So good to be here – broad array of industries, representatives from all over the state - you've been at this 23 years.            

A lot of people consider labor-management cooperation an oxymoron—kind of like "jumbo shrimp"… "Legally drunk"… "Boneless ribs."             

Some would add "organized labor."  But I don't think so. I think our relationship is more "symbiotic"—two dissimilar organisms living together interdependently for our mutual benefit.            

Okay—those are the last multi-syllable words I'll use today. But the point remains true. Working people can only succeed if our employers succeed.            

Employers, I guess, can succeed if their workers fail—but not for very long. Businesses need working people to be paid well enough and have enough security to buy products and services -- to be their customers. And even though the employers represented in this room do right by your workers, it takes unions to make sure your competitors will, too.            

Right now, together—workers and employers—are stuck in an economy that's not allowing either to prosper. Many companies are returning to profitability after even tougher times, but are so uncertain about an economic turnaround that they're avoiding new investments and—most critically—new hires.            

Some 15 million working people remain unemployed, with five people vying for every job out there. Add the underemployed and the number hits 26 million.            

Foreclosures are forcing people from their homes, costing them their greatest source of wealth and their access to credit.            

For decades, consumer buying kept our economy alive. But jobless people, people who fear they may be the next layoff, people working part-time because they can't find full-time jobs and people who have lost their homes aren't the customers who will keep America's employers afloat.            

For employers and workers to prosper, we have to get this economy back on its feet. We have to put money back into people's pockets and that means creating jobs. Not just any jobs, but good jobs.            

The AFL-CIO and our member unions have been working hard, in Washington, D.C., and in the states to convince Congress that jobs must be Job 1. We've had some success—most recently the investments in state and local governments to save jobs, and earlier the recovery act—which has saved and created some 3 million jobs and pumped funding into projects that allowed companies to tool up and hire. One example is the loan guarantee that helped Solyndra in Fremont, California, to begin manufacturing cutting-edge solar panels, putting up to 3,000 construction workers on the job and creating 1,000 permanent jobs.            

But we know we need a lot more—more investment in infrastructure, in distressed communities and especially in green technology and new manufacturing opportunities—like the opportunities now at Hemlock Semiconductor here in Clarksville—opportunities that will bring in the jobs of the future and help rebuild America's middle class.            

No matter what side of a bargaining table we normally sit on, I think we can all see the merit in that.            

Making jobs priority #1 also means keeping good jobs here in America. Last year, China invested $34.5 billion in developing low-carbon energy technology—nearly twice America's level of investment. And while we're planning 500 miles of high-speed rail, China has begun construction of 5,000 miles of high speed rail.            

Unless something changes, the next big innovations may well be made at someone else's desk or in someone else's laboratory in a place like China or India.            

None of us can afford that. None of us wants to replace Middle Eastern oil with made-in-China wind turbines and solar panels.              

America's businesses are the best in the world and can compete with anyone in the world—on a level playing field. The same is true of America's working men and women.            

But we don't have a level playing field today.            

It's warped by global trade agreements and practices that make domestic businesses paying decent wages compete with foreign operations paying dollars a day -- agreements that make it easier and more profitable to export jobs rather than the goods we make and the services we provide.            

It's warped by China's currency manipulation and periodic dumping of under-priced materials on our markets.            

Well, that's part of what the labor movement is taking on too—often along with our friends in affected industries.            

Outside the policy sphere—right there at the job site—tough times like these can make labor-management cooperation tougher. Sadly, we've seen some of our most successful models of labor-management partnerships stumble or fail in this recession.            

But tough times also make it more important than ever for labor and management to come together—as we are here—to explore the best paths to shared success.            

Nothing could have been harder than what the U.S. auto industry and its workers have gone through. But today the industry is growing again and workers are going back to work. It has been hard. It has been painful. It still is. But today we have hope.            

We also have hope because of new job-creating projects born when labor and business advocated a shared agenda. The Obama administration will guarantee loans to Southern Company for the construction of two advanced nuclear reactors in Georgia. These will be the first reactors built in the U.S. in 30 years and represent an annual carbon reduction equal to taking 3.5 million cars off the road. They will generate clean energy and create 3,500 badly needed construction jobs not to mention operations & maintenance. Labor was working in lock-step with management to make that happen – and there's nothing politicians love more than when the unions march into their offices together on an issue – nothing more powerful!            

Let's go back further—to the late 1930s, another tough time. That's when Project Labor Agreements originated with the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State. The Tennessee Valley Authority has used Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on its construction projects for nearly 20 years. In the nearly 200 million man hours of work on TVA construction projects using Project Labor Agreements, there have been no formal strikes, no organized work stoppages and injuries have been reduced significantly. PLAs have been used in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to build everything from hospitals to air ports. These days more and more provide access to good construction jobs to all members of the community.              

I began my work life at Portland General Electric in Oregon, and I have seen how a long history of cooperation between labor and management has created a pretty reliable industry despite its complexity.            

As was said, my union is the IBEW—and we have a proud record of labor-management cooperation, -- you've heard of the Code of Excellence -- where members are working to enhance their own performance, productivity and maintain a high quality of work -- and we have a large and growing focus on training the next generation of highly skilled workers because we know the need that's coming with our aging workforce.            

That focus on workforce development is key. And it's one of the most important aspects of joint labor-management efforts.            

In the industry I come from (the electric utility industry), we've been hearing and talking a lot about how the skilled workforce is aging. We run a huge risk of losing all that experience and knowledge unless we act now. Thirty to 40 percent of electric power workers are expected to be eligible for retirement or leave the industry in the next two years.  The IBEW, the Utility Workers Union, and employers and industry members joined together and negotiated agreements to form regional training trusts.  This enables them to share the benefits and training costs of apprenticeship programs to create the skilled workforce of the future. These labor-management partnerships, like the ones in the construction industry, are needed now more than ever.            

For far too long the United States has ignored a basic fact: Not everyone will come out of their 20s with a college degree or two. And in today's economy, which has hurt young workers particularly hard, even a respected college degree doesn't assure a foothold in the job market.            

Today's young workers are more than 80 million strong -- they are one of the most diverse and largest generations in our nation's history. They are energetic, talented—and unemployed. More than twice as likely to be unemployed as older workers, in fact. Unemployment overall is at 9.5% - but for young workers between 16-35 it's up to 26%.            

The AFL-CIO surveyed young workers last year and we found that among the under-35s, less than a third make enough money to pay the bills and put some away.  More than a third worry about finding a full-time job with benefits.  They are far less likely than older workers to have health care coverage or a retirement plan.  And more than a third still live at home with their parents because they can't afford to make it on their own.            

The working world always functioned like an escalator – workers got on that bottom step and worked their way up, gaining more experience and better pay, and eventually stepped off at the top – retirement – making room for new workers to step on at the lower level – it proceeded smoothly. Now, that's not the case – those near the top are losing jobs and going backwards or stepped off and lost their retirement, so they're stepping back on, jamming it up at every level! Young workers can't compete.            

The AFL-CIO is in the midst of a young worker outreach program like never before – we are calling it "Next Up" – and we just released a report from our first ever young worker summit – over 400 young workers in talk about how the labor movement can be more relevant/appealing to young people.            

The labor movement has an unparalleled capacity to help them and to help our industries with workforce training. Many of the skills required for the new, green economy are the skills already provided through our apprenticeship system.  All told, the labor movement has 1,100 training centers around the country that deliver highly skilled construction workers for building green and rebuilding more efficiently. A lot of people don't realize that many of these programs, including those at the AFL-CIO's own National Labor College, provide college credits for industry training as well as vocational credentials.            

Someone was telling me recently about the Operating Engineers' apprenticeship training—that at the end of it, participants take part in a "Heavy Equipment Rodeo." They climb up in the saddle of what they consider "small" cranes, lift a massive block of concrete and use it to roll an egg—unbroken—along the pavement.            

That sounded pretty impressive to me. But it's just one small example of the skills young people acquire in our world-class, joint labor-management apprenticeship programs.            

If together we can make that happen, we can do a lot, a lot more, don't you think?            

You all are not new at this—you're the experts in the field of labor-management collaboration. There's not much more I can add to what you already know.  But I hope you will leave here remembering these three things:            

First, the young people we are training in our joint apprenticeship programs today are likely the first generation in recent U.S. history to be worse off economically than their parents. They need us. And they need us together.            

Second—the U.S. economy was barely rescued from the precipice of a second Great Depression—and we're not out of the woods yet. Until we're creating jobs at a rapid enough pace to make up for the 10-plus million jobs hole we're in—until we put America back to work—our economy will not be out of the woods. And we can only make that happen together.            

And third, although unions and management throughout history have been friendly adversaries—some more friendly than others—we in labor know as well as those of you in business that neither of us can make it without the other.            

One of the problems that we've had over the last decade, is that often the business community sees labor as the problem, instead of a partner – unions are perceived more as an obstacle to "get around" instead of a source for problem solving.            

I think we in the labor movement have a lot of work to do to improve our reputation and build on the good work being done in partnerships – show employers and the public that we can be an ally – and when we work together – we can compete against anybody – we can knock down trade barriers in other countries and start selling products again around the world!!            

We have the best workers in the world; we have the best universities in the world; we have the most advanced free markets in the world; and all of those things give us a big competitive advantage, if we are all working together.            

So, where we disagree, let's do it with respect. Where we agree, let's work with everything we have in us to create mutual success, mutual prosperity and mutual progress.            

Thank you very much, and I look forward to working with all of you in the future—and for the future.