On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks on labor during the Constitutional Convention of UNITE HERE in New York City.
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NewsTranscript
00:00♪♪
00:25Good morning everyone!
00:27Good morning, can I hear?
00:29Good morning!
00:31Oh, it's good to be in the House of Labor.
00:33Good morning!
00:35And you know I love you.
00:38Can we please hear it for Elena?
00:41I want to thank you for having me here.
00:52You know, you and I being together with all of the other members in Las Vegas in that early day
01:00when we didn't know how it was all going to turn out, and you showed such strength as you do every day.
01:06But, you know, these are moments of crisis, moments where we don't know where things are going to end up,
01:11really do reveal the strong among us, the leaders among us, and Elena is one of them.
01:17And I thank you so much.
01:19So it's good to be here. Let's have a seat, please have a seat.
01:27And to unite here, President D. Taylor, the former president, D. Taylor, I thank you.
01:33I know you're here somewhere.
01:35I want to thank you for your friendship and decades of leadership in the labor movement.
01:40And of course, we all know, D, I mean, your strength and determination has improved the lives of countless workers around our nation.
01:47So thank you, D.
01:49And to President Gwen Mills!
01:55Congratulations on your historic election,
02:00and I know, we all know, that she's going to continue this union's long legacy of impact.
02:07And finally, to the members of Unite Here, I thank you for everything you do for our nation
02:13and for your unwavering support of President Biden and me.
02:18You know, in 2020, in states like Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona, it was you,
02:25it was the members of this union who energized, who organized, and mobilized.
02:32It is because of your work and your support that Joe Biden is president of the United States,
02:40and I am the first woman elected vice president of the United States.
02:46I'm really clear about how we got here.
02:54And so, you know, many of you know a bit about my background.
02:59You know that my parents met while they were active in the civil rights movement.
03:03And so when I was young, they would take me to marches in a stroller.
03:09And from a very young age then, I learned that when people stand together,
03:17when we use our collective voice, when we stand in solidarity,
03:23we can drive extraordinary change because it is we who stand together as the collective
03:33who have the power and the ability to see what can be, unburdened by what has been.
03:40And my entire career, like everyone here, I have been guided by a fundamental belief then,
03:47in the power of the collective.
03:50A belief that has also, of course, guided the work of UNITE here from its earliest days.
03:57So for the press in the room, I'll give you a little history lesson.
04:01More than a hundred years ago, in Lawrence, Massachusetts,
04:06tens of thousands of textile workers, many of them women,
04:11came together to demand fair pay and safer working conditions.
04:17For months, in the cold New England winter, they stood together.
04:25Workers of all backgrounds, including immigrants from Italy and Poland and Germany
04:32and dozens of other countries.
04:35Many who did not speak English, but spoke the language of solidarity
04:42as they stood shoulder to shoulder.
04:47And all that is true today.
04:53And that legacy is strong.
04:56A hundred years ago, they fought, and together they won.
05:02And in the decades since, the workers of UNITE here have taken on
05:06some of the most powerful corporations in our nation.
05:10From Big Pharma to the hedge funds, which took over casinos and put profits over workers.
05:17And you have won. You've won fair pay, better benefits,
05:24safer working conditions, and protection against discrimination and harassment.
05:31Through the power of the collective, you have transformed millions of jobs
05:40into middle class jobs. Jobs that come with the dignity that all people deserve.
05:48And I know of your work.
05:55For many years, I have had the honor to work closely with the leaders of this union.
06:00When I was Attorney General of California, I worked with you,
06:03with many of the leaders here, to crack down on wage theft.
06:07As the United States Senator, we fought together for paid family leave
06:11and medical leave for more workers.
06:15And as Elena mentioned, this past October, with pride, I stood in Las Vegas
06:23with the workers of Culinary 226 for your Day of Action.
06:36For your Day of Action.
06:38And again, in 226.
06:45For your Day of Action.
06:53And again, in Las Vegas, a few months later, it was my honor to join Culinary once again
07:03to celebrate your contract win.
07:07And my goodness, what an historic contract win.
07:11And your historic pay raise of 32%.
07:15Extraordinary.
07:22And of course, this was a victory for all workers.
07:26For all workers.
07:28Because as we in this room know, when union wages go up, everyone's wages go up.
07:36When union workplaces are more safe, all workplaces are more safe.
07:42When unions are strong, America is strong.
07:55And President Joe Biden and I are proud to stand by your side.
08:00So together, together we have fought for affordable health care.
08:06Knowing health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.
08:12We together, together we took on Big Pharma and capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors.
08:23And now, because of our work together, three of the largest drug companies in the country
08:30are capping the cost of asthma inhalers from hundreds of dollars each to just $35 each.
08:43And we know how that affects so many of our babies historically.
08:47And how expensive those inhalers have been.
08:50And we are finally making it so that medical debt can no longer count against your credit score.
09:02Which means medical debt can no longer get in the way of someone's ability to get a car loan, to get a home loan, to get a lease for an apartment.
09:13Because I don't need to tell anyone here, medical debt.
09:17Well most people can't find medical debt because of a medical emergency.
09:21They didn't ask for it. They didn't save for it.
09:26And it happens. And then they're out tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
09:32And the way it has been working is it can count against somebody's credit score.
09:37Well your credit score is supposed to be a measure of whether you are financially responsible.
09:42It doesn't make any sense that you would cause somebody to take a hit to their credit score for a medical emergency.
09:49And that's why we're getting rid of it.
09:58In addition to medical debt, we are also addressing the issue of student loan debt.
10:03So far, we have forgiven student loan debt for nearly 5 million Americans.
10:11And twice as much for our public servants including our teachers, our nurses and firefighters.
10:16So you know I'm here. I stand here as we are 137 days away from the most important election of our lifetime.
10:33And there is a very clear contrast between who we have looked out for and who the last administration looked out for.
10:46Whereas the last administration gave tax cuts to billionaires, we gave tax cuts to families with children through the child tax credit.
11:05And cut the rate of child poverty in half when we did it.
11:10We are also proud to lead the most pro-union administration in the history of America.
11:20We expanded the power of OSHA to make workplaces safer.
11:32As head of the White House Labor Task Force, I have led our work to eliminate barriers to organizing in both public and private sectors.
11:46And we did the long overdue work to protect the pension plans of now more than 1 million union workers.
12:03Including thousands of UnitedCare members and retirees.
12:10On the issue of immigration, we believe in keeping families together, not tearing them apart.
12:17So now undocumented spouses of American citizens who have been in the country for 10 or more years can stay in the country while they apply for a green card.
12:32And so can their children.
12:39We also make it easier for thousands of Dreamers who have graduated college to secure work permits because our entire nation benefits from their extraordinary skill, talent, and ambition.
13:01So the bottom line is that in all we do, President Biden and I are guided by the belief that we work for you.
13:10And we will fight with you, alongside you, and for you.
13:16On the other hand, Donald Trump has made it clear time and time again he only cares about himself.
13:29He openly talks about his intention to weaponize the Department of Justice against his enemies.
13:35He openly talks about his admiration for dictators.
13:40It is not on day one that he will be a dictator on day one.
13:47He said he is, and I'm going to quote, proudly responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade and taking freedom of choice from millions of women in our country.
14:01And get this, recently in Las Vegas, you might have seen this, recently in Las Vegas, well it was a typical day in Vegas, it was 104 degrees, you know what I'm saying.
14:14But on a day that was 104 degrees and his supporters were outside, Donald Trump told the crowd, and I'm going to quote, I don't care about you, I just want your vote.
14:27Maya Angelou told us how we should think about these kinds of moments.
14:34Remember what Maya Angelou said, she said when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.
14:42Believe them the first time.
14:50So we see what's happening. We see what's happening.
14:53Donald Trump and his allies, they're working from a playbook to attack freedoms, to spread hate, to divide our country, and to make people feel alone.
15:10To make people feel small.
15:13But in the face of these attacks, we here know the power of the collective.
15:20And unite here, I believe when you know what to stand for, you know what to fight for.
15:31We stand for freedom and opportunity.
15:36We fight for paid family leave and affordable child care.
15:41We fight to lower rents and we fight to help more Americans buy a home.
15:47We fight to secure a pathway to citizenship including for our DREAMers.
15:53And we fight for the dignity of all people.
15:59Because we know what we stand for, and so we know what to fight for.
16:06And in this moment, our nation needs everyone here.
16:14We need you. We really do.
16:17We need you to continue to do what you know how to do so well.
16:24You're the best at it.
16:26We need you to continue to organize.
16:29We need you to continue to mobilize.
16:32We need you to continue knocking on that door and practicing how to do it.
16:41And we need you to make your voices heard.
16:44So unite here. Are you ready to make your voices heard?
16:49Are you ready to fight for freedom?
16:52Are you ready to fight for opportunity?
16:55Are you ready to fight for the promise of America?
16:59And when we fight, we win.
17:03God bless you. God bless America.
17:22Thank you.