00:01UBC! UBC! UBC! UBC! UBC! UBC! UBC!
00:10Alright friends, you know how we do.
00:14Money out of? Money in your? Medicare for?
00:19One more time louder. Money out of? Money in your? Medicare for?
00:25I am so grateful to be in the House of the Carpenters.
00:32Because look, I'm standing here with you today as a second generation union member.
00:40I know the power of a union because I watched that power build the house that I got to grow
00:48up in.
00:48A house where we know that one good job is enough.
00:55We know the power and dignity of standing with folks, not despite differences, but because of differences.
01:04To build together the things that you can't have alone.
01:08I watched it work, and we've watched the very same people who've nickel and dimed us left and right take
01:15that away from us.
01:18We got an opportunity in the next 16 days to rekindle the flame of the fight for dignified labor, for
01:28unions, and for the opportunities you all create.
01:32Now as carpenters, y'all don't just build the infrastructure that substantiates our lives, but because you're union carpenters, you
01:42build the middle class.
01:43You build the opportunities that create the communities in which we live.
01:52And this fight is about understanding that until and unless we are willing to stand with working people, until and
02:00unless we are willing to fight for unions, until and unless we are willing to show up for one another,
02:05We're going to continue to watch as small-minded people with small ideas try to make us smaller.
02:13But we got an opportunity to be bigger than that.
02:16And that's the opportunity to stand together with one another, fighting for the things we all need.
02:23Because it doesn't matter who you are, you deserve a good job with a living wage.
02:28You deserve good health care when you need it.
02:33You deserve a good home you can afford.
02:39You deserve to send your kid to good school.
02:43You deserve to know that you can retire in dignity.
02:49And it is unions who have been building that and fighting for that in this state and across this country
02:55for decades and generations.
02:58Let's be clear about this.
03:01We are here in Michigan.
03:02We know a thing or two about work.
03:05And we know a thing or two about unions.
03:07We know that unions built the middle class.
03:10Unions built the 40-hour work week.
03:13Unions built the fact that our kids go to school instead of going to work.
03:18Unions built the safety and security of a job site.
03:23And unions can do it again if we're willing to stand up for our unions.
03:29Unions built the middle class.
03:32Unions built.
03:33Unions built the city of a white job?
03:35Unions built it again and it's making us RI.
03:49Unions built it again all of us.
03:53We're going to stand up for working people against the corporations who for too long have been able to dictate
03:59terms so that they can make a second billion while our folks struggle to make their first hundred thousand.
04:07And while we're at it, while we're at it, we're going to make sure that corporations can't continue to buy
04:14and sell politicians in the same way that Mike Rogers and Donald Trump have been bought and sold their entire
04:19career.
04:28So let's not forget what the stakes are in the next 16 days, because I'll tell you what they haven't
04:35forgotten.
04:36There's a reason Donald Trump and J.D. Vance can't seem to keep my name out their mouth.
04:42They don't quite know what my name seems to be.
04:46But however they want to say it, we're going to make sure they say it with the word senator in
04:50front of it in November.
04:55But there's a reason they keep saying my name, keep pointing to my faith, because they think they can distract
05:02you from paying attention to the issues in your own life.
05:05How hard it has become to afford a second bag of groceries, how hard it is to fill up your
05:10tank, how hard it is to see a doctor in the richest, most powerful country in the world,
05:15how hard it is to pay your taxes and know that that money is going to be spent on you
05:18and your kids instead of dropping bombs on somebody else and their kids.
05:23But here's the thing about it.
05:25My name is not the reason you can't afford your gas.
05:29My name is not the reason you can't afford your groceries.
05:32My name is not the reason you can't see a doctor.
05:36Chances are, if you can see a doctor, they might actually have my name.
05:46Their policies are the reason why.
05:49Their war in Iran that we have no business fighting is the reason why.
05:53Their insane tariffs on Canada is the reason why.
05:58I mean, if you're picking a fight with Canada, Canadians are the only people I know who preemptively apologize.
06:06I'm sorry.
06:08You didn't even do anything.
06:10So if you're picking a fight with Canada, you're the asshole.
06:20Now, a lot of people say, well, you know, his name's Abdul, so how's he going to win in Michigan?
06:26Here's the interesting thing.
06:27I'll tell you this.
06:27I've been Abdul in Michigan for like 42 years almost.
06:30Pretty good at this.
06:34That's right.
06:39And it's funny because when they ask that question, they're not talking about me.
06:45You know who they're talking about?
06:47You.
06:49They don't know Michiganders.
06:51We're open-minded and we're big-hearted.
06:54We're earnest and we're gritty.
06:56We just don't want to be taken advantage of by a billionaire from New York or a millionaire from Florida.
07:04And I've had the privilege of getting to travel to state now.
07:07I just came back from up north.
07:08We had 500 people in Escanaba, 500 people in Iron Mountain, 1,300 in Marquette, another 500 in Sault Ste.
07:17Marie, another 500 in Petoskey.
07:21And those folks, they came because they understand that we can have nice things in Michigan.
07:27We just can't do it alone.
07:29And that's the lesson that the union movement's been teaching us all this time.
07:34That if you want the good things in life, it's not going to be because Yow competed, the person next
07:40to you.
07:41It's not going to be because you stood on someone else to get yours.
07:45It's going to be because you stood with someone else to get ours.
07:56So they aim to distract us from realizing that we have the opportunity to get ours to reach across the
08:02divides.
08:03They tell us we can't breach of geography, of race, of faith, of sexual orientation, gender identity.
08:11They aim to stop us from locking arms and walking side by side in solidarity in the way that Michigan
08:19unions have been showing us how to walk for generations.
08:24But Michigan, we are bigger than that.
08:26Carpenters, we are bigger than that.
08:29They think they're going to come for our health care.
08:31They think they're going to come for our unions, but they don't know here in Michigan we don't back down.
08:36So when they come for our union rights, we won't back down.
08:42When they come for our health care, we won't back down.
08:48When they come for working people, we won't back down.
08:53When they come for our public schools, we won't back down.
08:57When they come for our neighbors, we won't back down.
09:01When they come for any of us, we won't back down.
09:06And carpenters we're not gonna back down for the next 16 days or the next six years after that because
09:12it is our
09:13Union movement. It is our state of Michigan and we aim to stand up for it and protect it friends
09:19My name is Abdul I'll say it. I hope I can earn your support. Let's go fight and win
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