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U.S. labor secretary notes Hillary’s pro-union stance at Boardman event
By Ed Runyan
BOARDMAN
US Secretary Labor
Video
US Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, speaks about the Republican's job plan including "Donald Trump's plan is trickle-down economics."
U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez came to the annual Western Reserve Building Trades fish fry Friday night to emphasize Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s pro-union stance.
Perez, outfitted in a Cleveland Indians hat provided by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said Clinton “understands that in order for us to succeed in America ... we need to make sure we build a strong union movement across this country.”
Perez told the 400 or so union members and others in attendance that Hillary has put her union support into action.
“That’s why she’s walked picket lines with the UAW in New York. She’s walked picket lines with nurses, and most recently, she walked the picket line on the Strip of Las Vegas.
“Why did she do that? Because the workers of the Trump Hotel – they won an election fair and square. And you know what Donald Trump told them? ‘I’m not negotiating with you.’
“His idea of collective bargaining is ‘my way or the highway.’ Hillary Clinton understands that collective bargaining has been one of the most important tools for the growth of the middle class in this nation’s history.” Perez said his “surrogate dad,” a teacher who took him under his wing after his own father died when Perez was 12, “taught me when the unions succeed, America succeeds; when unions succeed, the middle class succeeds.
“So I want to start out by saying, ‘Thank you for bringing us the weekend. Thank you for bringing us the middle class. Thank you for building our buildings. Thank you for maintaining our roads. Thank you for maintaining our infrastructure.’ ”
Perez had glowing words for Ryan, who he said is a “champion in Washington, he’s a fighter in Washington” and “one of the most respected members of Congress.”
Before introducing Perez, Ryan took aim at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his treatment of union workers in New York and Atlantic City, including people in the building trades, plumbers and pipefitters and laborers.
“And he has a long history of not paying the people that did work for him. He’s been sued 4,000 times – dishwashers, bartenders, waitresses, waiters, plumbers, painters, all the lot, didn’t get paid after doing work,” Ryan said.