| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| But yeah, I totally agree that politicians shouldn't draw their own maps. | ||
| 100%. | ||
| Anywhere, not just in California, but in Texas. | ||
| Totally agree with that. | ||
| And so, but let's remember something. | ||
| In this conversation, often the point is made that, oh, well, California has independent redistricting. | ||
| We voted for it in 2008 and 2010. | ||
| Citizens Districting Commission, independent districts, and so on. | ||
| Well, yes, that's nominally what we have. | ||
| But if you look at what actually exists in California today, we are grossly gerrymandered today in California. | ||
| The point's been made many times. | ||
| We have, you know, even in a, you know, you take the average Republican statewide vote over the last 20 years. | ||
| It's just over. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You can watch the rest of this online at C-SPAN.org. | |
| We leave it to take you live to Washington, D.C. for a rally being held by union leaders talking about workers' rights here on Twitter. | ||
| Back up singers here. | ||
| And y'all are now honorary members of the D.C. Labor Course. | ||
| We're going to take a song. | ||
| It's really easy. | ||
| You're going to recognize the melody. | ||
| And you can sing along with us. | ||
| And it goes like this. | ||
| Well, we went down to the rich man's house and we took back what he stole from us. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our humanity. | ||
| Well, we went down to the rich man's house and we took back what he stole from us. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our dignity. | ||
| Took back our humanity. | ||
| And now we're out in the streets. | ||
| Out in the streets. | ||
| Out in the streets. | ||
| Yeah, out in the streets. | ||
| Ain't gonna let no fascists take our democracy. | ||
| Well, we went down to Whole Foods. | ||
| Well, we went down to the Whole Foods. | ||
| And we took back what they stole from us. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our dignity. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our humanity. | ||
| Well, we went down to the Whole Foods. | ||
| And we took back what they stole from us. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our dignity. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our humanity. | ||
| And now we're out in the streets. | ||
| Out in the streets. | ||
| Yeah, out in the streets. | ||
| We're going to let no billionaires take our democracy. | ||
| Well, we went down to the diplomat and we took back what they stole from us. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our dignity. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our humanity. | ||
| We went down to the diplomat. | ||
| And we took back what they stole from us. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our dignity. | ||
| Took it back. | ||
| Took back our humanity. | ||
| And now we're out in the streets. | ||
| Hey, out in the streets. | ||
| Out in the streets. | ||
| Hey, y'all. | ||
| Out in the streets. | ||
| Ain't gonna let no rich men take our money. | ||
| We got our union. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| No, no, let no rich man take our union. | ||
| Ain't gonna let no rich man take our you. | ||
| Because we got a union. | ||
| And union means you and I on. | ||
| If you take the I and the you out of union, you got none. | ||
| So we're gonna do what our longtime friend told us to do. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| Y'all, y'all ready? | ||
| This is a classic union song. | ||
| Y'all already know this. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| We're gonna roll, we're gonna roll, we're gonna roll, we're gonna roll, we're gonna roll, if the boss is in the way, and if the boss is in the way, we're gonna roll right over here. | ||
| What? | ||
| Roll right over him. | ||
| What? | ||
| Roll right over him. | ||
| And if the boss gets in the way, we're gonna roll. | ||
| Roll right over him. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| If ice gets in the way, and if ice gets in the way, we're gonna roll right over them. | ||
| What are we gonna do? | ||
| Roll right over them. | ||
| What? | ||
| Roll right over them. | ||
| And if ice gets in the way, we're gonna roll right over them. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| Oh, here let me in the heart. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the union on. | ||
| If Trump and if Trump gets in the way, we're gonna roll right over him. | ||
| What? | ||
| Roll right over him. | ||
| What are we gonna do, y'all? | ||
| Roll right over him. | ||
| And if Trump gets in the way, we're gonna roll right over him. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| Here from the back of the house, we're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| From the front of the house, we're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| And if the guard gets in the way, we're gonna roll right over them. | ||
| Roll right over them. | ||
| Castle guard. | ||
| Roll right over them. | ||
| And if the guard gets in the way, we're gonna roll right over them. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| Let your voices be heard. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| White House. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union. | ||
| Oh, here you're the Pentagon. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| And if the scabs get in the way, we're gonna roll. | ||
| What? | ||
| Roll right over them. | ||
| What are we gonna do? | ||
| Roll right over them. | ||
| And if the scabs get in the way, we're gonna roll right over them. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| Everybody say it loud. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union up. | ||
| Like Icatina Turner. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll. | ||
| We're gonna roll the Union on. | ||
| Hey. | ||
| Hey, you family. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| When I say people, you say power. | ||
| People. | ||
| People. | ||
| When I say union, you say power. | ||
| Union. | ||
| Union. | ||
| When I say free, you say DC. | ||
| Free. | ||
| Free. | ||
| That's right. | ||
| That is what we're here today to discuss. | ||
| People power, union power, and a free DC. | ||
| My name is Sam Epps. | ||
| I'm the president of Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO. | ||
| We are the federation of more than 150 local unions here in DC in the five counties in Maryland, representing over 150,000 workers across every industry in this city. | ||
| And before anything else, are there union members with us here today? | ||
| Are there union members here today? | ||
| To my siblings in the labor movement, it is an honor, as always, to be with you today and take action together. | ||
| In addition, I want to name and uplift council affiliates who are here today: ASTME, Council 20, AFGE, District 14, ATU 689, | ||
| National Nurses United, NPEU, SEIU, Local 500, 1199 SEIU, 32PJ, | ||
| USCW Local 400, the Washington Teachers Union, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the Maryland DC Alliance for Retired Americans, as well as AFA, APFA, NEA, NFFE, and SEIU International, along with Unite Here, Local 25 and 23. | ||
| Let's give it up for our labor movement. | ||
| But we're not here just alone. | ||
| We're here with our community partners, Free DC and many other partners out there. | ||
| Thank you for absolutely. | ||
| Thank you for being here. | ||
| Unions are the heart of the labor movement, but if you work for a living, you're a worker. | ||
| And you're a part of the labor movement too. | ||
| It's going to take all of us, union members, allies, to win in this moment. | ||
| We are here today to kick off Solidarity Season, workers over billionaires. | ||
| And also, we're here because 62 years ago today, over 500,000 Americans, civil rights leaders, faith leaders, community groups marched in this city. | ||
| We are direct descendants of that fight and that struggle. | ||
| And today we bring that into this circle together to fight on behalf of those who have not been attacked under this administration. | ||
| And right now, the Trump administration is causing D.C. to have the highest unemployment rate in the nation. | ||
| DC leads the nation in unemployment for the third month in a row, and that's a direct cause of this administration. | ||
| To all the federal workers who are here today, we see you, we appreciate you, and you deserve better than you have been treated. | ||
| Right now, the Trump administration has stripped collective bargaining rights from thousands of public sector union members in our region. | ||
| Public sector workers process social security checks, keep our food safe, develop life-saving medicines, and so much more. | ||
| They deserve protection on their job, but the Trump administration is directly attacking it. | ||
| And right now, the Trump administration is making more dangerous for all of us to go to work. | ||
| This is not safety. | ||
| No one should be getting arrested at their job as a delivery driver. | ||
| No one should be getting asked for papers at a traffic checkpoint or on the metro. | ||
| What is happening in DC is wrong, period. | ||
| And anyone, any elected official who says otherwise, it is wrong. | ||
| You are on the wrong side of workers and on the wrong side of history. | ||
| In the labor movement, though, we're going up against people who refuse to respect us like any bad boss. | ||
| We know ways to stop Trump and his agenda, and that is through collective action. | ||
| And that's why we're here today. | ||
| And we're going to hear more about this from some incredible speakers today. | ||
| And to start us off, I am proud to introduce Otis Johnson, the Executive Vice President of AFGE District 14. | ||
| AFGE. | ||
| When we fight, when we fight, now let me talk to you about what we're seeing right here in Washington, D.C. today. | ||
| The federalization of police, the National Guard on our streets. | ||
| We all care about safety. | ||
| We live here. | ||
| We work here. | ||
| We raise our families here. | ||
| But let's be real. | ||
| D.C. is not the crime-infested city this administration wants us to believe. | ||
| That storyline is definitely a distraction. | ||
| It's meant to scare people, divide workers, and pull our attention away from the real issues that matter to the members. | ||
| It will not work. | ||
| Not today. | ||
| Not on our watch. | ||
| Our mission is simple and powerful. | ||
| Respect for the job, fair pay, safe workplaces, due processes, real telework that works. | ||
| Dignity for every federal and D.C. government worker who keeps, who keeps this country running. | ||
| That is what we bargain for. | ||
| That is what we organize for. | ||
| That is what we win. | ||
| Good afternoon, my brothers and sisters that are here today with us. | ||
| I'm proud to stand with the members and leaders here. | ||
| To every federal and D.C. government worker in this crowd and every ally standing with us, hear me and hear me clearly. | ||
| AFGE will always fight with our members, fight for our members. | ||
| We have your banks today, tomorrow, and every day after that. | ||
| This administration, this administration can throw roadblocks. | ||
| They can sign executive orders. | ||
| They can try to box us out. | ||
| We will not flinch. | ||
| Whatever they throw at us, we're going to throw it back at them and throw it even harder. | ||
| And what's good about it, they're not going to see it coming. | ||
| Because we fight smart. | ||
| We fight together. | ||
| We fight with the law. | ||
| We fight with the facts and with our solidarity. | ||
| See, they want headlines. | ||
| We want results. | ||
| They want photo ops. | ||
| We want contracts that lift people up. | ||
| They want us to be quiet, but we're just gonna get louder. | ||
| So here's what I'm asking from you. | ||
| Contact your congressional and council leaders. | ||
| Connect with your locals, show up for bargaining, testify, volunteer, bring two coworkers to the next rally and to your next meeting. | ||
| If your rights are violated, call us. | ||
| We'll be there to help you. | ||
| Because if they come for one of us, and they will meet all of us when we fight, when we fight, brothers and sisters, keep your head lifted up. | ||
| We've been through shutdowns, we've been through furloughs, heroin freezes, and cuts. | ||
| And guess what? | ||
| We're still here. | ||
| We're still strong. | ||
| And we're not going anywhere to the administration here that is loud and clear. | ||
| Respect the workers who make America work because we are ready. | ||
| We are organized and we are coming. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Let's get back to work. | ||
| Let's go win and release those Epstein fouls. | ||
| Distractions, distractions, right? | ||
| And so, thank you, Otis. | ||
| I got a question for all you: What's disgusting? | ||
| What's disgusting? | ||
| What's disgusting? | ||
| That's right. | ||
| And to talk more about the union fight with our federal workers, we have Paul Asabbey, organizer for the Federal Unionist Network. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Hey, everyone, I'm Paul Asadabe. | ||
| I'm a DC resident. | ||
| I'm a federal worker at the Department of Housing. | ||
| I'm a steward with AFGE, Local 476, and I'm an organizer with the Federal Unionist Network. | ||
| So, if you like what I say today, go ahead and contact these fine people right over here. | ||
| Get involved in the movement to protect federal jobs, federal worker power, and the people that we protect, which is you. | ||
| So, this is, I want to start by acknowledging that this is a dark time when you see this administration attacking federal workers, shutting down agencies that help people, like USAID and CFPB. | ||
| At the same time, they're spending all their money sending ICE agents to harass people in the streets. | ||
| Shame they're harassing people in the streets, and they're having National Guard soldiers intimidate people outside donut shops. | ||
| That makes no sense. | ||
| And I want to talk to you today about why they're doing that, how they're doing that, and what we can do to respond. | ||
| So, to start with the how, they want you to live in fear. | ||
| That's what they're trying to do. | ||
| They want you to look at your neighbor next to you and think that that person is the problem. | ||
| And instead of doing that, instead of looking at the people above you who are actually the problem, the Musks and the Voughts of the world who are profiting from your pain and your fear, they want you at your neighbor's throats. | ||
| That's their method. | ||
| And the reason that they're doing this is because they hate freedom, essentially. | ||
| I mean, they hate the concept of a DC that does its own thing, of federal workers who take an oath to protect you and defend you from them. | ||
| And they hate anything that they can't control and dominate. | ||
| And anything that fits in that category to them is something that they need to destroy. | ||
| And it's very important to recognize that they think that we need their permission to form a union to fight back against them, but we don't need their permission for anything. | ||
| We don't. | ||
| It's up to us to defend our city, to defend our jobs, to defend the American public, because we know these people are not going to do it. | ||
| So it comes down to us. | ||
| And that's why I want to talk about the way that we do that. | ||
| The way that we do that is to get mad and to get organized. | ||
| And I think I see a lot of people in this crowd who are angry about what's going on. | ||
| And you should be. | ||
| I think a lot of people think of federal workers as people who kind of just keep their heads down. | ||
| We don't get mad or angry or sad about anything. | ||
| That needs to change because we are under attack and all of you are under attack. | ||
| And until we get mad and channel that into organizing, we're not going to have what we need to stop all this. | ||
| But when I see a crowd like this, I see that we have more than enough power to stop all of this. | ||
| If we use all the tools at our disposal, if we use the fact that we do all the work, if we use the fact that we are the ones who actually care about safety and health care and clean air and labor rights and all of that, they claim to be a pro-worker administration while they harass workers in the streets and fire us and rip up our contracts. | ||
| That's not pro-worker. | ||
| We are pro-worker. | ||
| We are the workers. | ||
| And when you use that leverage, when you connect with your co-workers, with the people in your community, that is more than enough power to send these people packing. | ||
| And that's exactly what we're going to do. | ||
| I want to say it again. | ||
| We don't need anyone's permission to organize, to get a contract, or to get these people to get the hell out. | ||
| That's what we're trying to do here. | ||
| And as we continue to organize and figure out who is funding the attacks on us, who is benefiting from those attacks, what leverage and influence do we have over them, when we use all of that power, there's really nothing that they can do to stop us. | ||
| So coming to a rally like this is a great start, but it's time to join your union, join the Federal Unionist Network, join Free DC, join any group doing the work. | ||
| And when you do that, we can fight and we can win. | ||
| So now let's get to it. | ||
| Thank you, Paul. | ||
| When federal workers are under attack, what do we do? | ||
| When home rule is under attack, what do we do? | ||
| When education is under attack, what do we do? | ||
| That's right. | ||
| And to talk about education in our schools and community, to talk about our schools, our school communities right now. | ||
| In this moment, I am honored to introduce Laura Fuchs from a president of the Washington Teachers Union. | ||
| This administration is dismantling education at every level. | ||
| Their allies in Congress have control over DC budget and they're a threat to our schools. | ||
| So welcome, Laura. | ||
| Hello. | ||
| The Washington Teachers Union is proud to represent close to 6,000 educators in this district. | ||
| But we don't just represent teachers. | ||
| We represent counselors, social workers, school psychologists, occupational therapists, and so many more who serve close to 50,000 students who are across 120 school sites here in the District of Columbia. | ||
| Sorry. | ||
| My phone is turning off on me. | ||
| So we are very proud to do our job. | ||
| Our job is to teach the truth. | ||
| As a history and government teacher for the past 18 years, there is nothing more important than the ability that we have had to do what we have to do in our classrooms. | ||
| We are proud to teach every single child, no matter where they come from or who they are. | ||
| We will not back down to fascists who seek to tear our community apart. | ||
| They want to destroy our schools. | ||
| They want to stomp out our teachers' union. | ||
| And we say absolutely not. | ||
| In the face of a bunch of politicians who have chosen to turn aside from what is happening and shown indifference to what is going on outside of our classrooms, our educators have stepped up with community partners like Free DC and Defend DC Public Schools. | ||
| And we have organized with parents, with the community, community-led safe passage routes over cops. | ||
| Our educators have begun to set up networks inside their schools to make sure that they can communicate quickly and effectively with each other if and when necessary. | ||
| They're having tough conversations about what we will have to do if not, or sorry, when, not if the fascists come for our schools. | ||
| But make no mistake, the billionaire attack on our public schools is not new. | ||
| This started in, here comes a history government teacher in me, but this started in the 1990s when the Republican Congress passed a Charter School Board Act that imposed charter schools on our district. | ||
| That foothold has allowed billionaires to infiltrate our policymaking systems in education. | ||
| Bezos, Bloomberg, Eli Broad, and for us, the worst one, the Waltons. | ||
| They have been seeking to influence public education from the outset. | ||
| They wanted vouchers, but they couldn't get them right away. | ||
| And so instead, they started to infiltrate the public charter system. | ||
| They then got mayoral control of our public schools here in DC. | ||
| Through that, they have now infiltrated DC public schools itself and have been seeking for the past 20 years to dismantle our schools from the inside. | ||
| But we have been fighting this privatization the entire time. | ||
| It has been union-led. | ||
| It has been community-led. | ||
| It has been parent-led. | ||
| It has been student-led. | ||
| And we can learn from all of those, both in the district and across the nation, who have been fighting against privatization of our schools for so long. | ||
| It takes solidarity. | ||
| It takes a clear vision and commitment to public education, free for all. | ||
| We will have to steal ourselves because this has been and will continue to be an unrelenting fight for the promise of public education. | ||
| But now is the time to stand up and fight back. | ||
| We will fight for our public schools and the students we serve. | ||
| We hope that you will fight alongside your teachers' unions and we will fight for the very existence of a free public education for all. | ||
| And public education that teaches the truth, a public education that prioritizes joy over testing, one that prioritizes our community over profit. | ||
| So, whose schools? | ||
| Whose schools? | ||
| Whose schools? | ||
| Thank you, Laura. | ||
| That's true at our DC public schools. | ||
| It's true for our colleges and university students. | ||
| Now we'll hear from Dr. Soy, Vice President of Higher Education, SEIU Local 500. | ||
| Greetings, everyone. | ||
| My name is Dr. Soyeni Richards, and I'm also known as Dr. Soy. | ||
| I'm a proud member of SEIU Local 500. | ||
| Where's FCIU out here? | ||
| I've served as the Vice President of Higher Education for many years, and I come to you today as an adjunct professor, as a part-time professor, also a scholar, and someone who has devoted their entire adult life for transforming the power of education. | ||
| We've heard from marvelous speakers today about many important topics, but let me be crystal clear why we are here because we believe the dignity of workers, the strength of communities, and the unshakable promise of education is at risk. | ||
| Workers' rights, immigrant communities, public education, and the very idea of equal opportunity are not just ideals. | ||
| They are a foundation for our future. | ||
| I look at the crowd today and I see America. | ||
| I see what America looks like. | ||
| And as a professor, I've seen firsthand the struggles our students face. | ||
| Many have very high, heavy student loan debt. | ||
| Many juggle multiple jobs. | ||
| They come into the classroom with fear that they may not be able to come back. | ||
| Yet every day they still show up with determination, with resilience, and with hope. | ||
| And I believe with all my heart that the education should never be reserved for a few, but it must be for all. | ||
| Every family, every student, and every worker in America has a right to get an education. | ||
| My friends, we cannot afford to remain spectators. | ||
| Change does not happen on the sidelines. | ||
| It happens when people like us stand together. | ||
| So let's speak up and let's act. | ||
| We know the power of an educated public. | ||
| We know the power of critical thinkers. | ||
| We know the power of collective action. | ||
| And we will not stand silently while the dream of higher education becomes out of reach for the working families. | ||
| When higher education is threatened, it is not just institutions that suffer. | ||
| It is the adjunct faculty like myself that work tirelessly without job security, the graduate workers that keep the campuses alive while barely making ends meet. | ||
| The staff who keep our schools running with dignity and heart, who often get no recognition or fair pay. | ||
| But here's the truth. | ||
| When we stand together, we are unstoppable. | ||
| We will not sit silently while students are buried under unmanageable debt. | ||
| We will not accept classrooms that exclude instead of uplift. | ||
| We will not let the voices of workers go unheard. | ||
| We say it loud and we say it clear. | ||
| Education is a public right. | ||
| Education is the path to freedom, justice, and equality. | ||
| And no one can take that from us. | ||
| So today, let our voices be fully heard that funding a public higher education is a necessity. | ||
| Let's demand student debt relief. | ||
| Let's stand for the immigrant rights. | ||
| Let's unite for dignity, respect, and justice for every worker. | ||
| Because we, the members of the Service Employees International Union, that's SERU, I'm louder than them. | ||
| I'm louder. | ||
| Just a union. | ||
| We're a movement. | ||
| A movement for fairness, a movement for justice, a movement for the future. | ||
| And together, my friends, there is nothing we cannot achieve. | ||
| Again, I'm Dr. Soyeni Richards, aka Dr. Soy, and thank you. | ||
| And I'm going to end with God bless America. | ||
| Thank you, Dr. Richards. | ||
| Our students need our support right now, but they are not the only neighbors who are vulnerable in this moment. | ||
| To talk more about that, give it up for Julia Trulove, a registered nurse at Washington Hospital Center and a member of National Nurses United. | ||
| Good afternoon, everybody My name is Julia Trulove. | ||
| I'm a registered nurse and the Burn Trauma ICU at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. | ||
| Let me say as decide: while you're having fun at rallies this summer, please wear your sunscreen, wear your bike helmets, your seatbelts, and check your smoke detectors. | ||
| I represent 2,200 DC nurses as chief shop steward for National Nurses United, the nation's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, representing 225,000 members nationwide. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I'm a proud resident of the District of Columbia, but today I'm here because nurses are deeply concerned about the state of our country and our community. | ||
| The president's actions toward the district put lives at risk, weaken our democracy, and make people afraid. | ||
| NNU believes that President Trump's order to forcibly remove, jail, or involuntarily commit homeless unhoused people from D.C. streets is not only a violation of their civil and human rights, but will damage the city's health care infrastructure by flooding hospitals with a surge of patients who don't need to be there. | ||
| People experiencing homelessness deserve our help and need services and support, but make no mistake, Trump's actions are not about helping unhoused people. | ||
| His actions are about criminalizing people for being poor, for being sick, or for being mentally ill, none of which are a crime. | ||
| People living on our streets is visual proof of our failure as a country to meet the needs of our communities. | ||
| The epidemic of people without stable housing is the result of massive structural problems with government policies that prioritize the profits of corporations and billionaires over the needs of working people. | ||
| Those who benefit from this gross inequality don't want to be reminded of their complicity in mass suffering. | ||
| They want to sweep unhoused people away and lock them up somewhere. | ||
| They aren't reminded of them every time they go play golf. | ||
| They want to pretend homelessness doesn't exist, out of sight, out of mind. | ||
| That's wrong. | ||
| To see an unhoused person and think first of the optics and not of the human soul involved is callous. | ||
| That's not what nurses do and it shouldn't be what our elected officials do. | ||
| At Medstar Washington Hospital and at hospitals across the city, emergency rooms are already overburdened and overcrowded. | ||
| Patients and their loved ones wait hours to days for the care that they need. | ||
| As soon as Trump announced the targeting of homelessness encampments, the D.C. Attorney General warned area hospitals to prepare for a surge of involuntary hospitalization due to law enforcement activities. | ||
| The emergency department doesn't close its doors, but nurses expect ED wait times to dramatically lengthen. | ||
| When a patient's admitted to the hospital and is ready to be discharged because their medical needs are met, we need to make sure the patient has a safe place to go. | ||
| If hospital beds are full of people who are involuntarily hospitalized and don't have somewhere to be safely discharged to because of the lack of shelters and safe, stable housing, patients will stay in the hospital unnecessarily, blocking people who need to come in from the emergency department in the community, who need medical care. | ||
| Housing advocates in D.C. report there are only about 40 shelter beds on a given night for the more than 900 people who live outside, essentially giving unhoused people no option besides risking being jailed or institutionalized. | ||
| And the city already suffers a lack of inpatient psych beds for people who truly do need that specialized care. | ||
| Delivering patients to our doors who don't need to be there stresses an already stressed system. | ||
| The overburdened nurses work with limited resources and time already, and more patients at the doors means less time for the care our patients deserve. | ||
| With Trump's new policy, patients throughout the hospital will suffer. | ||
| Nurses believe this order is an unlawful and immoral use of National Guard troops, federal law enforcement, and MPD. | ||
| Critics say Trump's actions are reminiscent of Nazi Germany's roundup and incarceration of people it deemed undesirable. | ||
| Nurses condemn this callous mistreatment of people who need our help and healing. | ||
| We call for passage of programs including Medicare for all to guarantee health care for all people and policies that provide decent housing, living wages, education, and safe environments for all. | ||
| To all DC residents, I want to say from nurses that nurses are here to care and advocate for you regardless of your housing status, your immigration status, or anything else that makes you who you are. | ||
| We are here to meet you where you are and to care for you and your loved ones. | ||
| Nurses are proud to stand with you today in opposition to these dangerous measures and for a better future for the district. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| Thank you, Julia. | ||
| If you have been a part of the labor movement for any amount of time, you probably know who our next speaker is. | ||
| He is a powerful speaker and champion for more than 185,000 members who he represents, but also for immigrant workers everywhere, including our brother, Kilmar Armando Abuego Garcia. | ||
| A smart 100 member who deserves to be brought back home to his family here in Maryland. | ||
| So please, please join me in welcoming Jaime Contreras, Executive Vice President of 32BJ SEIU. | ||
| BJ I'm proud to say I was there Monday with Kilmar and his family. | ||
| What a day. | ||
| Thanks again, Sam, and thank you all for being here. | ||
| Again, I'm Jaime Contreras. | ||
| I'm an executive vice president for NCIU 32. | ||
| Okay, just checking. | ||
| I'm also a proud veteran of the United States Navy. | ||
| But I'm also an angry veteran because I'm someone who was brought here as a child in 1988 during the bloody civil war in El Salvador, undocumented. | ||
| More than 40 years ago, I became a citizen and I've served. | ||
| I want to ask you, who does Trump serve? | ||
| Himself and his billionaire friends. | ||
| Our union represents, as Sam said, 185,000 members throughout the East Coast, including 22,000 members in the DMV, Richmond, and Baltimore. | ||
| Now, these are, our members are overwhelmingly black and immigrant workers who clean and protect our commercial office buildings that you see around you, city and federal buildings, airports, and higher education facilities. | ||
| Now, I know, I don't need to tell you this because I know you know this. | ||
| I don't know if Trump and his cronies know this, but immigrant workers are vital to all sectors of our economy. | ||
| We have been living and working here for decades. | ||
| Documented or not, immigrant workers are vital to our local and national economy. | ||
| But I tell you, our members, our members, and you are a shining example of what's possible when black and brown and working class people come together through a union. | ||
| They are a symbol of what we can achieve when we work together as a city and as a community. | ||
| Now, in the 1980s, janitors nationwide were sick and tired of being paid substandard wages. | ||
| So right here in Washington, D.C., they came together and paved the way for the nation's Justice for Geners movement. | ||
| And I know I see a couple of veterans of that movement here. | ||
| Bill, I say Bill out there. | ||
| They marched and even blocked the 14th Strip Bridge during rush hour, demanding and winning living wages, employer-pay health care, and respect and dignity on the job. | ||
| But 40 years later, we are under attack again from the very people that are members that you Help get safe during the pandemic. | ||
| So, I ask you when working people and people of color are under attack, what do we do? | ||
| What do we do? | ||
| What do we do? | ||
| Because when we fight, when we fight, when we fight, sisters and brothers, there is power in numbers, and there's more of us than there is of them. | ||
| Someone earlier, someone earlier challenged you. | ||
| At the next march, commit to bringing at least two other people with you. | ||
| And let's take the streets of Washington and let's show them whose streets this are. | ||
| Whose streets? | ||
| Whose streets? | ||
| Whose street? | ||
| When we fight! | ||
| When we fight! | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Jaime. | ||
| When workers are united, we will never be defeated. | ||
| And when we see that in action with our union siblings fighting for their rights at the El Diplomat, to talk about that, I am proud to introduce a worker who is organizing with local 25 at the El Diplomat. | ||
| And she'll be joined by some of her co-workers because she's nervous. | ||
| And that's what happens with bosses and those in the corporate who are greedy. | ||
| Star is a greedy restaurant owner here in DC. | ||
| And he will not let these workers at the El Diplomat have an election. | ||
| They want to join a union, and he will not allow them to do that. | ||
| And so I'm so proud of Velma Ruiz and her coworkers who are going to come up and speak about what's going on there and their fight for fair wages and benefits. | ||
| Hello, my name is Vilma Ruiz and I work at Le Diplomat. | ||
| I've been working at La Diplomat for four years in the kitchen. | ||
| A principios de año mis compañeros yan yo a nun siamo la lucha chamos por un syndicato. | ||
| Earlier this year, my co-workers and I announced that we're fighting for a union. | ||
| Lu chamos por respecto. | ||
| Embarroso caciones mians mésentido un respectada en el trabajo. | ||
| We're fighting for respect. | ||
| On several occasions, I felt disrespected at work. | ||
| Uncereme to co fuerte engul hombro, no está bien. | ||
| A chef hit me hard on the shoulder. | ||
| It's not right. | ||
| Merezco respeto en el trabajo. | ||
| I deserve respect at work. | ||
| Merezo como yo y mis compañeros. | ||
| Mis compañeros y yo. | ||
| Tambien lo chamos por un salario digna y un seguro medico accessible. | ||
| My co-workers and I are also fighting for a living wage and affordable health insurance. | ||
| Can you believe I earn less per hour than the price of a hamburger at Le Diplomat? | ||
| That's not good. | ||
| Lucho parú futuro mejor estoy embarazada y lucho por mi vebe. | ||
| I'm fighting for a better future. | ||
| I'm pregnant. | ||
| I'm fighting for my baby. | ||
| Cuando luchamos, ganamos. | ||
| When we fight, we win. | ||
| Si se puede. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Velma. | |
| In a little while, we are going to march. | ||
| And as part of that, we're going to stop outside the El Diplomat to support Velma and our brothers and sisters of Unite Here Local 25, who are on the picket line right now. | ||
| And let's give it up for Velma and the El Diplomat workers. | ||
| Next, we're going to hear from Danny, co-founder and organizer with El Calicte, Virginia. | ||
| Is Danny here? | ||
| Right here. | ||
| There you go, Danny. | ||
| What's up, everyone? | ||
| How you doing? | ||
| All right, my name is Danny, and I'm here with La Colectiva. | ||
| Any folks from Virginia here? | ||
| Got a little bit, but we know we're here in DC, right? | ||
| And I came from Virginia because this is important for us too, right? | ||
| Because we know solidarity is a lifeline. | ||
| We know that without solidarity, people don't eat. | ||
| Without solidarity, we don't have school for our kids. | ||
| That we don't have jobs that actually give us living wages, and that we won't win, right? | ||
| We live in a current circumstance where we are not getting what we deserve. | ||
| But that's been the case for a long time. | ||
| And that's the truth. | ||
| That's what we got to deal with, right? | ||
| That the shit we're dealing with right now is not a surprise. | ||
| That's the unfortunate reality of this colonial settler project, right? | ||
| It's the reality of capitalism. | ||
| It's the reality of racism. | ||
| And I can tell you through my organizing work in Virginia, we have been taking on corporations for years. | ||
| We've been taking on the collusion between the public officials, the government officials, and the way that they have sold out our communities for years with corporations like Amazon. | ||
| For years, over the past two decades, the Latinx population in Arlington County has been being pushed out in numbers that don't compare to other counties across the whole country. | ||
| That's because it became a county where many of our families used to come and to try to build families, to try to build communities to a place where they used to now arrive and are pushed out within a few years. | ||
| That's due to increased cost of rent. | ||
| That's due to increased cost of food. | ||
| And it's also to the lack of support by public officials. | ||
| In 2019 or so, we started hearing about Amazon opening up a second headquarters. | ||
| They had a fresh one in Seattle. | ||
| We know that the destruction that they have caused in Seattle, the mass gentrification and displacement of communities there, the violence and policing that they have brought to that community as well. | ||
| And we knew we had to stay on guard here. | ||
| Unfortunately, our politicians caved to the pressure of corporations like Amazon. | ||
| The House of Delegates gave a $750 million package from our public funds to Amazon in a debate that took less than nine minutes on the floor of the legislature. | ||
| The Arlington County Board also gave subsidies to this corporation owned by Jeff Bezos, at the time the wealthiest man in the world. | ||
| It's ridiculous knowing that in our community our people are being pushed out and these politicians are giving our public funds away like nothing. | ||
| And during that fight, we spent so much time telling them Amazon collaborates with ICE. | ||
| Amazon collaborates with police and is pushing surveillance through their ring cameras. | ||
| Amazon busts unions and won't recognize organizers who are you who are unionizing. | ||
| Amazon is harmful to our communities. | ||
| We shouldn't be supporting them in the local level, whether it's their data centers, whether it's their HQ2, any of them at all, any level of Amazon, we should stop supporting. | ||
| And that responsibility needs to be on our elected officials too. | ||
| So again, that's why we're here. | ||
| Because we know that Bezos also bought property in DC. | ||
| We know that his influence is also what got this dude elected into the White House. | ||
| We know that the tech billionaires, the tech brolegarchy, is a threat to all of us. | ||
| And we need to organize and defeat them and defeat fascists and defeat the big tech brolegarchy that is harming us, surveilling us, tracking us, policing us, deporting us, and fueling this fascism. | ||
| So I just want to shout out Free DC, Harriet Wilder's Dreams, and everybody who is organizing here locally in DC for all the amazing work that you're doing. | ||
| Shout out to them. | ||
| And just know that we'll keep doing our part in Virginia, making sure that our elected officials are held accountable too, because they also have influence and power for what happens here in DC. | ||
| Brevement, no masquerade in español, porcelain el Junas personas quarrel español aquitambien. | ||
| Que aquí la lucha es contra la claci elite contra los la tecnología grande, contra los multimillionarios que nos están trabajan que está trabajando con los políticos para lañanas ras comunidades. | ||
| Nosas comunideso nuestras y a Quchar por na nosa liberación collectiva. | ||
| Thank you, Danny. | ||
| In the labor movement, there is one word that is more important than just about any other word, and that word is solidarity. | ||
| And that's what we're starting today: a week of action, a solidarity. | ||
| It's solidarity season at the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL City. | ||
| And it'll run all through next week with a bunch of actions. | ||
| So you can go to DCLabor.org for all of our actions today and going through the week. | ||
| And what we've heard today from federal workers, from teachers, from nurses, restaurant workers, our immigrant neighbors, and allies, we know that solidarity is with each one of us. | ||
| That is what makes us strong. | ||
| And we will continue to fight. | ||
| Labor will continue to fight for freedom, fairness, and security. | ||
| And today, our solidarity extends to the people and our members who live in the District of Columbia who deserve to live free from this administration's occupation and harmful and unlawful occupation. | ||
| We say free DC, DC, free DC. | ||
| And to stop the attacks on DC, we're going to need every tool available to us. | ||
| And to talk about that, I am proud to be in the trenches and to hand over this mic to my sister in the struggle, Kaya, Executive Director of Free DC. | ||
| Thank you so much, Sam. | ||
| Let's all. | ||
| Let's thank our MC and give it up for Sam Epps and the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL, CIO. | ||
| My name is Kaya Chatterjee. | ||
| I am one of the proud co-founders of a renewed Free DC campaign. | ||
| Can we get some noise for Free DC out here? | ||
| So we all know the bad news, right? | ||
| We know what's going on. | ||
| We know that DC is living through a clear and direct attack on our rights and on our safety right now. | ||
| But this is not the first time in history that this has happened, and history has really important lessons that we all need to learn from right now. | ||
| Here in DC, we need to fight back right now the same way that labor unions do all the time by refusing to cooperate with a system that is abusing us until the people who have the power meet our demands. | ||
| So what are our demands? | ||
| We demand the escalated federal forces leave D.C. immediately. | ||
| Now, we demand... | ||
| Now. | ||
| We demand that federal workers get their jobs back. | ||
| Now! | ||
| We demand power over our own budget, laws, and justice system here in D.C. At least, DC is admitted to operate with ICE. | ||
| And there are other people who are thinking, I don't cooperate with ICE anyway. | ||
| How can I stop cooperating with ICE? | ||
| Because I already hate ICE. | ||
| I know that's what we're all thinking, right? | ||
| But I want to talk to you today about a company that Danny talked about for a little while that I'm willing to bet that a lot of us do cooperate with and maybe some of us even cooperated with today. | ||
| It's okay. | ||
| No shame, no judgment. | ||
| This is a company that sells online convenience at low prices with fast shipping. | ||
| This is a company that sells organic produce not too far from here in our neighborhoods. | ||
| This is a company that sells shoes, home security devices, online movies, audio books. | ||
| But unfortunately, this is also a company that sells data services to ICE that provides their cloud computing. | ||
| And in fact, this is a company that depends On ICE to make money, and ICE depends on them to do its work of kidnapping people. | ||
| This is a company that makes millions or billions of dollars every year powering these detentions and deportations, all while crushing their own workers to make them do it faster and with fewer protections. | ||
| And as if that is not enough, this company's founder and board chair has gotten so close to Trump because Trump loves wealth. | ||
| So, this is a person who has the power to stop this. | ||
| And of course, the company I think we all know, what's the company I'm talking about? | ||
| Right. | ||
| So, today, I have news. | ||
| Today, Free DC is calling on everyone who opposes Trump's detention agenda to stop shopping at Amazon and all of its subsidiaries. | ||
| Amazon depends on all of our money to make profits. | ||
| One of the ways we can stop attacks on our communities is to stop shopping at the companies that enable them. | ||
| Right? | ||
| So, we know that together we have power. | ||
| We also know that this alone isn't going to stop Trump. | ||
| We also need a lot of other things, but we know that when an occupation starts, so let's say, for example, Putin occupies Ukraine, we know one of the first orders of business is economic sanctions. | ||
| So, we are counting on us, our community, to implement those economic sanctions right now. | ||
| It won't be enough. | ||
| We also need the courts, we also need Congress, we also need our workers across industries, we need jury members. | ||
| Who out here has been in jury duty in the last two years? | ||
| CUDC. | ||
| We need allies across the country. | ||
| We need our elected officials, including our mayor. | ||
| Side eye, our mayor should be using every tool available to oppose this regime. | ||
| But where we spend our money is a choice that each of us makes every single day, and we can choose to either make this administration's work easier or to make it harder. | ||
| So, I invite everyone to go to free dcproject.org backslash Amazon. | ||
| You don't have to do it right now. | ||
| There's also people floating around with clipboards that look like this, where you can sign a petition and get involved. | ||
| And I just want to say that this is the moment we are in is really tough, right? | ||
| Like, actually, from where I'm standing, I can see armed guards, right? | ||
| This is a moment that's tough, but we are going to keep each other safe and we are going to do what it takes in this moment. | ||
| So, we're going to get together and we're going to march in a second. | ||
| But I want to lean into our responsibilities for a moment and quote the great Asada Shakur, okay? | ||
| So, let's do this, right? | ||
| You repeat after me: it is our duty to fight for our freedom. | ||
| It is our duty to win. | ||
| We must love each other and support each other. | ||
| We'll do that one again. | ||
| We must love each other and support each other. | ||
| We have nothing to lose. | ||
| Our chains. | ||
| Chains. | ||
| All right. | ||
| We are going to live up to that duty right now. | ||
| We are going to march. | ||
| This is what we're going to do. | ||
| This is going to be a little complicated, but we can beat fascism so we can do this. | ||
| We are going to get in line behind a red banner that says solidarity that is in the street right now. | ||
| We're going to turn around and we're going to get behind them. | ||
| They're going to move a little bit and people can file in a little bit as they move. | ||
| But some folks are going to go ahead and file in behind them right now. | ||
| And we are going to march down Peace Street. | ||
| It is our first destination. | ||
| We've got a few stops along the way, and we're going to narrate those as we go. | ||
| And I'm going to invite Allison up to do some chants while we go. | ||
| But let's start with a little free DC. | ||
| Ready? | ||
| I say free. | ||
| UDC, free. | ||
| Free, free, free, free, free. | ||
| I don't know what I've been told. | ||
| Billionaires are getting bold. | ||
| There's one thing that's clear to me. | ||
| We'll defend democracy. | ||
| I don't know what I've been told. | ||
| I don't know what I've been told. | ||
| Billionaires are getting bold. | ||
| There's one thing that's clear to me. | ||
| We'll defend democracy. | ||
| We'll defend democracy. | ||
| Woo! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff Bezos Ho-ho! | ||
| I can't hear you! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff Bezos has got to go! | ||
| Can't hear you! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff Bezos has got to go! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Louder! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff Bezos has got to go! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff Bezos has got to go! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Louder! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff Bezos has got to go! | ||
| Hey-hey! | ||
| Ho-ho! | ||
| Jeff-Bezos has got to go! | ||
| Unions, not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
| Unions, not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
| Unions, not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
| Unions not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
| Can't hear you, unions, not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
| And louder, unions, not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
|
unidentified
|
Be louder, unions, not hate! | |
| Make America great! | ||
| You've got this, unions, not hate! | ||
| Make America great! | ||
|
unidentified
|
Even louder, unions, not hate! | |
| Make America great! | ||
| All right! | ||
| Woo! | ||
| The bosses can't profit when the workers strike. | ||
| Shut it down and shut it tight. | ||
| The bosses can't profit when the workers fight. | ||
| Shut it down and shut it tight. | ||
| We should learn a lesson from 1978 when the bosses tried to take over the transit company and lower workers' wages. | ||
| We shut the city down for six days. | ||
| They learned a lesson. | ||
| They never mess with us again. | ||
| We have the power. | ||
| Our power can shut the city down. | ||
| Workers have to unite and do that. | ||
| That has to be our strategy. | ||
| United. | ||
| We can defeat the bosses in their program. | ||
| Today, a discussion with Federal Reserve Board member Christopher Waller about the nation's economic outlook. | ||
| This ahead of the Fed September meeting where Fed Chair Jerome Powell has hinted at cutting interest rates. | ||
| Hosted by the Economic Club of Miami, watch it at 6:30 Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org. | ||
| And past president nominal. | ||
| Why are you doing this? | ||
| This is outrageous. | ||
| This is a kangaroo quarrel. | ||
| This fall, C-SPAN presents a rare moment of unity, Ceasefire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins. |