Friend,

Happy Labor Day!

Today we honor the U.S. labor movement and workers across the country, who’ve fought over so many years for our rights.

Recently, I had the pleasure of joining Bernie Sanders and two incredible progressives who will soon join me in the U.S. House of Representatives: Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman.

When sharing our personal backgrounds, Cori, Jamaal, and I all spoke about how growing up in union households shaped our lives and informed our politics.  

I explained that the first time my dad really felt human dignity was when he joined the UAW (United Auto Workers). As a union member, my father felt new power as he realized that he deserved fair wages and health coverage. We all deserve that. Jamaal was raised by his mom, who was a member of the Postal Workers Union his entire life. And Cori’s dad was a union meat-cutter, so she grew up in a union family, too.

Want to hear more from our conversation? Check out the video here.

Those of us with lived experiences in working families truly understand the importance of unions and workers’ rights, which is why it’s important for folks like us to serve in office.

Thanks to your grassroots support, we’re building better representation in government. Our squad is getting bigger, and together, we’re going to keep fighting the unjust status quo and showing people what they deserve from their elected officials.

With each election, there are more of us in government who will fight for (rather than sell out) our neighbors—because we have the shared experience of growing up in working families. We care about people’s well-being and prioritize fighting for everyday people because that’s who we are, too.

I will never forget where I come from. And I bring those experiences with me to Congress every day.

Those experiences shape our priorities, including taking on corporate greed.

Cori shared in our conversation that her district is fighting against privatizing the St. Louis airport. As she said:

“People who look like me in our district, a lot of us work in the public sector. When you privatize that, then we lose unions, now we have to work for lower wages, we miss out on healthcare—that changes and breaks down families in our communities. While [at the same time] there are people who get to benefit and profit off it… which just widens the disparities that we already have.”

So true! Here in Michigan’s 13th district we’ve been fighting privatization, too, and we’ve seen how it comes at the expense of our public schools and union jobs.

We know how to stand up to corporate bullies. We just need more political power to win.

And thanks to your grassroots support, we’re building that power.

For Labor Day, let’s honor and recognize the work that’s come before us—and let’s get inspired by one another as we build the country that we all deserve.

Please feel free to check out and share the conversation with me, Cori, Jamaal, and Bernie, and celebrate our growing power!

In solidarity,

Rashida