Press Releases
Teamsters to Corporate America: “We’re Done Paying Your Bills”
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Association of Flight Attendants International President Sara Nelson Headlined a Rally in Support of the Working Class in Their Fight Against Corporate Greed
Press Contact: Kara Deniz Phone: (202) 497-6610 Email: kdeniz@teamster.org
(CHICAGO)– Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Association of Flight Attendants International President Sara Nelson slammed corrupt corporate power at “The Working Class: Fighting Against Corporate Greed” rally Thursday in Chicago. Speaking to thousands of Teamsters, other union members and labor advocates, the leaders called on the crowd to fight back against corporate greed by organizing and demanding better pay and working conditions.
“We’ve all seen the graphs — with corporate profits up and workers’ wages down,” O’Brien said. “Big business keeps getting everything it wants and working people keep getting stuck paying the bill. We pay the bill every time. Well, the Teamsters have a new message for corporate America: We’re done paying your bills. The working people of this country are coming to collect.”
Momentum is building nationwide as workers at major companies like Amazon and Starbucks are organizing unions and demanding the wages, benefits and respect on the job they’ve rightfully earned. Recent polls have found that the majority of American workers across political ideologies support unions and fighting corporate power.
“This is why we have to organize,” said O’Brien. “This is why unions are the answer. You’re not alone when you’re in a union. You’re not cast aside. You’re part of a team. That’s the difference.”
O’Brien has spent the last three years traveling across the United States, meeting with Teamsters at local union halls, loading docks and other job sites to change the status quo and encourage members to join the fight against corporate greed. Thursday’s rally was the first stop of several that O’Brien, Sanders and Nelson will make this summer to rally workers across the country to fight back.
“Over the last 50 years, there’s been a massive transfer of wealth in this country, but it’s going in the wrong direction,” said Senator Sanders. “Good news: working people are standing together and fighting back.”
“It’s time we set the agenda with an economy for the people, not the billionaires,” Nelson said. “Working class solidarity – a force stronger than gravity; it lifts us up – can get it done.”
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.