Congressman Hank Johnson delivered the following remarks at a phone-banking event by NTEU members.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is my honor to speak with you this evening.
Brothers and sisters, it’s crunch time. We are now in the midst of early voting in the midterm elections, and the future of our America is at risk. We’ve heard before in prior elections that that election would be the most crucial in the nation’s history. Today, I’m here to tell you that this election is the most crucial election that America has ever faced. The choice is whether we allow Trump and MAGA Republicans to continue wrecking our economy and destroying our democracy, or will we put Democrats back in the majority, so that we can start reigning in the incompetence, the cruelty, and the unprecedented corruption that are the hallmark of this administration.
Under Trump, we can see just how much this economy is rigged against the working people of this country. Trump has increased his net worth by $2 billion during his first year in office, while the tech bros, the Epstein crowd, and the AI data center cronies are making billions while replacing human workers with machines that may become so powerful that they kill us all by the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, as Trump and his family enrich themselves, everyone else is treading water trying to make ends meet. Some are drowning, while others have gone under. We’re all struggling to make sure that we can keep our heads above water. If we do what we need to do over these next three weeks, we can begin the process of ending Trump’s endless war, and ending Trump’s tariffs, both of which wrecked the economy and caused the price of groceries and gas to go through the roof.
We can put a check on Trump’s abuse of his authority and his assault on our freedom and liberties. We can begin the process of rebalancing the equities of our economy so that the big corporations, the wealthy, and the well-connected pay their fair share of the tax burden, while working people can get fair pay for their labor in good union jobs that enable them the opportunity to retire with dignity. That is why your phone banking and post card writing efforts are so very important in ensuring that we get out the vote and have a turnout that is too big to rig.
Thank you NTEU!
Every single day, hundreds of thousands of dedicated civil servants go to work in our federal government, not for fame, nor for private sector wealth, but out of a profound commitment to serving the United States of America. Among those federal workers are 150,000 members of the NTEU, who work tirelessly at the IRS, the EPA, the FDA, and dozens of other federal agencies. These are the public servants who ensure our air is clean, our food and medicine are safe to consume, and our nation’s revenue collected. Yet over the last few years we’ve witnessed an unprecedented, systematic, and coordinated campaign by the Trump administration to dismantle the NTEU and strip it workers of their basic constitutional and civil rights. This is not a standard policy disagreement; it is a direct assault on organized labor and collective bargaining, and the right of American workers to their fair share of the economic pie.
Soon after returning to the White House Trump signed an executive order terminating collective bargaining agreements negotiated by NTEU, and to kill the union they banned automatic dues deduction and banned employees from displaying NTEU labeled paraphernalia from workplaces and workspaces.
Trump unleashed the drug crazed madman Elon Musk and his government efficiency operation to fire 300,000 federal workers. For those employees who remained, many have been subjected to political loyalty tests, which have replaced merit-based advancement.
The ultimate victim of this assault on workers is the American public, who they serve. Unlike some of the wealthy and powerful law firms, some of the country’s most prestigious colleges and universities, and some media companies, the NTEU did not bow down to the King. Under the leadership of NTEU national president Doreen Greenwald, the union has aggressively punched back, filing federal lawsuits, challenging Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders.
And the NTEU has been winning with temporary injunctions from judges who recognize the irreparable harm being inflicted on public servants. NTEU leaders have rallied rank-and-file workers, and have built a coalition in Congress, pushing for legislative remedies like the Protect America’s Workforce Act to legally restore collective-bargaining rights, which I support, the Saving The Civil Service Act, which would prevent Trump from destroying merit system protections for federal workers, which I support, and the COST of Relocations Act, which reduces the power to forcibly relocate mass numbers of employees to places outside of their current commuting area, which I also support.
This president is desperate to avoid losing control of Congress. He will do whatever he can to interfere with people voting. So far, federal agents have not been deployed to interfere with voting. We anticipate that MAGA will try to disrupt the counting of the votes, and most certainly they will challenge the certification of the votes. So, we must remain vigilant to protect the precious right to vote, and the integrity of the voting process. I encourage you to continue doing all you can to turn out the votes, and remember, let the turnout be too big to rig. And on November 4th we can all come together and say, When We Fight, We Win!
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