"We've started walking precincts against Prop 75 and 76 and we need your help! We're going to win this race because we're going to walk!"

"We have a legislator who is sponsoring legislation to support our right to organize!Assemblymember Dave Jones has introduced AJR 27 to reform labor law to give people a voice at work! We've got a form on the tables for everybody here to use to let our legislators know if they aren't voting for you to have a voice at work, they've got a problem with us!" --Bill Camp exhorting the crowd.

***"AJR 27 reaffirms the CA State Legislature's committment to workers' rights to organize and form unions, and expresses the Legislature's support for the federal Employee Free Choice Act, which provides for certification of a union if a majority of employees sign authorizations. It mandates mediation and arbitration if employers and unions can't reach agreement during the first 90 days of first-contract bargaining. It places stronger penalties on employers who violate the National Labor Relations Board Act and requires the NLRB to seek federal court injunctions against employers who fire workers or otherwise interfere significantly with their rights during organizing or first contract campaigns. It imposes civil fines of up to $20,000 against employers who willfully and repeatedly violate workers' right during organizing drives." --(from Central Labor Council).

"We are holding this event just as we are about to kick off a campaign to defend ourselves from one of the greatest assaults on working people in the history of the state, led by a governor who pledged to be above politics, who pledged to be independent of special interests, and who pledged to govern for all California, then embarked on a campaign to vilify workers and the unions who represent them in an unnecessary and decisive special election.

I don't think any of us knew when we scheduled the event that it would coincide with a landmark shift in the labor movement at a national level. Despite the turmoil at the national level, I stand before you and I stand before a united labor movement in Sacramento. I would like to thank the Central Labor Council for its leadership on this important issue! (Lists all the unions in support).

Labor is united in Sacramento! This Labor Council remains united behind the workers at Blue Diamond who are fighting for a union with ILWU, and behind the building trades who are fighting for a project stabilization agreement with the Sacramento City Unified School District. It stands behind the UFCW in their fight to make Wal-Mart a more responsible employer. It stands with the building trades to ensure that when healthcare facilities are built or expanded in this city, including an employer called "Sutter Health," they are built with union labor, they include community benefit agreements, and when the buildings are done, the healthcare workers are represented by SEIU!"

-- John Borsos, Director Hospital Division, SEIU UHW-w, President, Sacramento Central Labor Council

"Remembering what our UFCW members went through during our strike, the suffering they went through-- it was a very difficult time. They may not have made it if not for the people in this room--for the organizations in this room, the money donated, the time donated, and the spiritual support you gave. We will always cherish and appreciate that. . If you ever need UFCW, anytime, anywhere, pick up the phone and we will be there for you!

Many people have strong opinions about what's going on in the Labor movement, particularly as it relates to some of us breaking away from the AFl-CIO. We are very ,very pround members of the Central Labor Council. We are not going anywere! We are totally committed to you, the affiliated membership.

What we stand up for and believe in has not gone out of style. Working people still believe in respect, dignity,and healthcare for all. The reason we've had a decline in union density in the U.S. is simple: we let our adversaries define the rules of the game, and we've been foolish enough to play by their rules. Specifically, the NLRB is nothing more than a conspiracy between the government and corporations to absolutely assure our demise. It is absurd that in order for our organizations to grow, we have to seek approval from the NLRB, a bureaucratic, obstructionist, kangaroo court. I'm not asking anybody's approval for permission to grow my union! I am simply going to ask the workers that we seek to represent's approval, and that's all the approval we need!

We are in an exciting time! Right now is the time where we need to go out and ask every single person in this country who earns a paycheck to sign a pledge card to affiliate with the labor organization that represents their interests, because when they sign that card, we should count them into our membership roles and begin representing them. Forget about the NLRB.

We (in the Labor movement) ) have been misunderstood, disrespected, exploited, maligned by the press, betrayed by our government, and incarcerated for our principles. Despite that, we still remain the most passionate, the most vital force for the upward surge of humanity on the face of this planet!"

-- Jacques S. Loveall, President, UFCW, Local 588, accepting "Excellence in Organizing" award.

3,000 workers at Foster Farms recently ratified a UFCW contract and were honored at the "Salute to Labor" awards dinner.

"There's a new breath of fresh air in Sacramento! It's in the spirit, the strength, in the organizing, and also in the radio field! I want to say "Thank you!" to the radio station that's brought us the Christine Craft show-- that's made sure that our issues, our hearts, our concerns, our feelings and our basic values get honored and treated with respect, get articulated and get expressed. We are honoring a great citizen of the Sacramento community--our "Outstanding Labor Citizen" Paula Nelson-Redfield!" --introduction by Bill Camp.

"I want to thank my family, my church, and my staff, most of all from Talk City. You represent what we all need and love about this great, great country. Look at me--I'm a product of America! This could happen nowhere else in the world! I want you to know, your fight is our fight! Let's work together and do this!"--Paula Nelson-Redfield, General Manager and CEO, Talk City Radio, 1240 AM.

"We here all need to be union ambassadors! We need to reach out across our comfort zone and cross borders to people we don't know-- to take the message of unionism to working families all over the world.We honor Jim Gordon tonight with the Union Ambassador award because he is a model of what it means to cross borders!"-- introduction by Bill Camp.

Jim Gordon began his working life at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph, becoming a shop steward and union activist in 1963. In 1980, he took a Union leave of absence to work with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). He held many union positions, serving as President of CWA Local 9412, before accepting a staff position with the International Union of CWA, later appointed as the Union's Legislative Political Director. In 2001, Jim was assigned as Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of District Nine, later assuming responsibility for supervision of the District's Legislative and Political programs. He has been a delegate to the Sacramento Central Labor Council since 1989, and in 2003, was elected as Vice President of the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. He now serves as Chair of the Labor Caucus of the Democratic Party, and President of the Consumer Federation of California.

"I have four sons: A 20 year veteran of the Oakland Police Department, a high school teacher in Newark, a fire captain at the Medford, Oregon airport, and my youngest son is a union organizer for CWA Local 9412. All of them are under attack from this ----Governor! .My wife, Despina, is a member of WAMSUG, Women and Mothers Support Union Group, made up of the women who run the home and raise the family for union men who run around the country trying to make a better life for every working family other than their own. I want to thank her for my success!"

"Most of you are or should be labor ambassadors! Remember, when union members and families win, Californians win and Americans win. This fall, we must beat back the attack on working families by this current governor. I hope to see you all during the campaign for "No" on Prop. #75!"-- Jim Gordon

"Ray Trujillo honors all of us, because he provides a model of what our lives are about." --Bill Camp presenting Ray Trujillo with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ray is currently Northern California Regional Director of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO.

"It's been 43 years since I started working in the foundry, and a couple of years later became an iron worker. I've been an iron worker ever since. I learned early on that to be effective, you have to be active in your community.

I also learned that part of activism is participation in election campaigns, because even if unions negotiate the best contract in the world, they still lose if they don't have the support of every level of government.

The splitting of the AFL-CIO --You may think this is none of your business, but if you work in this country, you're Labor big time. This is not about the old stuff-- the 40 hour work week, unemployement insurance, health benefits, safety regulations.etc. This is about today.

This is about your pension, your salary, and your job that's on the line.

If you think your company can replace you cheaper, you're absolutely right, they can. This administration is pushing jobs overseas as fast as it can. The larger result can be seen in stagnant wages, frozen minimum wages, and corporate gains against Labor on every front. They won't stop.

The Bush administration is in a fight to the death with Labor. They've even intervened to block a California law that says employers can't use taxpayer money to run anti-union campaigns in the work place.

*****

In the future, when I look at this Lifetime Achievement award, I will be reminded that all those years of putting together phone banks, precinct walks, crab feeds, and political rallies was appreciated. I thank you from the bottom of my heart!"-- Ray Trujillo