Here's a speech I wrote for the California Nurses Association as part of a job application. It was meant to inspire people to join the Teamsters union. I wrote it after the fashion of a fiery Obama-esque oratory. I guess it didn't inspire the CNA, I never heard back from them. Nurses scare me, anyway.

An informal Prepared Speech to be Delivered
at an Introductory Union Organization Meeting

Written by Brad Cheng 8/10/14

     Good afternoon and thank you for coming today. I’ll try to make this as brief as possible and hopefully the hospital won’t come to a complete halt while we’re here... I’ve seen what can happen when you leave the doctors in charge. 

     Not that the doctors don’t have a slightly different opinion of themselves. At my last  meeting, someone asked me if I knew what the difference between a nurse and Mother Teresa was. She said Mother Teresa had a much easier job; she only had to answer to one God... I hope too many of you haven’t heard that one before.

     We’re here today because you all face a decision. An important decision. We’re her to discuss responsibility. And leadership. And even a devotion of sorts. The kind of devotion we show each other as caring human beings working together, trying to make this world a healthier, more comfortable and a better place. The devotion we have to each other as co-workers, as friends, and most importantly as professionals. 

     And what is that we draw from those relationships, from our commitment to each other? What is the power that we, working together, gain from that commitment to on another? Very simply, it is strength in numbers, a strength born of cooperation and cemented by our conviction and dedication. It is the nearly unstoppable power of a group of people working toward one goal. The power of a collective. 

    And that’s what collective bargaining is all about. It’s that’s simple. It’s people joining hands and working together to improve everyone’s lives. It’s the very same thing you do every day here at this hospital as co-workers and health professionals. You work together to keep things running. To make sure the center holds. That the balance of power works. 

     “Unity.” It’s where the term “union” comes from: People working together, unifying as one. It’s nothing new or unusual. Your marriage, one of the oldest institutions, the holy bond of matrimony, is a union. A perfect bond. Most of the time... If we’re lucky.... Maybe we should move on from that one. 

     Just for fun, does anyone here have a guess as to when the first union was formed here in the United States? Any guess what year or what decade? 1920s? 1930s? 1830s? It was actually in 1636 when a group of fishermen living on an island off the coast of Maine, which can be a pretty rough place, looked around and said, “Boy, this job is awful.” And someone said, “Yeah, and the pay is lousy, too.” “Yeah, and I’m really tired of the fish scales that get caught in that little lacy part of your boot, you know...?” Well, anyway, that’s right, the first group of Americans who got together and organized to improve their working lives did that a hundred and forty years before the American Revolution. 

     A lot people think labor unions began with two riveters in Detroit who wanted a longer coffee break, not that there’s anything wrong with that. No, if you look at history, you’ll learn that workers asking for respect and the chance earn a decent living wage have been doing just that for more than seven hundred years. The men, women and children shuttling coal into the bellows of the Industrial Revolution in England. Those American workers breaking their backs to build this country. And there were probably a few pyramid builders who really wanted that  longer coffee break, too. 

     My point is, trade unions, organized labor, unions,  have been around a very long time. Any place, anywhere workers sought protection from unsafe conditions, unreasonable bosses, unfair wages, or the just sight of their children’s stomachs distended with hunger, people have banded together to take that strength found in numbers. 

    That relatively easy to achieve goal, that chance to equalize the balance of power, putting workers on a  level playing field with companies who hold their lives and livelihoods carelessly and often callously in their hands, can be achieved, And that’s why we’re here today and why I’m putting you to sleep with the longest  history lesson you’ve sat through since Ms. Krabable’s class in 7th grade. 

     But I want you to know, being here today you are part of that universality and spirit of change. Part of that history. Part of the grand plan that was founded and developed and protected by every-day workers like yourselves, over the centuries. Workers who made a commitment ... to unity. A commitment to bond together and to devote an effort to bettering their lives. You’re part of that. And it’s not a small thing. Not an unimportant thing of all. 

      Think about it that way and you’ll see how important your choice. It’s not office politics this time. It’s not: “Well, Charlie the supervisor doesn’t like Bob because he won the football pool” or “Peggy is Marge’s favorite, of course she got the promotion.” No, it’s a matter of justice and a very long, and often bloodily fought battle to ensure an equality for all. And that ... that is the very foundation of our nation. So no, it’s not a small thing at all. 

    Today, union workers average 10-30% higher pay than non-union workers in America. That’s something the power that be won’t tell you. And you’ll be hearing lot of things. They’ll want to shake you up. Divide you. There will be all kinds of rumors to keep you from finding unity.  Who knows where they starts? Maybe it starts in whispers from the top somewhere, I don’t know. You’ll hear: “You should just be grateful you have a job.” Sound familiar? Okay, I’ll listen to that. But a job that doesn’t pay the water bill? A job that won’t let you get crown on that bad tooth? A job that keeps your little boy in that school that’s really not that great?  

     I’m sorry, to me, that “having a job” isn’t enough. And that attitude shows that a company is not as strong as they want you to believe. That sounds to me like fear mongering.  Fear mongering out of their own fear, And that’s not working together. That’s not equality. And those little things you’re suppose to give up? Those aren’t litte things in my book, those are things that any caring parent -- husband or wife -- should be willing to fight for.

    You know who fought hardest for the unions?  President President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, our 32nd president. The president who saw us through the Great Depression. 

     My mother was child of the depression. Irish Catholic family of 12 children ... at last count.  During the depression her mother worked in a cigar factory, rolling cigars. A nickel a day she earned.  And her father, my grandfather, wanna talk about a man who had a tough time taking care of his family? After he was laid off from the A&B meat packing factory in Allentown, PA, during the depth of the depression that saw millions fall into poverty, he went out to try and feed his family earning a living as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. Talk about a tough way to make a buck...  you have to imagine there wasn’t a big market for sixty-dollar sets of encyclopedias during the depression. 

   My mother’s family was just one of millions like her’s, and as I said, and Roosevelt knew that. He knew it deep down that the average American was suffering like never before. So what did he do? He backed the unions. He pushed legislation that would help ensure the protections they afforded workers. He knew those factory owners, sitting in the big houses on the hill, would keep paying  women like my grandmother a nickel a day to roll their cigars or sew their shirts or wash their floors. Roosevelt knew putting power into the hand of the worker would help lift them from their plight. He knew the balance of equality was weighted unfairly for the factory owners and businessmen smoking those cigars wouldn’t budge a nickle to help anyone but themselves. And who was it brought us out of that depression? Roosevelt. And the unions.

   After he was gone from office, others tried to take apart what he had done and the decline in unions since WWII  has created a massive rise in wealth inequality. I think we’ve all noticed that. The CEO payouts. The Wall Street mentality. And who was hit hardest by that that loss of income, that inequality?  The workers and professionals like yourselves who are again looking to unions for a little help setting the balance straight.

Without wanting to get too political, you always hear a lot of talk about freedom in this country. From where I stand, the most important form of freedom in the United States is economic freedom. The kind of economic freedom you’re also hoping to secure by joining a union. 

Only economic freedom allows an American to live a happy, productive life. Without it, you face the same restrictions on your life as you might suffer under the worst totalitarian regime. Ask someone living under tyranny what they dream of for themselves or their family and it would be the same things denied to those in this country living in poverty.T he politicians and the corporations will try to tell you that you should be grateful for the “freedoms” you enjoy under the hand of their economic totalitarianism, and that you should worry more about some great enemy theatening to  engulf these lands. 

No, the real enemy is the inequity of opportunity, controlled by the few who will always admonish the poor for the failings they themselves ensure. And that inequity of opportunity, is an inequity of freedom. And if freedom is not shared equally, that means there is no freedom at all.

    Let me tell you a another quick story of scales not working for workers.  And this is a cautionary tale to let you know you have a very important chance before you now. Right at this minute. Don’t let it slip. This is your chance to balance the scales.   A fellow now working for the union used to be a newspaper man in  Santa Barbara. A beautiful town. And they used to have a fantastic local newspaper. A Pulitzer Prize-winning paper. Well, one day a very wealthy woman came along. She had earned her money the old fashion way .. through a divorce. A half-a-billion dollar divorce. That’s right. 

    This woman decided she wanted to buy the town paper. It wasn’t enough to have it delivered to her fifty-million dollar house, through the hands of her guards, her six maids and her butler. She wanted to see it before it even came out. Well, she bought the paper.  A bargain for a hundred and fifty million dollars. I think there was an adjoining garage she liked 

something. And soon, she started telling the journalists what they could and couldn’t write. 

    These were  professional journalists. Can you imagine a billionaire buying this hospital and telling you: “Don’t take  those x-rays, anymore. The light hurts my eyes” or “Can’t we reuse those catheters?” Well, needless to say, those journalists and writers said, “Um, we have a code of ethics. A duty to report the news unbiasedly.” And the billionaire said, “No. You put in what I tell you to put in.” To make a long story short, they decided to form a union. Anright as guaranteed by the constitution as your right as an American as your vote for president. 

     Only the billionare said, “No. You’re not allowed to do that. I don’t want a union. I want to be the only one giving orders around here. What I say goes.” And what went? Justice went ... right out the window. She slowly but surely tilted control back in her direction. How did she do that? Fear, intimidation, bribery. She divided the newsroom giving out rewards to those who would sign a petition to get rid of the union. Illegal. Absolutely. But though we don’t want to admit it, the wealthy buy their justice everyday. In their eyes, there is “just us,” only the wealthy matter.

    These were  professional journalists. Can you imagine a billionaire buying this hospital and telling you: “Don’t take  those x-rays, anymore. The light hurts my eyes” or “Can’t we reuse those catheters?” Well, needless to say, those journalists and writers said, “Um, we have a code of ethics. A duty to report the news unbiasedly.” And the billionaire said, “No. You put in what I tell you to put in.” To make a long story short, they decided to form a union. Anright as guaranteed by the constitution as your right as an American as your vote for president. 

     Only the billionare said, “No. You’re not allowed to do that. I don’t want a union. I want to be the only one giving orders around here. What I say goes.” And what went? Justice went ... right out the window. She slowly but surely tilted control back in her direction. How did she do that? Fear, intimidation, bribery. She divided the newsroom giving out rewards to those who would sign a petition to get rid of the union. Illegal. Absolutely. But though we don’t want to admit it, the wealthy buy their justice everyday. In their eyes, there is “just us,” only the wealthy matter.    

There are some people who’ll say: “Well, the unions. They’re the real thugs. Don’t you know they’re run by the mafia and the mob and the ghost of Darth Vader?” You have never seen what real injustice and what thuggery can be wrought by the imbalance of wealth and greed of an unscrupulous employer. One who’ll hire lawyers and hatchetmen and toadies to divide you on your quest for unity. One who’ll refuse to grant workers the right to decent working conditions, their self-respect, their careers, and the chance to feed their families. 

    There’s no mysterious dark hand out there waiting with its claws to take your union, the union that you will create right among yourselves, the union that you will run with a devotion to this job and to your own lives and your friends. You will all have your say. You’ll speak as one with the strength of your numbers. 

    What happened to that billionaire? Well, after she brought in her union breakers, well rewarded union breakers, to create dissention, fueling fear with lies and unspoken threats, she kept the union out. The center did not hold. And with the union gone, she went on to ruin 40 or 50 lives. Men near retirement, men with families who had been working there 35 years, single women with children trying to juggle a career and kindergarten schedules, she ruthlessly destroyed them all because they had no protection. 

    And she also destroyed her own newspaper, a year later it went out of business because she was seen for the villain she was by her own community.  To me it’s incredible, incomprehensible  that someone could ever be so selfish they’d ruin their own business to keep their workers from having a decent  wage and decent working conditions. Yet, I’ve seen it. How? I was one of the people working at that newspaper. 

    I’ve seen what happens when power is left in the hand of one person. As they say, absolute power corrupts ...
absolutely. I’ve seen what happens when you drop each others hands in this fight. When you let intimiation and false promises shake your devotion to what you, in your hearts,  know is right and know is your best chance to secure justice for yourself and a future for your families. This is a noble fight. This is a just fight. Remember that.

    You have here an opportunity to take control of your future. To take the reins in fair and just proportion with management, and end the inequality. To end even the chance of inequality, which  someday -- at their whim -- could leave you helpless and without a chance to have the life you’ve worked so hard for. Without a chance for the happiness you deserve. 

    I’m done. I think someone should roll and oxygen tank in here to replentish all the O2 I’ve used. 

    Thank you for your time.   

END