RichardTrumka

If you include legitimate expenses needed to perform my job, such as travel, overnight stays and such, I earn a little less than $300k a year. That computes out to be three and a half times the median and average salary at the AFL-CIO. See if you can find any CEO that will match that ratio

Let's start with some facts. If the min wage kept pace with inflation, it would be $10.64. If it kept pace with productivity, it'd be $18.30. Kept pace with top 1%, it would be $31.45. Also net profit per fortune 500 company per employee was over $41,000 last year. Now the notion that they couldn't take a couple of those thousands of dollars and give it to the employee is absurd. It also totally debunks the notion they can't afford a living wage. The minimum wage is only one aspect. Collective bargaining is needed for all workers so they can get a fair share of the wealthy they produce and remember our economy is 72% driven by consumer spending. The more money workers have to spend the more jobs they create. Any time anybody asks you who the job creators are, tell them workers.

The short answer is: We need to educate, mobilize and execute. We are rolling out an economic analysis entitled: "Common Sense Economics" that explains the policies that put us in the position the economy is in of having flat and falling wages. It also has policy prescriptions on how to get us out and build a shared economy...one that works for all. We will be presenting that to millions of workers in the South. That's a start. But it also means determined organizing efforts, legislative efforts and political efforts. And let me say this, nothing, and I mean nothing can beat good old worker solidarity. Workers standing together to help workers.

It involves four separate thrusts. Political, legislative, organizing and collective bargaining. We're working to improve how we do each of those four things because each of those things are necessary to increase workers' standing in this economy. On top of these four things, we are working diligently with our progressive friends and allies and strategic partners to change the policies that spawned this flat-wage, immobile economy.

A simple story. My four-year-old son many years ago asked me what a union was. He was playing one of those little pedal cars at the time. And I told him to push the pedal car up the steep hill. And he couldn't do it. And then I got him and his two friends and asked all 3 of them to push the car up the hill and they did it. And I said, son, that's what a union does. it allows people to do things together they can't do alone.