Working people and the issues we care about have been a prominent part of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. The program has been filled with union leaders and members, members of union families and longtime advocates and allies. Advocates like Hillary Clinton.
During Clinton's speech, she made a powerful case for working families. A key passage:
Democrats are the party of working people. But we haven't done a good enough job showing that we get what you're going through and that we're going to do something about it. So I want to tell you tonight how we will empower Americans to live better lives.
My primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States. From my first day in office to my last! Especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind. From our inner cities to our small towns, from Indian Country to Coal Country. From communities ravaged by addiction to regions hollowed out by plant closures.
And here's what I believe. I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives.
There's more. A lot more. Clinton gave a pro-working families speech that shows she's listening to what we say and that she respects our experience and our lives.
After Clinton's speech, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the following:
The AFL-CIO and 12.5 million working people across the nation congratulate Hillary Clinton on her historic nomination for president by the Democratic Party. We applaud the hard-fought campaign that led to this moment. This is a momentous occasion for working women everywhere who are still fighting to level the playing field in their workplace and achieve equal pay for equal work. Hillary Clinton’s nomination signals our nation’s commitment to gender equality and we in the labor movement will lift up that commitment on a daily basis.
This is a moment for women, and all Americans, to celebrate. When my grandmother immigrated to America, she didn’t speak English. As a young woman, my mother couldn’t afford a college education. So, when I witnessed Hillary Clinton accept the nomination, I knew things were incredibly changed for the better. And when we elect Secretary Clinton in November, they will be changed forever.
Here are some of the highlights of the most pro-working people of the DNC in a long time and the role working people have had in it.
Trumka spoke to the full convention:
https://youtu.be/9Ed3yF2_TKs
Trumka led an event for DNC delegates from the labor community:
https://youtu.be/HDWp1HJ2wTg
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also spoke at the labor council, slamming the Trans-Pacific Partnership:
https://youtu.be/6H8_39mJVuA
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe made it clear that Clinton opposes the TPP:
https://youtu.be/J6yU6U0oNJk
Trumka also addressed the DNC on FOX Business:
https://youtu.be/f5NMRvXuLfw
President Barack Obama also gave a shout out to working people in his speech Wednesday night:
That’s who we are. That’s our birthright—the capacity to shape our own destiny. That’s what drove patriots to choose revolution over tyranny and our GIs to liberate a continent. It’s what gave women the courage to reach for the ballot, and marchers to cross a bridge in Selma, and workers to organize and fight for collective bargaining and better wages.