Remarks of Aron Reina, R&GV ALF Annual Meeting 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008(Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation)
Remarks of Aron J.
Reina
Lead Field Organizer,
Annual Meeting 2008
According to the Department of Labor my generation will be the first generation since those who came of age during the great depression to experience lower living standards than their parents. We are about half as likely to have health insurance, or a pension. I am angry at what has been taken from my generation and from future generations.
They have even tried to take away our hope. We are expected to buy the conventional wisdom of the market that no matter how educated we are, and no matter how hard we work, we have no right to expect to retire from a job, but to have multiple jobs. We have no right to expect anyone but ourselves to be responsible for our retirement, to save for unaffordable college educations for our children, or to expect any help dealing with free market healthcare.
This morning we gather to celebrate people like Eric Massa – individuals willing to give their lives to public service. We gather today to learn from one another. We gather today to gain strength from each other. And in that strength, we hope to find strength for our co-workers like Bess Watts who fights with Pride at Work to gain equality on the job for all of our co-workers regardless of sexual orientation. We discuss topics, and confront our misconceptions so that Debbie Lee, Zola Brown and all of our brothers and sisters in the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists have equality on the job, as well as safety and comfort at home. We attend meetings, and shout in the streets with our friends at Metro-Justice to achieve a better day for all workers regardless of class and background. And we celebrate our retirees, learning from those who came before us. We gather today to solve problems with the firm knowledge that we can make a better tomorrow.
To make our better tomorrow, we need to be making something. We stand firm with our brothers and sisters in the industrial unions around the country who have lost jobs due to poorly crafted trade policies. We also stand firm with the exploited workers in those foreign countries who have lost their own senses of dignity, health and well-being as they work for companies interested in profit rather than the human experience. We stand strong with our brothers and sisters in the service industry who provide untold hours of assistance in some of the worst conditions, and those in the public service sector providing the framework of our country itself. We stand confident knowing that our union brothers and sisters in the building & construction industry are the most highly qualified, highly trained, members of our community who will complete the job on-time and under-budget. We fight for life over profit, safety over disability and most importantly dignity over slavery.
Through 5 committees and councils representing 100,000 workers in our 11 counties, we at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation have joined with our friends at Operation Firing for Effect. Not only have we called for the end of an unjust war, but we have joined in solidarity with them for mandatory full funding of veterans healthcare. If they have the courage to work for, and defend, our country, then upon your return our country must have the courage to guarantee their healthcare.
I leave you with one final thought. As you progress through Labor 2008, I charge each of you to do one thing: “Get – It – Done”. One person “getting it done” is an activist. Many people “getting it done” is a movement.
I ask you to be one of the many.