Chicago Politics

Chicago Labor Day March Announcement 8.26.25

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Chicago Labor Day March Announcement

Transcript

1:06 I want to thank everyone for coming. We are here today to stand. My name is Bob Reiter. I am president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. We are here today to stand against the attacks on working people led by Donald Trump. It's fitting that we stand in solidarity and make this announcement here at this exact spot. Chicago is the hometown of the American labor movement. And Haymarket is the birthplace of the fighting spirit of the labor movement.

1:44 Next week, we'll be here at Haymarket rallying against Donald Trump and the billionaires destroying our country. We see what's happening in our country and we realize we have been here before. Chicago has been here before. we've stood up to bullies and big business. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland slid into office on a campaign

2:16 that was a thinly veiled push to disenfranchise black voters and destabilize the electoral process. Sound familiar? Then during the Pullman strike of 1894, Cleveland called on the National Guard to occupy Chicago and put down that strike. Sound familiar? But working people stood strong and fought for their rights, just as we are doing now,

2:47 and will do on September 1st, right here in Pullman with thousands of our supporters. The CFL and the American labor movement was born from those struggles in the Gilded Age here in Chicago. It's the same fight, just a different route. Back then, it was millionaire robber barons, the Swifts, the Armors. We all know the names. We have to, but back then it was, back then is right now.

3:21 We have to stand up to President Trump and the billionaires who are picking the pockets of working people. He is a bully, and we will not be bullied. The president wanted to pick a fight. We'll give him one, Chicago style. But we're also not going to take the bait. Chicago is a town where we engage in protest and freedom of speech every day.

3:59 We believe in nonviolent protest. We believe in civil disobedience. We believe in a fight and a struggle that has edge, but is grounded by appreciation and love for one another. So the type of fight that we're going to give Donald Trump is a different fight than he's trying to bait. We have a city that has a spirit and an essence

4:36 that is taking care of itself. And the kind of quote-unquote help that he wants to bring to the city isn't a help. It's just a trap that we are not going to walk into. I wake up every day and see this city for what it is. It's bright, it's sunny, not just here in the West Loop, but on our lakefront and in our neighborhoods.

5:08 I've got to tell you, I'm going to go on a little off script here, but I'm going to do that because I can. It's my press conference. On Saturday, I was driving up Damon Avenue. For any of you who've been up Damon Avenue, it's a beautiful street. It goes through a cross-section of what is Chicago. You know what I saw on Saturday on Damon Avenue? Not what Donald Trump is saying Chicago is all about. I saw families with street vendors in Chicago's public parks.

5:40 I saw people walking around, spending time with their family. I saw safety and security. I saw this city. Chicago is a gritty city. We talk. There's no one who's harder on Chicago than Chicagoans. But we love it. There's a reason why we take so much pride in this city. Why we tease each other about who's the better baseball team.

6:13 Why we have the best hot dogs in the country. And why visitors come here to eat deep dish pizza. And those of us ordering pizza with our family are eating tavern style thin crust pizza. Because we know what this city is all about. And yes, this city has its challenges, but it's the best, it is the brightest, and it's the most beautiful city in our country. And I am proud every day that I get to work in a full contact city

6:52 that has so many different voices that have to be lifted up because they're not always saying the same thing. But that's the fun of it all. That's what the Windy City is all about. We will persevere. Before I bring up our first speaker, I want to thank all the elected officials and community organizations and unions that are here today with us. I saw my friends from the sheet metal workers, from the Chicago Teachers Union, from SEIU, from the American Federation of Government Employees, and I'm missing a whole bunch of others.

7:37 We have a big coalition of folks that are supporting us at this rally on Labor Day that you're going to see and hear from as we make our way around the loop. It's going to include the people that I just talked about. It's also going to include members from UAW, the port workers who are on strike down at the International Port District. We're going to hear from real people here in the city of Chicago, as well as some big names.

8:13 I'm very excited to be able to introduce the thousands of people who are going to be celebrating with us and raising our voice to the thousands of people who are going to be in attendance. We have with us today our Illinois State Treasurer, you probably can't see him, Mike Frerichs, State Senator Rob Martwick, State Senator Robert Peters.

8:52 We're in the 34th Ward, so of course we have Alderman Bill Conway here with us. We have a significant contingent from the House Caucus, Representatives LaShawn Ford, Lillian Jimenez, Teresa Ma, and Yolanda Morris, an alderman of the 25th Ward. Oh, Karina, she's also tall.

9:26 State Senator Karina Villa and Alderman Byron Cicho Lopez. Again, probably missing some people, but my person over, my chief of staff, and my staff from the CFO, I want to thank them for all the work that they've put in, is telling me that I got everybody. Thanks. Thanks, Andrea. um i'd now like to bring up uh as our first speaker the mayor of the city of chicago brandon johnson well thank you bob and good morning everyone

10:00 You know, 60 years ago, Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. told us as long as there is poverty in this world, no man can be totally rich, even if he has billions of dollars. The billionaires who run this country right now, Trump, Musk, DeVos, Adelson, Koch, they have no interest in addressing poverty.

10:32 In fact, they would rather send the military into our cities than address poverty. They would rather occupy our city with soldiers than allow themselves to be taxed so that we could fully fund education and provide housing for everyone. They would rather rip health care away from millions of poor people than allow their tax breaks to expire. They would rather send the National Guard to harass homeless people than just build affordable housing.

11:07 They would rather cut SNAP and food assistance from families struggling to get by than pay a single dollar more in their own taxes. They don't care about solutions to gun violence or homelessness or immigration. They just don't want to see it. They don't want our communities to be safer for all of us. They just want to play on people's fears and anxieties to seize more power for themselves.

11:40 These folks are not good people, you all. These are individuals who have been corrupted by greed and power. These are, in fact, some of the greediest individuals in the world. These folks are wicked. But the good news, the good news today is that there's an alternative. There's an alternative to billionaire rule, and that alternative rule should be by the people.

12:11 That is the alternative that this moment is calling for, the people's solution to investment. In fact, the alternative to the top-down elite rule is a bottom-up grassroots movement. The alternative to the small number of ultra-rich who are controlling our government is millions of working people standing together to take our country back. It's the labor movement, it's the social movements, community organizations, our faith community, standing together in unity, fighting for what we all need.

12:50 They are never going to just give it to us. We're going to have to fight for it. We're going to have to fight for it to ensure that every single child has access to all that they need. We're going to have to fight for it to ensure that individuals who are seeking refuge in this country can find it right here in this beloved city. We're going to have to fight to make sure that black folks who have been pushed out of neighborhoods across America can return back to the very communities that they have been starved out of.

13:21 And so we're not going to barbecue this year. We're not just going to hang out. We're going to do the work that's necessary because we don't have the luxury to just sit back and kick it. We're going to have to march. We're going to have to march with our labor sisters and brothers. We're going to have to march for true black liberation. We're going to have to march for immigrant rights. We're going to have to march for social justice. We're going to have to march for democracy to be restored back to this nation.

13:55 So I want to close with this quote. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, he warned us that we can either have a democracy or we can have wealth concentrated into the hands of the few. But we cannot have both. We cannot have both. We will either fight to rectify these dangerous levels of income and wealth inequality or we will lose everything that is sensible about our democracy. But let's stand firm together. Let's fight to make sure that this country lives up to its promise.

14:32 God bless you all and God bless the greatest city in the world, the city of Chicago. Thank you. The longer we're here, the more people show up. So, yes, it is. And I want to and I want to make sure that I acknowledge more of our elected officials. See, this is this is power in this moment. Right. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the press conference. with the mayor and with Governor J.B. Pritzker.

15:03 Because now more than ever, people in Illinois and people in Chicago need to be united and standing with each other. Because the people we're fighting aren't the people necessarily here, but it's the class of people who are, when you talk about robber barons, it wasn't an individual person, it was a collective of people who created trusts and monopolies in order to hold down regular folks. We can have an economy that's inclusive of everyone else where business and labor can both win.

15:39 I know the mayor's talked about that. I know the governor talks about that. I want to make sure that I acknowledge Representative Kelly Cassidy, um the uh um representative kim duble clay the house caucus here at this event continues to grow and then my friend um who is uh working to safeguard things that i think people forget about sometimes but are important when we're talking about the culture war that's being

16:11 perpetrated um and stoked by donald trump um protecting our vital records uh with Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon. And next, you know, we have, like I said, we're going to have a number of different unions raising their voices this week on Labor Day. And I'd like to introduce the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, Stacey Davis Gates.

16:43 That's right. Good morning. Good morning. You know, if I were in a classroom today, I'm wondering what I would tell high school seniors and juniors and sophomores and freshmen. I was a high school history teacher. Like, how do you provide both historical understanding and cultural context to this moment?

17:17 How do you help young people who live in our neighborhoods, who depend on our public services, how do you prepare them to get ready for an invasion of law enforcement? How do you tell children whose parents may be undocumented that it is safe for them in this city? How do you tell black children who know the tyranny of unchecked, unlawful and unconstitutional policing that they're going to be OK on their walks home from school?

17:54 So as a history teacher, I would remind them that it isn't just the product of freedom. It is also the struggle of freedom that we have to understand and ground ourselves in in this moment. The context of struggle is that you don't just get civil rights acts, plural, or voting rights acts, that you get people walking across a bridge expressing their dignity and their humanity and calling for this country to be more inclusive.

18:40 calling for it to live up to his ideas of liberty and of justice. You contextualize the struggle in the context of white supremacy that tells us that you can vote for a man who deliberately targets black land cities because it doesn't fit his marginal white supremacist

19:12 definition of competence and leadership. You have to ground it in both things because in this struggle you find that the only way we overcome these moments is through the conviction, the solidarity, the love, and the courage of the people, the faith community, the labor community, the political class

19:44 my neighbors and my mama in them that's how we get to a United States of America that can protect our children from the tyranny of this administration. See, he's going to spend what he's spending in D.C. here in Chicago. He's spending a million dollars a day patrolling streets that don't need patrols because like Chicago, D.C.'s crime is down. But he's spending a million dollars so he doesn't have to spend it

20:22 on crossing guards to help our children move safely across this city. So he doesn't have to spending on safe passage to make sure that our children have a friendly face to see on their journey back and forth to home. See, while we as a donor state, as a donor city to these United States of America struggle to make ends meet in Chicago for black and brown children, we are funding the marginalization of the benefits that come here every time we send a tax dollar

20:59 to dc think about it a math problem i know i was a history teacher but a math problem what would it look like for us to fund ourselves in a moment where this president is wasteful a moment in this uh history where he is withholding and embargoing valuable dollars from the department of education so i keep sending him something that he won't send back

21:34 but i'm not a math teacher but i do remember as a history teacher how the colonists our forefathers and our patriots figured out how to send their illegitimate king nothing else from the colonies i remember the spirit that you can't tax us without representing all of us so i am here to say that this is all of us and we demand representation that is expansive

22:10 that is inclusive that is just that is equitable that is welcoming that is sanctuary and we are going to be in these streets until we get that because we are the people so as i mentioned earlier we have a lot of different elected officials here that represent the diversity of our state we have down staters we have folks who don't treachery frerichs is from downstate

22:47 now lives in chicago was that not supposed to tell you okay um but next we have one of our congress folks who represents us uh in the third congressional district um delia ramirez well good morning buenos dias good morning buenos dias gracias alcalde we got he's almost bilingual here i i want to acknowledge all of us that are here today we have faith leaders here we have labor

23:19 leaders here. We have the folks that are on the ground doing the work, taking a stand to defend our communities, our immigrant neighbors here, like ICER, like Arise. We have elected officials who are saying, no, Donald Trump, you're going to try to pit us against each other. And Bob Ryder said it most perfectly. We're too smart to take that bait. We are in a beautiful city at the Haymarket Square as we're hearing construction literally happen

23:54 right now as we continue to develop the city. We have iron workers, carpenters, construction workers. We have teachers here. We have what makes this city one of the most successful cities in the entire world. By the way, the fifth largest GDP in the entire country, in case you didn't know that trying to do the promo here mayor so here's what i want to say because we have a couple more speakers and we're really talking about getting pumped up for a protest and rally we're going to do on labor day i want to say that in the face of authoritarianism and fascism

24:28 and let me say authoritarianism wasn't a word i was used to saying so it took a while to actually know how to pronounce it because we didn't think we had to talk about or use that word repeatedly in this country up until Donald Trump became president. But let me tell you that in the face of fascism and authoritarianism, it is solidarity, worker solidarity that is protecting us. It is worker solidarity as this busy city is happening that will protect us from a regime that...

25:00 is looking to rob us from our services, our lands, our health care, our jobs, and our thriving futures. And we know that fascism always requires a public enemy. Today, fascism will say that it is immigrant neighbors, that it's trans youth, that it's higher education, that it's the arts. But let me be clear, tomorrow it is whoever they deem undesirable and opposition to fascism. So that is why we're here today. Trump, Noam, Hexeth, and the criminals in office,

25:31 yes, I said criminals in office, because I work in D.C., I see them face to face, they will use their power to try to break our spirits, to divide us, to turn us against each other. But the people united will never be defeated. Say it with me. The people united will never be defeated. We are the legacy of all those who fought for our rights to protest, to be able to form unions, to realize the eight-hour workday, to affirm the inherent dignity and worth of people.

26:03 And we know that power conceives nothing without a fight. We know that we've been fighting for our communities and that every single win that was extracted by the people was with hard work and organizing. And that is what truly Donald Trump is afraid of. So here's what I want to say as I wrap up. In a couple of days, I head back to D.C. I jump on that regular flight I take every single morning. I know that my colleagues in D.C., the Republicans, hope that we have forgotten about the Epstein files and we're going to make sure that we don't forget about the Epstein files.

26:38 We know that threatening to send military National Guard to the city of Chicago is a distraction. So we don't demand those Epstein files. We will do everything we have to do to make sure that we keep demanding that, that he doesn't try to distract the people from what's actually happening every single day. how he's attempting to defund FEMA, how he's attempting to militarize every single community. But here's also what I know, that when we legislate, when we litigate, and when we agitate, we win. And in the courts, we are winning, and we will continue to win against unconstitutional, unaccountable leadership.

27:14 We will not bow down. So I want you to look around. I want you to look at each other. The next few days are going to get hard. The next few weeks are going to continue to be hard. We're going to have to get through the next few years. But it's with all of us here that we do that. With every local elected official and with unions and workers leading the fight to defend our country and defend a democracy that is worth fighting for. I will do that with the Illinois delegation, but we cannot do it alone.

27:48 We are going to do it together. And on Labor Day, you may want to go ahead and have your drink after 7 or 8 p.m., but during the day, Bob, we're going to be marching, right? We're going to demonstrate to the entire country how Chicago organizes and how this union town knows how to get down, protect us, and fight fascism. Let's go and fight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Congresswoman. And Congresswoman Ramirez mentioned a number of unions that helped make this city great.

28:24 And on Labor Day, some of the unions that are supporting our event that I haven't mentioned yet, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, uh sciu local one sciu local 73 the uh mid-american carpenters union uh workers united uh the uh upi which is a the university professors union um that is part of the

28:55 federation of teachers uh ufcw local 1546 the american postal workers union the chicago Federation of Musicians, the Laborers International Union in North America, the union that is supporting the striking port workers, operating engineers, Local 150, and we're expecting many, many more to show up and join us on Monday. And one of the unions that I have not mentioned yet, but is represented with our next speaker,

29:30 is SCIU Health Care, Illinois, Indiana. And our next speaker is Curtis Birch, who works at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center as a food service worker. I want to make sure, Curtis, where you're at. I want to be clear about this. Not only do we have workers who serve our veterans at the VA and other facilities, we are also represent a lot of a lot of veterans. The labor, the labor movement, it really reflects

30:08 our entire community. And this is an important point as, as Donald Trump is trying to pick community against community. And he's doing that by sending members, by threatening to send members of our armed forces who, who safeguard our shores, who respond to disasters in to pit them against our community. And like I said earlier, we're not taking the bait. Curtis, the mic is yours. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Well, I guess there's no need to say my name again, but I'll go ahead and do it.

30:43 So my name is Curtis Birch. Your parents gave it to you. Be proud of it. Oh, yeah. It's a very deep history on it. So, hello, good morning, Grand Rising. My name is Curtis Birch, and I am a veteran, food service worker. I am a father first, and a member of SEIU Healthcare. And as a veteran who serves veterans, I have a deep commitment for this country. That commitment led me to serve in Iraq, and later it led me to work at the VA. As a veteran and as a federal food worker, whose workplace and rights are under attack,

31:20 let me be clear about something. Workers built this country. And we do the work of this country. And those of us who have served in the military and the National Guard have labored for this country. Next Monday, on Labor Day, we're going to show up in force. We're going to show up as veterans, as cooks, child care workers, home health care aides, teachers, and everyone else that we can grab amongst us.

31:52 We're going to fight back against the threats and cuts of Medicaid, the impact it will have, it is already having, on so many communities against the attacks that are coming against us. We're going to fight back against our taxpayer dollars being put and taken away from health care and put into immigration, I mean attacks on immigration, attacks on our neighbors, and attacks on our communities. They're using immigration scapegoats and inflicting pain in attempting to divide us.

32:25 And it's a big tag break in billionaires behind all of this. We're going to fight back against their attempts to raise Social Security and other safety nets we've all invested in. We're going to fight back against the attacks to our rights to organize and against VA Secretary Doug Collins and the administration taking away our rights to bargain and have a collective contract. We're going to fight back against privatization and deliberate short-staffing at the VA. We're going to fight back against the Trump administration targeting our city.

32:57 And because we are the people, he is targeting us because we're standing up against him. But we're not just fighting back. We're fighting forward. Because we are workers and veterans, And as a people who do the work of the society, we didn't just build this country. We're committed to building what's next. We're going to fight to protect our families and put our communities first, not billionaires. Our labor built this country, and our families deserve care and safety and a future.

33:32 Chicago is a city with a rich and powerful labor history. And we know that when working people unite across race, we understand how much we have in common. and refuse to be divided by outside attacks and understand that we have so much power. And today, next Monday, and going forward, we're going to use that power to protect our families and build a future that we can all thrive in. And we believe, especially me, as a veteran who has served,

34:03 and I know something about making a commitment and following through with it, together we will fight back. Together we will fight forward. and together we will win. Thank you. Who wants to fight for Curtis? I want to fight for Curtis. Again, Chicago is a community. I often say that Chicago's foundational community organizations

34:36 are the labor movement and houses of worship. Our next speaker is Reverend Stephen Thurston from rainbow push malcolm x said it best you can't separate peace from freedom because nobody can be at peace unless he has freedom today i'm here to tell you that you can't separate workers rights from civil rights because freedom isn't free when your paycheck from your full-time job can't even pay your rent in Chicago. I'm here representing Rainbow Push because we understand the truth that shakes

35:10 the foundation of power. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. When teachers can't afford to live in the communities that they serve, when workers of every color face exploitation, when our children's futures hang in the balance, these aren't separate battles. They're the same war against human dignity. The Chicago Teachers Union fights for more than wages. They fight for the soul of public education. Labor fights for more than benefits. They fight for the radical idea that work should sustain life, not crush it.

35:42 And we fight for the revolutionary notion that every person deserves both economic justice and the power to shape their destiny. For too long, they played divide and conquer like a broken record. But here's what those boardrooms fear the most. When we refuse to be siloed, when black and brown communities stand with labor, when the moral authority of civil rights meets the collective thunder of organized workers, this Labor Day isn't just celebration, it's declaration. We're declaring that the same corporate forces shortchanging our teachers are the same ones perpetuating racial inequity.

36:20 The system underfunding our schools are the same system suppressing wages and crushing organizing efforts. They want us fighting for crumbs separately. But no, that's not what's going to happen. We're choosing to fight for the whole loaf together. because when you marry the movement for racial justice with the power of organized labor you don't just change policy you change the world this is our moment this is our movement and chicago this is just the beginning one of the one of the great things about being in chicago is you got to

37:02 wait for the l train to pass before you can start talking the uh before we get to our uh final speaker i also as i said the the coalition grows because again we all have to stand together in a united front against the uh attacks the federal government and donald trump are leading against our state we have our secretary of state alexi genoulias uh has just joined us as well the the and and and alderman jason ervin he's he's walking up as uh to i mean this is we're getting them we're

37:39 getting them all in here the coalition is builds as we go along um but now we're we have our final speaker and uh it's the um deputy director of the illinois coalition of immigrant rights immigrant and refugee rights which i have the pleasure of serving on the board for veronica castro when i say rise up when i say rise up you say fight back rise up Rise up! Rise up! That's right. Good morning, everybody.

38:09 Good morning. Yeah, good morning. That's right. My name is Veronica Castro. I'm the proud daughter of immigrants. I also happen to be the deputy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. We're really proud to be here today with the CFL, SEIU, CTU, and so many other allies in the labor movement because the fight for immigrant rights, racial justice, and worker rights is all one and the same. In Illinois, that has looked like the closing of ICE detention centers, enacting pre-trial fairness and codifying workers' rights in the state constitution.

38:44 Collectively, we are part of the broad movement fighting for justice and liberation for all people. It's no surprise that Trump is coming after Illinois and Chicago. For years, his MAGA cronies from across the country had tried to divide our communities, enacting cruelty on immigrants from the southern border to stoke discontent in Chicago and other cities. And since day one of his new administration, he has ramped up attacks on immigrants and workers in Chicago and the suburbs. And we know this is because of our work with labor partners and the calls that have come in to our family support hotline.

39:19 Now he's threatening to call in federal troops and the National Guard. Make no mistake, Trump is doing this because we've been doing our job in Chicago and in Illinois, because of the progress we have made here, and because of our ongoing pushback against his creeping dictatorship. But we know what has worked in the past as well. We know what it is to work to protect and defend the people we love as best as we can. Being organized and educated,

39:49 making sure our communities are safer. Through the work of our family support hotline, through Through partnership with allies and through community education, we have been able to hold off the worst of the worst. Trump's actions so far. In times like this, coming together on Labor Day takes extra importance. The movement for worker rights, racial justice, and immigrant rights has to keep moving forward in the face of Trump's overreach. While Trump tries to instill fear, our movements will continue to push back, as we have been doing on Labor Day and beyond. One final reminder before I go.

40:22 If you suspect you see ICE in your community, or if a family member has been taken by ICE, please call our family support hotline at 855-435-7693 because if there's one thing that i know it's that we keep each other safe thank you all right everybody that's going to wrap up

40:52 the um labor day portion of the press conference we know that we have some media availability later but i think we're going to stop and take a group picture right now um and then And we'll continue with the rest of the program. Thanks. Let's take a little picture. Come together.

42:19 Okay. If you're a reporter, just come forward, all right, if you have a question. Come to the front. Give us one second.

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