Hello, Oregon!

Wow -- it's so good to be home!

This is the state that taught me what the union movement is all about.

You know, I'll never forget when I was lobbying in Salem for IBEW Local 125.

I was thrown into the Salem scene, and I remember there was this lobbyist with the Fire Fighters.

He was smart -- he was energetic -- he was persuasive -- he was totally committed to the union movement -- and I figured that someday, he'd do some amazing things.

I don't mean to talk about you behind your back, Tom, but you're doing amazing things, along with Barbara and the staff.

It's so good to see all of my friends here, and especially my IBEW friends.

Thanks for giving me such a great Oregon welcome!

You and I know that wherever you go in America, it's the state federations, it's the central labor councils, it's the area labor federations that are the boots on the ground, the people who do the heavy lifting where the rubber meets the road.

That’s true across the country.

Now, I'm probably a little biased, but nobody does it better than Oregon!

When I left in 1998 to move to Washington, John Kitzhaber was governor, Bill Bradbury was State Senate president, and there were a ton of anti-union initiatives on the ballot.

Sitting in here yesterday and seeing the lineup for 2010, I wondered if I was in a time warp.

Someone please tell me that Bill Sizemore is not running for something!

I know recycling is big in Oregon, but recycling politicians is something new!

But many things have changed since I left.

You passed the Worker Freedom Act.

You were the first in the country to give every working woman and man the freedom to decide if they wanted to attend meetings about politics, or religion, or union organizing campaigns.

And you were the first to pass a state law giving public employees the right to majority signup, so when a majority in a workplace says they want a union, they get their union.

That is the Oregon I know.

When you and your union sisters and brothers go all out...

when you put your heart and soul into spreading the message, phone banking, knocking on doors, getting out the vote...

… you can make this state what it should be and helped turn around America.

Last year, you helped transform our country.

And everything you did in 2008, we must do from now to 2010 -- and here's why.

The sharks we defeated last November are still circling out there.

They've never given up.

They're just as vicious now, and they want to destroy everything you won.

Don't let them do it.

You have a big job next year...

… electing a pro-union governor...

… making sure we re-elect the representatives who stand up for what's right, and that includes Kurt Schrader in the 5th District...

and beating back the two initiatives that our right-wing pals have dreamed up for 2010 -- right to work for less and paycheck deception – will they ever stop?  They won’t and we know it.

So it's not too early to get ready.

You know that.

We can't let the other side get a head start.

Many people ask me, "Well, what can I do?"

You know all those new voters who came out for Obama in 2008?

If we just sit back and do nothing, we risk losing them.

One thing you can do is go back to each new voter you know or that you recruited and make sure they vote.

But asking them to vote is not enough – because most voters – and many of our members – are pretty disillusioned about the economy and who our government’s economic policies have been helping. 

Our elected officials have to do more to create JOBS.

It’s true that the Obama economic recovery package pulled us back from the edge of an economic cliff.

And when you listen to the news, they may tell you the worst economic disaster in years looks like it’s bottomed out. 

But to anyone who's saying that, I say: Spend a week in Oregon.

Talk to our members in the building trades where the unemployment rate is 30-plus percent.

Talk to the workers in the wood products industry where it's around 40 percent.

Talk to any of the unemployed workers in any industry or service in this state who are desperate to find a job so they can survive.

We have a long way to go before we're anywhere near the recovery we need.

So what do we need?

We need more stimulus dollars to invest in transportation – in communications -- schools -- energy.

We need to invest in green jobs. Make that good, family-sustaining green jobs.

We need more aid to state and local governments who’ve been slammed by the biggest budget hits in decades, and we need to strengthen the safety net by extending unemployment benefits to people who are struggling to find work.

Every day, 7000 people run out of unemployment benefits.

What do you think THAT does to the consumer buying power we need to pull us out of the recession? 

But two Republican senators from the West – from Arizona and Utah -- are standing between jobless workers and the vote they need in the United States Senate to extend their benefits.

Republicans have amendments they have been haggling over, including preventing Acorn from receiving federal funds, so they're holding up the bill.

It’s shameful partisanship and it’s hurting all of us.

That kind of unreasonable behavior just bugs me!

Another thing that bugs me is greed.

We have to rein in the big financial institutions that ran wild during the Bush years and helped cause this recession in America.

We need to regulate these guys -- keep an eye on the risks they're taking in what they think is their private casino -- and make sure they don't bring us down again.

Now, let me be clear.

We're not anti-business … but we are anti-business that's greedy, and irresponsible, and grabbing every opportunity it can to exploit workers.

We'll fight those bad actors tooth and nail.

But when businesses act responsibly and create good jobs -- when they show some decency to their employees and some common sense in their operations -- we'll be eager to sit down and work out partnerships as equals whenever we can.

That's the way to grow our economy...

business and labor working together for our common goals.

Working in partnership for good jobs and an economy that lifts up everybody. 

…. Which takes me to the most important bill in our lifetime to rebuild our middle class: the Employee Free Choice Act.

You don't need to hear from me how critical it is to give millions of our sisters and brothers the chance to join our movement.

You know what that's about already.

We are finally at a critical juncture.

After years of calling and writing your senators and representatives -- handing out flyers -- spreading the word -- rallying -- writing letters to the editor -- and electing officials who are on our side, the victory you've worked so hard for is almost in our grasp.

We are so close.

The sooner we finish health care, the sooner we can get floor time for the Employee Free Choice Act.

You can help get us over the last hurdles.

Call Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkeley.

Thank them both for cosponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act and giving it their full support.

It's important to keep calling, even though we know they're with us.

They're getting beat up pretty badly by the other side, so balance that out by calling to thank them.

And then the work REALLY begins – because changing the law isn’t worth much unless we follow it with ORGANIZING the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades.

Thank goodness you’re already out there with aggressive organizing – putting together creative approaches and building the broad community support it takes!

And as I mentioned earlier, we can't move for a vote on the Employee Free Choice Act until we finish our fight on health care.

So let’s talk about health care. 

What we want is this: good, affordable health care for everyone, not just the rich and not just the lucky.

It should be a right, not a privilege.

That's been our goal, and our parents' goal, and our grandparents' goal for over 70 years.

And you know the real battle right now is in the U.S. Senate.

The leadership there has worked to combine elements from two different bills.

The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or HELP Committee, bill, which we liked...

and the other one, from the Finance Committee,  has some huge flaws.

Senator Reid announced yesterday that he has put the finishing touches on a final draft of the merged bills.

Now, the landscape is changing every day.

We've been very clear on where labor stands.

(1) We want a public insurance option — you can call it a consumer option or competitive option — to lower our premiums and add some competition to the insurance giants that have a stranglehold on the market.

And that competition would ease the cost burden on working and middle-class people instead of making it worse.

(2) We believe that employers should have to pay a fair share of costs -- all employers.

As you know, the employers who are doing the right thing now by providing health care are at a competitive disadvantage.

(3) And there's no way – no way — that health care should be paid for by a new tax on middle-class benefits.

That tax is what John McCain proposed last year, remember?

Well, the last time I checked, we beat him.

And we will not accept a new middle class tax on our benefits from a Democratic-controlled Congress!

We're optimistic.

But right now, before anything's written in stone, is when you should make your voice heard.

There's a special toll-free number you can use when you want to call Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkeley about health care.

Has anyone here already called Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkeley about health care? 

That is a trick question, by the way.

Everyone should raise their hand!

The number is 1-877-3-AFL-CIO.

Call up Merkley and tell him how much you appreciate that he's standing with us on the issues that count the most for working families in Oregon.

You guys sure did America a favor when you elected him to the Senate – what a great guy.

And call Wyden too -- thank him for taking the right stand on most health care issues...

but let him know you're concerned that his so-called free choice proposal would damage the employer-based health care we depend on – that 160 million Americans depend on.

Now, let me talk about some doors that are opening at the AFL-CIO.

You may have noticed them already.  It started at the national convention in Pittsburgh last month.

Some of you were there -- others of you watched it as we streamed it live on the Web -- and as you all know, we made history!

We elected three new officers -- two women on the top leadership team for the first time ever...

and I received the greatest honor of my life when I was elected secretary-treasurer of the 11 1/2-million-member AFL-CIO.

That was the beginning -- so what comes next?

Well, we can start by reaching out to millions of unorganized workers who just don't see us as the answer to their problems.

And specifically, I'm talking about young workers in their 20s and 30s.

They don't have a connection to the union movement.

It used to be that kids had a parent or aunt or uncle who carried a union card.

Now, it's a grandparent or even a great-grandparent.

No wonder young workers don't realize what unions have to offer.

It's not that don't like unions.

They just don't know about us -- and that's our fault.

So do young workers need unions as much as older workers do?

Actually...no.

They need them even more.

The AFL-CIO and our community affiliate Working America recently surveyed young workers between 18 and 34 years old.

What that survey found is staggering.

In the last 10 years, young workers have suffered disproportionately from the downturn in the economy.

One in three young workers is worried about being able to find a job…let alone a full-time job with benefits.

Only 31 percent make enough money to cover their bills and put some aside—and that is 22 percentage points worse than it was 10 years ago.

31 percent are uninsured, up from 24 percent 10 years ago.

Nearly half worry about having more debt than they can handle.

Less than half have retirement plans at work -- and don't let anyone tell you young people aren't concerned about this.

One in three still lives at home with their parents.

Some of you may have grown children living in your basement or spare bedroom right now -- right?

It's kind of a drag for young people (and you!), but the rent is probably cheap.

If things keep on the way they are, and if no one turns it around...

this is likely to be the first generation in the history of America that will be worse off than their parents.

We've been hearing about that a lot lately, but think about that!

Ever since we became a country, each generation did better than those before it.

That's what gave us hope and optimism -- something to dream about.

After more than 200 years, that dream is at risk.

It's a familiar story.

I lived it.

I know what it's like to rely on mom and dad just out of college.

I can tell you about piecing together part-time, dead-end jobs to make full employment.

We called it the McJob back in the mid-90s.

When I got out of school here at the University of Oregon, I was the McJob woman -- but luckily, it was a union job that put me on the path to a better life and a future. 

That story -- my McJob story -- is happening to millions of women and men in their 20s and 30s.

So how do we reach these young workers?

We need to open our ears and open our minds to new approaches -- and we need to step outside of our comfort zone and break some old habits.

We have to pay close attention to how young people are communicating and how they're getting their information about the world.

30 years ago, young people were sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper.

Today, maybe they're still getting the cup of coffee...

maybe it's a double tall decaf skinny caramel macchiato...

but they're spending time on websites that didn't even exist 30 years ago.

It's a different world out there.

Young workers are using media and social networks like Facebook and Twitter that barely existed -- or didn't exist at all -- just five years ago.

Not only do we need to use these new tools, but we need to think about how we are packaging the messages.

With this generation, we'll get a lot farther if we use a little more humor, a little more wit, a little more edge.

What goes viral on You Tube?

It's the videos that make us laugh and entertain us, but also make us think.

These are the ones we connect with and remember.

30 years ago, who was the most trusted newscaster in America?

Walter Cronkite -- a serious journalist.

Now, according to a Time magazine poll, the most trusted newscaster is Jon Stewart -- a comedian!

So all of that is the world where the future of the union movement lies.

We have a lot of work to do.

We must reach these young workers, both within our ranks and outside.

We have a perception problem in the labor movement, don't we?

We have to stem the negative tide.

The way we do that is by reaching the young workers who don't know us and haven't made up their minds about us!

We have to get this right!

Let's give the next generation hope -- fight for them -- embrace them -- and welcome them into our movement.

Give them a place where they know they belong, where they're excited about what's coming up next, and where they'll build a lot better life than what they're stuck in right now.

That's how our movement can grow.

You're off to a good start with the resolution you passed on the  Youth Caucus.

I hope you make it your personal mission, like I have, to connect with young workers.

If everyone here reached out to just one young person -- maybe someone you work with who is under the radar -- we'd be on our way.

I'd like to close with an invitation.

A few minutes ago, I talked about opening doors in the AFL-CIO.

I want to open a door right now.

Because the heart and soul of this movement is you...

because it's you who sees every day what things are working well in our movement and what things need to change...

I want to know what's on your mind.

I want your suggestions for making our movement stronger and more effective.

We need more communication -- more conversation -- all through our movement, so I invite you to get in touch with me and share your ideas.

Whenever there's something you want me to know, send me a personal e-mail at liz@aflcio.org.

I promise you I'll read it and I'll take it seriously.

As long as I live, I'll never forget the day I was elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO.

And I'm deeply proud to be part of a leadership team with Rich Trumka and Arlene Holt Baker.  They're some of the best leaders the American union movement has ever had.

But if Rich and Arlene and I are doing the best job we know how, and we're doing it alone, we're going to fail.

If this movement is going to succeed, it needs your hard work, your dedication, your vision.

For everything you've done, for everything you've already won...

but most important, for everything you will do...

I thank you.