**Remarks as Prepared for Delivery**
CHICAGO, IL – Today, Governor JB Pritzker delivered remarks at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Legislative-Political Conference. The CWA is the largest communications and media labor union in the country, in addition to representing workers in passenger service, manufacturing, and government.
During his speech, Gov. Pritzker discussed the importance of organized labor and how he’s working with union leaders to stand up for the needs of working people at a time when Washington is putting corporate interests ahead of working families.
“And now, as artificial intelligence is bringing a time of massive technological change and uncertainty, I am working to make sure that those changes don’t come at the expense of our workers, and once again union leaders and union members are at my side,” said Gov. Pritzker. “Because you and I know that when workers have a seat at the table, it’s good for America. That’s been the Illinois story. And working together, we will make sure that it is the American story.”
Gov. Pritzker’s remarks were as follows:
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
GOVERNOR JB PRITZKER’S CWA REMARKS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2026
Thank you, Linda, for that kind introduction and for the remarkable work you do for all your members across the Midwest, especially in my home state of Illinois. Together with CWA President Claude Cummings and Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam, CWA is making life better for working families across the nation.
To all the leaders in this room today, your fight to put the needs of working families ahead of the greed of the corporate elites in the Trump administration is growing your membership and electing new leaders across this country who are going to put the needs of working people first.
The work you do as communication workers is critical. You connect people. Telecommunications workers, flight attendants, social workers, journalists, and so many other CWA members spend a lot of your days working with people, face to face, helping make their lives better.
You offer reassurance on stressful travel days… thoughtful answers to people who need help… accurate information when the facts matter.
You’re great at what you do because of your patience, your instincts, and your humanity. There is no AI algorithm that can replace that.
Your members have been on the frontlines standing up to the most corrupt and brutal administration in history. I’ve seen it up close in my home state of Illinois. When Trump sent his goons into Chicago, journalists represented by CWA were there on the ground, putting themselves at risk – documenting the brutality, ensuring that Kristi Noem and Tom Homan and Stephen Miller couldn’t lie about what was truly happening on our streets. Your members were there as bona fide reporters wearing press credentials, simply doing their jobs of reporting and recording history, yet ICE agents pelted them with pepper balls and rubber bullets and sprayed them with tear gas.
Your members took Trump and his goons to court, and you won.
And that’s not the only fight CWA has won in Illinois. Thanks in part to our work together and the relentless advocacy of CWA members, Illinois has become the first state in the nation to enshrine into our state constitution the worker’s right to organize and join a union.
Now I want to tell you why we are succeeding.
Because labor has always had a seat at the table in my administration – and it always will. Over my two terms as governor, as I have focused on how to lift up working families and put their needs ahead of the corporations and the narcissists, your workers and your leaders have been at the table with me every step of the way.
When we raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour and gave paid leave to every worker in Illinois, you were there.
When we put more money in the pockets of workers with the state’s first Child Tax Credit and expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, you were there.
As we passed nation-leading energy and infrastructure laws and expanded high-speed internet to parts of our state that were left behind for too long – you were there.
As we fight for the constitutional rights of working families under attack by the Trump administration, you are there.
And now, as artificial intelligence is bringing a time of massive technological change and uncertainty, I am working to make sure that those changes don’t come at the expense of our workers, and once again union leaders and union members are at my side.
Because you and I know that when workers have a seat at the table, it’s good for America. That’s been the Illinois story. And working together, we will make sure that it is the American story.
But it’s going to take all of us. Because I don’t have to tell you, Trump and MAGA are failing our workers right now.
The Trump and Vance administration have sent costs skyrocketing and empowered wealthy corporations to treat your members like garbage.
And where have MAGA Republicans in Congress been? Acting like lap dogs – letting the White House trample your rights by day and then rubbing elbows with Elon Musk and David Ellison at cocktail parties by night.
If you ask me, it’s time for Republicans in Washington to cut the bullshit – stop lying down on the job, and start standing up for workers. And if they want to prove that they stand with workers and not corporate overlords, they can start by doing what we did in Illinois — enshrine the right to join a union into the Constitution of the United States.
They can reverse the Medicaid and ACA cuts that sent everyone’s insurance rates through the roof, and give everyone the healthcare they need.
They can stop attacking reporters and stop trampling on the First Amendment and freedom of the press.
And for God’s sake, they need to get dark money out of politics and stop putting corporate interests ahead of working families.
Because this nation cannot get ahead while leaving workers behind.
We are at a moment when it feels like the social contract between workers and their employers is up for renegotiation. And it’s time that workers got to write the next draft of our contract.
As the wealth of technological advancement comes to our country, it needs to end up not in the hands of the oligarchs but in the bank accounts of America’s working families.
That’s the future I am fighting for in Illinois – and that’s the future we need for this country.
CWA, thank you for your advocacy, your determination, and your dedication to fighting for workers. I am so proud to be your partner in that fight.
###
CONTACT: press@jbpritzkercampaign.com