Fundamental Truths: Speech by SEIU International President Andrew Stern Given at 1998 LRA Labor Awards Dinner (Oct. 1, 1998)
Created by: Administrator,Last modification on 01 Oct 1998 [05:00 UTC]
This year I finally achieved the dream of a lifetime. I was invited to appear as a guest on the Hightower radio show. The subject was one very close to my heart the hidden epidemic of needlestick injuries among health care workers. Health care workers suffer one million needlesticks a year 3,000 workers a day who face a possible death sentence from hepatitis or AIDS. Every year, more health care workers die from needlesticks than all the passengers who died in the ValuJet crash.
It's because hospitals won't buy safe needles and manufacturers won't market them. My union has pledged that we will not rest until every health care worker has access to safe needles so we can end this shameful epidemic.
I am deeply honored tonight because I have the opportunity to pay tribute to Greg Tarpinian and the Labor Research Association. That's why we're all here tonight to thank this great organization for their years of service to the labor movement.Year in and year out, LRA provides the best research, the best employer analysis, the best education for activists, the best bargaining assistance, the best pro-worker media commentators. Again and again, my union has called on them for help, and they have always come through. And we look forward to many more years of working together.
We have a new labor movement today new leadership at the AFL-CIO, a new president, my predecessor at SEIU, John Sweeney. The union movement has a new hope and a new style. Newsweek even published an article that says, "It's hip to be union." But, hey, we were union before union was cool.
My own union has had a remarkable two years. In January, we fulfilled the dream of two of New York's greatest labor leaders, John Sweeney and Leon Davis, when 1199NY affiliated with SEIU, creating the largest union of health care workers in the history of North America. But the test of our partnership, the legacy of our efforts, must be and will be to organize health care workers all across the State of New York, to bring dignity to all health care workers and quality health care to all.
We are up against some of the most powerful corporations on this planet corporate giants that salute no flag but their own logos, that worship no God but the almighty dollar and honor no obligation but their bottom line. The United States may have a booming economy, but we also have the greatest disparity of wealth of any industrialized nation of the world. About 16 million American workers are represented by unions today. That's down almost 25% in less than 20 years.
There's only one way to restore living standards for working Americans. Our strategy is very focused and very simple. The best way to raise wages, the best way to defend and extend our benefits, the best way to protect and preserve our job security, the best way to fight discrimination of all kinds, the best anti-poverty program and the best workfare reform program, is a union job with a union contract bargained by a strong and growing labor movement.
The fundamental truth in this labor movement and it can't be said often enough is that we are not going to grow stronger if our numbers grow smaller. We can't win bigger paychecks and benefits for our members as long as there are nonunion workers down the street doing the same job for poverty wages and fewer benefits. The only way we are going to deliver power for our members and make collective bargaining work is to organize the great majority of workers in our industries.
We must send this message to every union-busting, wage-freezing, job-destroying employer and to every labor-baiting, race-hating politician: If you take on one of us, you take on all of us.
It's because hospitals won't buy safe needles and manufacturers won't market them. My union has pledged that we will not rest until every health care worker has access to safe needles so we can end this shameful epidemic.
I am deeply honored tonight because I have the opportunity to pay tribute to Greg Tarpinian and the Labor Research Association. That's why we're all here tonight to thank this great organization for their years of service to the labor movement.Year in and year out, LRA provides the best research, the best employer analysis, the best education for activists, the best bargaining assistance, the best pro-worker media commentators. Again and again, my union has called on them for help, and they have always come through. And we look forward to many more years of working together.
We have a new labor movement today new leadership at the AFL-CIO, a new president, my predecessor at SEIU, John Sweeney. The union movement has a new hope and a new style. Newsweek even published an article that says, "It's hip to be union." But, hey, we were union before union was cool.
My own union has had a remarkable two years. In January, we fulfilled the dream of two of New York's greatest labor leaders, John Sweeney and Leon Davis, when 1199NY affiliated with SEIU, creating the largest union of health care workers in the history of North America. But the test of our partnership, the legacy of our efforts, must be and will be to organize health care workers all across the State of New York, to bring dignity to all health care workers and quality health care to all.
We are up against some of the most powerful corporations on this planet corporate giants that salute no flag but their own logos, that worship no God but the almighty dollar and honor no obligation but their bottom line. The United States may have a booming economy, but we also have the greatest disparity of wealth of any industrialized nation of the world. About 16 million American workers are represented by unions today. That's down almost 25% in less than 20 years.
There's only one way to restore living standards for working Americans. Our strategy is very focused and very simple. The best way to raise wages, the best way to defend and extend our benefits, the best way to protect and preserve our job security, the best way to fight discrimination of all kinds, the best anti-poverty program and the best workfare reform program, is a union job with a union contract bargained by a strong and growing labor movement.
The fundamental truth in this labor movement and it can't be said often enough is that we are not going to grow stronger if our numbers grow smaller. We can't win bigger paychecks and benefits for our members as long as there are nonunion workers down the street doing the same job for poverty wages and fewer benefits. The only way we are going to deliver power for our members and make collective bargaining work is to organize the great majority of workers in our industries.
We must send this message to every union-busting, wage-freezing, job-destroying employer and to every labor-baiting, race-hating politician: If you take on one of us, you take on all of us.
