AMERICA NEEDS POLICIES THAT BRING BALANCE, FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY

Change to Win Challenges Democratic Party To Implement The American Dream Platform

# # #

. Geralyn Lutty's full remarks are below.**



Statement of Geralyn Lutty to the Democratic Party Platform Drafting Committee
August 1, 2008

On behalf of the Change to Win, I would like to thank Governor Napolitano and the Drafting Committee for this opportunity to speak to you today.

Change to Win is a partnership of 7 unions with 6 million members organizing and representing the workers in the industries and occupations of the new American economy.

We have talked with workers about how they feel about their jobs and the economy, and when workers talk about the economy, they talk about it in terms of the American dream. The American dream is the universal expression of the hopes and aspirations of all Americans. Without regard to race, religion, age, gender, ethnicity, or immigration status, we all share the dream. It is at the center of our national identity. The American dream defines us as a people, and it continues to inspire peoples around the world.

For America's workers the dream is not about great wealth, it is about a good job with decent wages. It is not about living without a care, it is about having affordable health care. It is not about luxury, it is about a secure retirement after a lifetime's work. The American dream is the belief that next generation will be better off than the last, and that opportunity is open to all of us.

Today in America, the dream is at risk. More and more Americans see an uncertain future, and fear that the dream will become unobtainable for their children and grandchildren. They see fewer and fewer jobs with wages that can support a family, and see rising costs putting health care out of reach. They see unrestrained corporate greed and unmet worker need.

Workers see a power imbalance in the workplace and in politics. They see a distorted system where increasing worker productivity and growing profits have not brought increased wages or job security. They see a top heavy economy where all the reward in the new economy goes to the top, and all the risk goes to the bottom.

If workers' wages had kept up with CEO compensation, the average working family would be making over a half million dollars a year. Instead, real income has fallen for working families.

We are facing difficult economic times with rising prices, fewer jobs and a financial crisis. But the threat goes beyond the current problems.

Workers have always weathered tough times. Workers held on, and looked forward to prosperity as the economy rebounded. But today, in good times as well as bad, workers face an economic squeeze that threatens the dream for them and their families.

The problem is clear: the new American economy is not generating sufficient "good" jobs-jobs that can deliver the American dream.

The occupations and industries that will create the most new jobs are in retail, hospitality, food processing, building services, health care, transportation and construction. These jobs generally have lower wages and are less likely to provide health care or pensions ? and, the workers in these occupations and industries are less likely to have union representation.

As our economy shifts from manufacturing to service, we are shifting from a country with a broad working middle class and widely-shared community and national interests to a country of growing income inequality, increasingly wide disparities in access to such basics as health care and narrowing opportunities for too many Americans.

In terms of income, wealth and opportunity distribution, 21st century America is beginning to look like 19th century America.

Unrestrained, unregulated and greed-driven economics have produced the crisis we face today. There is too much power and too much wealth in too few hands. The lack of corporate accountability has brought cooked books, failed companies, and economic dislocation from shuttered factories to foreclosed homes.

Despite the difficulties workers face, there remains a foundation of optimism. Workers in America believe change is possible. They believe government can change. They believe their workplaces can change, and they believe their lives can change. They believe there can be a new American dream.

The Democratic Party platform must be a platform for the American dream. The next President and the next Congress must promote policies that renew the dream, and provide an infrastructure of opportunity so all Americans, through their effort and hard work, can hope to achieve the American dream.

Work, workers and the workplace must be at the center of the agenda for change. The American dream is realized or lost at work. We must fix what happens at work. We must make sure that power and prosperity is broadly distributed to provide for the well-being of all Americans.

1. Workers must have the free choice to form unions at work ? without employer interference, intimidation or coercion. Workers in unions are more likely to have living wages, affordable health care, pensions and better opportunities. Workers with a voice in their wages, benefits and conditions can turn the jobs of the new American economy into the good jobs of the future that will support an expanding working middle class.

2. Affordable, quality health care must be available for all Americans. Government must play a positive role in reforming the current system where too many are left without any insurance, costs are uncontrolled and there is too little focus on promoting health. All Americans must have access to needed medical services, including preventive services, at reasonable costs.

3. A new trade model must provide for rising global prosperity for workers through enforcement of standards protecting workers, environmental protection and the assessment of the impact on jobs, communities and public health.

4. Social Security system is fundamentally sound and can be secured and for the future. Privatization would place the retirement security of American workers in the hands of the same people who brought us the mortgage crisis. We must also build a worker retirement program in addition to Social Security. The 401(k) system in its current form is inadequate for most workers whose wages allow for little savings. We must preserve and protect existing pension plans, and create new kinds of retirement plans that ensure retirement income security.

5. Immigration reform must be comprehensive, stop the exploitation of workers, and allow undocumented workers a path to legalization. Enforcement-only strategies and worksite raids that seem to be targeted at plants where workers are complaining about labor violations will only lead to further abuse of workers, disrupt families and communities, and have the effect of threatening the rights of all workers, including native workers and legal immigrants.

6. Workplace fairness and the protection of basic legal rights of workers must be restored. The entire structure of workplace protections has been undermined and underfunded over the past 7 years. OSHA has failed to issue desperately needed safety standards. Workers are routinely misclassified as independent contractors in order to deny them workers' compensation and unemployment. Wage theft is rampant as workers are compelled to work off-the-clock or employers simply fail to pay. And discrimination remains a pervasive workplace problem.

7. We must build a green America. From retrofitting buildings, to developing new energy sources, to building transit systems to constructing sewage plants ? we have an opportunity and obligation for public as well as private investment in a green America. Workers in America will make their investment by developing the skills and learning the jobs that will create a green America. We just need the chance and we need government to lead.

The Change to Win platform proposals will bring balance, fairness and equity to the economy and the workplace. We believe they are part of the infrastructure of opportunity that will make the American dream real for generations of workers.

We believe that promoting prosperity for workers will stimulate overall economic growth including fair corporate profits and a rising stock market.

The American dream is sound economic policy.



About Change to Win
Seven unions and six million workers united in Change to Win to build a new movement of working people equipped to meet the challenges of the global economy and restore the American Dream in the 21st century: a paycheck that can support a family, affordable health care, a secure retirement and dignity on the job. The seven partner unions are: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers' International Union of North America, Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, United Farm Workers of America, and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.