Reid, Pelosi Thank Union Members, Pledge Action

by Seth Michaels, Sep 13, 2009

The 2009 AFL-CIO Convention just got a message from the top leaders in Congress: We stand with you and with America’s workers.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the leader of the U.S. House, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) each delivered a video message to the opening session of the convention.

Pelosi thanked outgoing AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and the union movement, crediting union members with taking the lead in winning a pro-worker Congress and giving them the momentum needed to pass legislation that really changed lives. Pelosi said:

On behalf of the Congress, I thank all of you for your leadership for America’s working families.

Pelosi pointed to the minimum wage, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as successes for all workers that would have been impossible without the work of the union movement. She noted that, with President Barack Obama as a partner, we’re closer than ever to the long-term goals of making the economy and the health care system work for everyone again:

Today, you are organizing, marching, and leading the charge in the fight of our lives, to provide affordable, quality and accessible health care to everyone, and we will win.
Thank you to the AFL-CIO, for your commitment to progress and prosperity. Onward to victory.

Reid said that, thanks to the hard work of union members around the country, we’re making real progress to fixing an economy that was leaving too many behind:

We demanded a new direction for our country. Together we stood up…we knew the challenges we faced were not created in a day, and we knew they would not be fixed overnight. We also knew we had no time to waste.
We’ve made a good start, but we have so much more to do.

Reid pointed to successes in creating jobs, in helping children get health care and helping students go to college. He also said he wants to swiftly pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

I’m as committed today as ever to passing the Employee Free Choice Act and making it law.

It’s a sign of the changes the union movement has helped to make in this country that the top leaders in Congress are so enthusiastic to offer thanks to union members at this Convention.


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