January 30, 2016 Philadelphia, PA - Remarks of General Chairman Jed Dodd Bernie Sanders for President Rally

Hello Brothers and Sisters! 

I bring you greetings of solidarity and friendship from the hardworking men and women who are members of the Pennsylvania Federation Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Our Union represents the men and women who build and maintain the railroad track, bridges and buildings and overhead catenary system for Amtrak, Conrail, Norfolk Southern, CSXT and numerous smaller railroads in the 17 state region of the Northeast United States. We perform tough, hard, dangerous jobs, seven days a week and around the clock, in all kinds of weather to ensure that freight and passengers, essential to our country’s ecomonic survival reaches their destinations safely and on time.

A few short months ago, delegates representing seventy locals in our region met and unanimously endorsed the campaign of Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. He is the candidate that will stand up and lead us in a historic struggle to take back our country from the very rich, and their corporations, who are raping our country and its citizens. We understand that we no longer live in a democracy. The Sanders candidacy is our chance to restore the voice of the people to our country’s government. Currently, the republican majority in the House of Representatives, in its simplest terms, is a fascist formation with a neoliberal ideology. It has declared war on America’s working class which has resulted in increased poverty, violence, homelessness and declining living standards for all. But they are not without their allies in a major pro-corporate faction of the Democratic Party who promote the same neoliberal, anti-working class ideology with a smile instead of a scowl. All of these neoliberal politicians are wholly owned subsidiaries of the billionaires who pull their strings and fill the airways with their 24/7 corporate propaganda through all the major media outlets.

\What is happening to organized labor is the same thing that is happening to our Brothers and Sisters throughout the working class in general. Since 1981, the corporations have combined with the government of the United States to transfer wealth from the middle class and the poor to the wealthy. The manner in which this transfer occurred has been through outright union busting. Hiding behind terms like “deregulation”, “Reaganomics,” “Global Competition”, “free market” and “free trade” the wealthy have enriched themselves massively while taking away our capacity to survive economically at a decent level.

We live in a country where the federal welfare to corporations, and the richest 1% of taxpayers, is equal to the federal debt. We live in a country where the buying power of the richest one percent of all Americans has more than doubled in the last twenty years, yet the buying power of the average American has been reduced by more than 10% over the same period. And more often than not that buying power must be supported with two jobs instead of one job. A new order has seized control of our government and the majority of the current political process. Together they have combined to wage a one sided class war against working and unemployed Americans and the shrill voice of capital is demanding that we surrender our dignity, run for the hills, get jobs at McDonalds and decertify our unions.

With this relentless attack on the citizens we are fortunate that a champion has emerged from the political diarrhea that has characterized the politcial process. Our champion is Bernie Sanders who recognizes this sad state of current affairs when he states:

“The American people must make a fundamental decision. Do we continue the 40-year decline of our middle class and the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, or do we fight for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all? Are we prepared to take on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class, or do we continue to slide into economic and political oligarchy? These are the most important questions of our time, and how we answer them will determine the future of our country.”

It is fitting that we are holding this rally in the birthplace of our revolution. Bernie Sanders has called for a political revolution and our Union has joined him in the struggle to return the United States government to the people. We will fight to ensure that the tremendous wealth that we produce in this country is used for the needs of the people and not the greed of the billionaires and their political servants.

Together we will make health care a human right to which all are entitled when we become sick or injured.

Together we will stomp down the wall street speculators and put them in prison where they belong.

Together we will protect women’s rights. Together we will protect and expand labor unions.

Together we will support Black Lives Matter.

Together we will protect our immigrant brothers and sisters who are exploited by our corporate masters and denied a voice in their own lives. We will stop the raids and the deportations of the most vulnerable among us.

Together we will make public college tuition free.

Together we will unite to combat global warming and protect our planet.

You may ask what makes Bernie Sanders different than other politicians who have made the same promises? The answer is, he doesn’t take bribe money from the banks and the insurance companies like all of his other political adversaries. You can not take $600,000.00 in speaking fees from Bank of America, like Hilliary Clinton, and expect to see her advance wall street reform. You can not take millions of dollars in campaign donations from the insurance and drug companies, like Hilliary Clinton, and expect health care or drug pricing reform that benefits the people. Hillary Clinton takes that money and is owned by the very corporate masters that have waged war on the citizens of America. Bernie Sanders refuses this money and has no super pac. He runs his campaign on the individual donations of hard working American men and women. When he is elected President of the United States he will be our President and not another paid servant of the billionaires.

For our future! For our Country! Now is the time to unite and stand up for the man who will stand up for us!

Bernie Sanders for President! Power to the People!

Thank you.