncovered care drives up the cost for everyone else.

But we must have reform that controls the ever-rising cost of care.

Just this week we learned from the Kaiser Family Foundation that family health care premiums rose 130 percent over the past 10 years – 130 percent!

That’s not because of doctors and nurses and other caregivers. It’s because insurance companies and drug companies are jacking up rates.

And that’s bad news for working families -- like Rachel and her husband, a Cleveland couple that now are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, born in February.

Rachel has health care, negotiated by her union, with an 80/20 split and a cap on out-of-pockets of $6,000 a year.

But the cost of having a child has put Rachel and her husband in a bind. He’s self-employed and earning less during this recession, like many others.

Rachel works at a counseling agency that tries to help people with health care problems … but now she finds that she needs help herself.

Her bill, after the insurance paid the 80 percent share, is $4,200. The procedure, a normal vaginal birth without complications, cost more than $20,000.

 These soaring costs of health care are responsible for rising personal bankruptcy, when families beset with mounting debt feel like they have no other choice.

The choice we need to make is comprehensive health care reform, with a public option that helps to control costs.

We have a great opportunity today, with President Obama in the White House – and the labor movement all fired up and ready to go – to change the way we do business in this country.

With your help, we’re going to win real health care reform this year, AND the Employee Free Choice Act.

Thank you for dedication and your activism.