Trumka: Jobs, shared prosperity vital

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 5 (UPI) -- America needs good jobs and shared prosperity if it is going to rebuild the middle class, union leader Rich Trumka told the Democratic National Convention.

"You see, my friends, our country has a big job to do. We have to rebuild the middle class together," the president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations told Democrats gathered in Charlotte N.C., Wednesday. "Our economy works best when it works for everyone, not just the select few. And our history teaches us that shared prosperity is the only kind that lasts and we will have that under Barack Obama."

Workers across the United States deserve the right to organize and bargain collectively, Trumka said. The Democratic Party platform makes it "crystal clear" Obama and the party "will fight to protect and strengthen this fundamental human right."

Trumka told the audience presidential nominee Mitt Romney said last week at the Republican National Convention in Florida "he and his friends built America without any help from the rest of us."

"Well, let me tell you, Mitt Romney doesn't know a thing about hard work or responsibility," the union leader said.

"We're the ones who built America," Trumka said of workers. "We're the ones who build it every single day because it's our work that connects us."

The country faces a choice in November "between division and decline [and] unity and growth," Trumka said.