Ed Schultz, Rev. William Barber: Together, We Will Win!

Convention delegates were inspired by rousing speeches from two great supporters of working people.

Ed Schultz, host of The Ed Show on MSNBC addressed the delegates on day 4 of the National Convention.

Schultz first became associated with the APWU when he attended the 2011 APWU National Postal Press Association Conference. At that meeting he pledged his continued support for postal workers. “We have to tell your story, over and over again,” he said. True to his word, over the past three years, he has repeatedly reported on postal worker issues; especially the manufactured postal service financial crisis and most recently the Stop Staples Campaign. 

In his remarks to delegates, Schultz focused on what he called the attack on workers.

“The postal service is being attacked unfairly,” he said, while promising to do everything he can to help save the postal service.

Schultz said he believes that working together people can force change. “They can’t beat us collectively,” he said. “If we stick together, fight hard and stay focused, we can’t lose.”

Reverend William Barber, a leader of the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina told delegates that the time is right for a new coalition in America.

In an impassioned speech, Reverend Barber echoed APWU President Mark Dimondstein’s call for a Grand Alliance.

Reverend Barber said our country is in the middle of a moral crisis, and that low-wage workers are longing for justice.

“How do we come together to deal with this crisis,” he asked. “Labor and civil rights are one and the same. 

All of us have to fight together.”

To a convention room full of cheers and standing ovations, Reveverend Barber pleaded with delegates to work together.

The convention delegates responded to Reverend Barber’s plea by adopting a resolution in support of the Forward Together Moral Monday Movement.

Moral Monday, a broad coalition of activists under the leadership of Reverend Barber, began protests in 2013. 

Activists meet at the state capitol to protest actions of the North Carolina state legislature by engaging in civil disobedience.

Forward Together Moral Monday has shown that coalitions of citizens uniting peacefully around common issues and goals can capture the imagination of the whole nation.

“When we all get together – labor and civil rights - when we all get together,” he said, “What a day! What a day! What a day it will be!”