Sen. Brown talked about the dignity of work and thanked OCSEA union members for their service that makes Ohio happen. "When you love this country, you fight for those who make it work!" said Sen. Brown. "We know the fights we have to fight...And that starts with staffing the front lines!" he said.

He also is fighting to pass the Protecting the Right to Organizing (PRO) Act and is the sponsor of the Social Security Fairness Act that would repeal the Social Security Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that currently takes away retirement earnings from hard-working state public employees.

Sen. Brown also thanked union activists for their role in voting NO on Issue 1 to protect Ohio democracy. He said it was because of labor that Ohio's democratic process has been protected, which is especially important to protect public union members from harmful Right to Work attacks at the polls. "Right To Work would have been on the ballot next year, for sure, if we didn't stop Issue 1, if labor didn't stop it," he declared. 

The senator read from Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle," he reminded members about fighting for worker, voting and human rights. He reminded delegates of AFSCME's amazing labor history, which is so heavily intertwined with fights for civil rights and economic justice. That is on display this week as we celebrate 60 years since MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedoms.