In a star-studded bipartisan celebration of the American work ethic, featuring Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, even the Catholic priest giving the invocation in the Armory Ballroom came armed with a pro-union message.
High-ranking New Hampshire Democrats and Republicans were among the 15 speakers in the packed house at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester, delivering rousing revival speeches in an annual Labor Day Breakfast hosted by the AFL-CIO.
Despite the pro-worker talk from all speakers, Sanders didn’t shy away from bashing President Donald Trump’s policies, which he said have hurt unions and hard-working Americans only to put more money in the pockets of billionaires.
“On behalf of the oligarchs, the president who is moving this country in a very strong authoritarian direction, who does not understand or care for the Constitution of the United States or the rule of law. We have a president who, in an unprecedented way, is leading us toward a kleptocracy in which he and his family are going to make huge amounts of money from the presidency. And we have a president today who is leading the war against the trade union movement and the working class of this country,” Sanders said.
Sanders’s fiery rhetoric stood in stark contrast to the largely bipartisan agreement that all workers should earn a living wage and be able to afford a family, buy a house and retire with dignity after decades of toiling in jobs that make the United States the richest country in the world.
Sanders said Trump has fired thousands of dedicated federal employees, but he believes the 99% of regular citizens can successfully fight back against the 1% who continue to horde mountains of money while most Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
“(Trump) has obliterated illegally, clearly, major federal unions,” Sanders said. “In the midst of all of this, I will tell you something. This is not the first time in American history that we have faced a very difficult moment, and in the past, we have overcome our adversaries.”
Sanders said the working class has a life expectancy that’s six years shorter than the country’s average. The lack of a livable wage and affordable health care or child care, among other factors, is taking a toll on Americans.
“You know what that does to you week after week?” Sanders asked. “You tell me, what does it do? You’re living under enormous stress. … Now we as a nation, shamefully, have the lowest life expectancy of any major country. We lived about four years, shorter lives than people in Europe, other wealthy countries. Here’s something you don’t know. If you are working class in America, your life expectancy will be six years shorter than if you are wealthy.”
California rep speaks
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, spoke before Sanders about what Democrats need to do to not just win back voters but to finally, after many decades, deliver again for workers.
“The Democratic Party should stand for what we stood for since the time of (President Franklin D. Roosevelt), the Democratic Party should stand for tackling the economic divides that are tearing this country apart, and have as our singular vision — the economic strength and independence of every family and every community,” Khanna said.
Among other highlights of the speaking program, which included Republicans Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais, state Senate President Sharon Carson and state Rep. Mike Bordes, who is running for mayor of Laconia, was Democratic New Hampshire Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander of Nashua. Goodlander, in her first term in Washington, said that she would not allow cuts to Social Security to hurt New Hampshire residents.
Goodlander said “over my dead body” she would allow Social Security offices in Littleton and other parts of the state to shutter amid federal spending cuts.
State Rep. Dan LeClerc, a union carpenter from Amherst, came out to Metallica’s “Fuel” and championed the lyrics, “Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire.”
His speech on the heels of his retirement after 30 years as a trade union member, said Democrats in the New Hampshire House have to make more than promises. They need the power of the people to pass meaningful legislation.
“Democrats tried to pass things like raising the minimum wage, allowing public sector employees to adhere to the same OSHA-level safety standards as a private sector, and raising workers comp payments back up to 65% like most of the rest of the country, just to name a few,” he said. “Who the hell do we think we are trying to pass such things that would make Granite State lives just a little bit better?”
