“Tonight’s speech is an important reminder that there is much to do for the American worker and their families. UAW Local Presidents from Lordstown, OH Local 1112 and Warren, MI Local 909 are in House Chambers as symbolic reminders of the failure of trade and industrial policies in our Nation. The dignity of work — of a good job with living wages and benefits, is not a partisan issue.

If there is hope for finding common ground in Washington let it be progress for the workers in Lordstown, Detroit and Baltimore and all over this Nation who have watched their job hopes disappear into the great profit abyss of Wall Street. Wages for autoworkers have had a twenty five percent pay cut in recent decades. This must change. Let us restore the American worker as a priority in the laws, trade agreements and the underlying values we cherish. Our challenge is to restore the American Dream. Because American workers have invested in America and now they look to Washington to invest in US!”