Headquarters in washington dc good morning, everyone. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming today. Good morning, everyone. Thanks, louisa. I thought you were going to give me a shout out or something. My name is jason. I am representing the Teachers Union. The American Federation of teachers. [applause] i have been a part of that union since 20 years. This morning i was asked to share a few words with you. A little bit about my perspective on unions and why they are so important. Right off the bat, one of the things i would like to share, the reason i ever became a teacher and walking right out of college and out of high school going to college knowing i want to be a teacher one day. Louise who just kicked us off is my student. It is one of the things that unions do so well. They Bring Community and how to impact the Community Front and center. I believe that is one of the things that not only attracted me to teaching, but certainly is one of the major talking points about what unions do for all of us. Im really interested in benefiting and enhancing my communities. That is one of the reason i became a teacher. The unions that we have from my experience working with the Teachers Union is that they really help us to bring a collective voice of unity and strength around us. One quick example on our flight over here yesterday afternoon. Louise is a career technical student and plans on being a electrician. One of the things we know very much to be true is anytime you have a opportunity to work with a student there is always a lesson to be learned. For you and for the student. It is kind of crazy that this is this really happened on the flight where we organically started talking about wages and how much people earned. We were talking we inevitably laid it on how much money his parents make. It was a striking point for him. What a living manageable wage looks like. We cant say enough that this is really one of the most important things that we know unions provide for all of us. A living, breathable, manageable wage that is built around built around equity and comfort so we can all live this American Life that we are attempting to live as people. For me and that was an important moment because it shows what ive seen so much in the last five years or so as a teacher. I actually helped. One of my positions is a skilled usa advisor where we help to close the gap. That is one of my main jobs everyday day of my life is helping young focus on closing those gaps and stepping into unions. I think so many young people are thinking about that. As louise just in that conversation was thinking about what a living and is believed looked like was a great connector firmly. It was about union and strength and managing good wages that unions represent and have represented for me as a teacher for the last 20 years. Something i am really excited about that he is going to be able to learn and how he is going to be able to live his life with meaning and purpose Going Forward as well. [applause] thank you very much. Good Morning Union family. Yes. I am proud to be here representing my union. I have been a member since 2009. D. C. Born and raised. I am going to do my best to bring the drama and make my fellow Union Members filed. Proud. We are day 47 on our tv and Motion Picture strike against the amptp today. The first dual strike in 50 years. I primarily do voiceovers. This is a little new for me even as a actor. I do want to take a second to take in the power in this room. It is a power of our deep resilience and resolve of Union Members in a face of a striking and fighting for our rights. One a stronger, longer. That is right. [applause] the same power with veld at our strike events that we have been doing all over the mid atlantic the last month and a half, is the same power growing in every union hall in place of employment across the country seeking into public consciousness right now as of the labor market quickly starts to grow again. A big part thanks to millennials and gen z. Mr. Power of our strike acting as a beacon for other workers appeared visual effects workers are organizing a disney and marvel in our industry. Animation studios and production studios are with you. The president and founder of the amazon labor union, we are looking to our right, we got your back. We are looking to our left, we got your back. People in our industry are seeing this moment and say we deserve this ability to organize to. We deserve a fair wage too. Lets experience a for ourselves. This is every workers moment. It is a rebirth of a movement. Joining and getting engaged with my community was a gateway. [applause] i have been a sagaftra member since 2009. Good wages in shot at Good Health Care because of that Union Difference. It has invited me to engage in civic duty and teamwork with my colleagues at a time when so many of us are filling dissolution by the state of american divisiveness. It is only going to change if we make a change. I am living proof that life is better in the union. The union has brought me back to my family roots. I want to honor those who came before us, not just those who walk ahead of us. My grandparents are with me in my heart right now. They were labor organizers and educators in michigan. [applause] thank you. They would never hesitate to share stories with me. To point out where society has trickling in my youth to thinking greed and opulence were the goal of the sacrifice of the collective. Violent competition and economic exploitation were simply normal and acceptable under the corporate realism and capitalism. We are all storytellers. We are all organizers. We have the power to spread the gospel of the Union Difference and the obligation to deprogram as many folks as possible from the dehumanizing necessities of wealth and greed. It is never too late to tell the story of how collective bargaining can help us at a time we needed the most. Just like the wga and after winning a fair contract, the Labor Movement paradigm shift to worker power is not just a matter of if, it is a matter of when. Hot labor summer maybe ending, but that just means we will win winter i want to say to employers who are refusing to bargain with us, hold onto your butts, because we will take back what is we are truly worth from the corporate dinosaurs. As generation stand with us in spirit in this very room and the young currently revitalizing in the Labor Movement in the future generations who carry the flame one day longer, one day stronger, weve got your back, ask for having our back. I am living proof that life is better in the union. Thank you for having me. [applause] so i decided to join the union because i left school, i did not know what i wanted to do area and i went to school because that is the next that. It is like maybe you graduate high school, you go to college you do all this the and i said i dont know for a job, had no clue. My dad is a electrician and hes been a member of the i remember seeing the logo in hearing about it. I did not know the benefits and everything it had to offer. I knew that i could do the schooling and that would be given me what i was looking for. I did not want to just work for a company and almost waste time with no real set in in mind end in mind. I knew i could get a skill set here with things i could take away with me. What is really cool is that i just moved to go to the ibew renew conference i just went to the ibew renew conference. It was refreshing to see all the other young people who maybe went to college, a be we didnt, but we joined the union and it totally changed our lives. A lot of you can go do your 9to5 which i did the first couple years. It was amazing. My company saw a lot of potential to me and they allowed me to move up as long as i was willing to learn and try they gave me opportunities. And that is the same thing here, if youre willing to learn and put in the time, they will let you advance and advance in your career. Seeing all these young people who had the same goal and love for the union had a lot of impact on me. It was supercool to see people who are just as passionate as i passionate as i feel about it. When sometimes people say i dont know what ill do for work as they have you heard about the union . I figure just give it a try. If i hadnt tried it i would not have known. If i would have gotten more involved in meeting clubs outside of my daily job, i would not have realized how many aspects there are and how many opportunities there are beyond being in the field and labor and working in the office of your company. Theres policy, marketing, production, you know what i mean . You can have any kind of career inside of the union. And you can have that collaboration and safety net. You know youre working with other people that care about you and we all have the same goal and that is to progress forward. So, honestly, it has changed my life dramatically being a part of the union because being around so many people who can have the same goals and values of me even though we do not really know each other and being able to come amongst them, everyone it feels like family. It is so, it is oddly refreshing, you know what i mean . So not only has it changed my career goal but i did not know what to wanted to do but i have endless opportunities with job security and confidence. I can take that away i sold a new light on a dimmer installed a new light on a dimmer switch in my room and i said i know how to do this. Even that is so cool to me. My mom is like what are you doing . You know how to do this. And i say yeah, i know safety stuff. So it really change my life in so many ways. I tried to push it on younger people because if you are not know what you want to do there is no point in tort of looking around aimlessly or not working. You know what i mean . It is like go in there and start making money they will teach you everything you need to know every day. They will not that you up to fail, they want you to become the best. So i say everything is better in the union. [applause] of organized labor throughout this country, u. S. Trade ambassador, ambassador catherine is with us. Thank you. [applause] thank you. We also have a good friend. A good friend, one of the strongest activists unions in this country. They are present at the president of the 2 million activists fighters from the Service Employees internet through union. With us. And this next one is somebody who i referred to as the dean of the flc executive council. She wakes up every morning. And she thinks about what she could do with her million and a half or 2 million members the largest civilian group, and she thinks every day on how they can improve the quality of education and create a safe space for the children and Public Education throughout this country. President Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of teachers. [applause] look. I want to thank all of you for being here and for those of you who are joining us out there on livestreaming. Welcome to the house of labor. As we kick off Labor Day Weekend , it you know it is a holiday that many of us look forward to every year. It is a day that is rooted in resistance. And a day that is rooted in history. It is a day that was to remember. It was the Labor Movement and sacrifice the child labor. We challenged inhumane working conditions. It was a Labor Movement that created this. Think about it, we transformed dangerous jobs into good family sustaining careers. Industry by industry unions help gold america and we should never forget that. We should never forget that. [applause] it is the Union Movement. It is the Union Movement in this country that wakes america up every morning and tucks her to sleep every night. But labor day is also a time of reflecting on the reason progress working people have made transforming our communities and our country by standing together in unions. That is what we do. We stand together. The word is injury to one it is injury to all. That is the way we survive. It is also a time for labor day to stop take stock and reflect on the american Labor Movement. You know when president schumer and i were tasked with this two years ago, we wanted to create an open and an inclusive Labor Movement. The Labor Movement that was able to connect with all workers. In every sector and community in this great country of ours. A Labor Movement with women and people of color at the center of everything that we do. And with working people as the center of the economy and national policy. A movement that would resonate with workers at the start of their working careers and with workers at the end of their careers. And everyone in between. And president schumer will be sharing some incredible findings in just a minute on how that movement is growing. Every day. More and more working people are finding out it is the Labor Movement, that is the solution to low wages, unsafe work laces and inequality and discrimination. The Labor Movement. It is the only institution in america that has the infrastructure to reach and address and vanquish obstruction. The working people standing up for one another are an incredible force for progress. It works in the union, economy, and democracy. See the president and i know firsthand the power of the good union job. Delivered both of our families from a life of already and put them on the path to a solid middleclass. Those union jobs changed lizs families life and my family life and it changed ours. And i went we want every person to know the power of a good family sustaining union job. Believe me, life is truly better in a union. So [applause] once again, i just want to thank for joining us today. At this time, i have a privilege and distinct honor to introduce a person that i have had the pleasure of working with over the past two years. Her commitment, or clarity of purpose regarding our movement and its future and her unwavering belief that it is better in the union. That has distinguished her as the leader that we need to build the movement at this moment. Lets welcome the president of the aflcio president schuler. [applause] wow, wow, wow. Thank you so much. You are a true partner. Thank you fred lets give it up for fred. [applause] good morning, good morning, good morning everyone. This brings me such joy from the workers we heard this morning. I want to say to everyone in the room welcome union family allies friends and partners. Welcome us with this beautiful mural here. And i want to thank everyone watching in the virtual world. Thank you for being part of the new labor day tradition. This is the first inaugural we hope. Each year we are going to come together and talk about where working people stand in this country. And the story that we will share with you today as inaugural state of the union it is our story. Our story is working people will. It is a story of a number, 88 which i will come back in in a few minutes. But i want to reflect on what we just heard from the workers that we heard from this morning. Every day i traveled this country, i talked to workers, ive talked to workers in unions, of course and i also talk with working people who are not yet part of the the union. This is what i hear from them. I do not good about my future. I need to make more money. I wish i could afford a home. Im hearing a lot about that. I need a stable job. And i wish i had the power over my work and my life right now. There is a reason that song north of richmond is the number one song in this country right now. For a long time, working people in this country have felt powerless. They have been powerless. Here is the truth that we will talk about today. Working people are reclaiming our power. [applause] working people. Working people are taking on the companies that have exploited us for a long time now. So, the state of the union, the state of the unions is on the rise. [applause] on the rise with every strike, picket line, every win we deliver for workers across the country. My first job coming out of college was essentially two and three jobs pieced together. So i could make fulltime pay. One of them was a clerical worker in rutland, oregon where i grew up. It was the same place my mom and dad worked. The local power company. My mom worked as an Office Worker as well, my dad worked at the power alignment. He was in the union. And he almost didnt even need to see the card because you felt it when those linemen walked around. The power they had. They knew their voice was respected. Our clerical workers, on the other hand, did not have a union. It was frustrating. The same way i hear young people and workers today talk about this feeling like you should just be grateful you had a job. This feeling you were being taken for granted and not really seen. Certainly not heard. So i became an organizer. I became part of this Incredible Team of mainly women that tried to form a union to help build that collective strength so we could demand more. More pay, but also, more respect. And when the Company Found out about the union drive, guess what happened . They punched back with this fierce antiunion campaign. It made everyone afraid that they were going to lose their jobs. I guess it was disappointing, but may be not in our election. But in that loss, i guess it is not really a loss, we learned so many and edible lesson many incredible lessons. Incredible lessons that i take with me today and lessons that these workers know. The idea of a union may seem complicated but it reality it is just a group of people coming together. It is about each of us becoming the most powerful version of ourselves that we possibly can be. There is Nothing Better than finding that power alongside the people that we work with and being part of something bigger than ourselves. That is all the union is. It is that simple. Now, workers ha