And so over the course of the last couple of months we have traveled all over the country from orlando, florida, from san francisco, to seattle, boston, new york, my hometown of chicago, virginia. We have talked to workers and Business Leaders and Union Leaders and academics and deans and stakeholders from around the country all helping us figure out what we do to change that paradigm and reflected in this room and watching us online are all of you who have contributed to the agenda for today and also the announcements that we will be making. So thank you very much. We have ln listened to your stories. Since i have the podium, im going to tell you mine. I remember very vividly, i wont tell you exactly how many years ago. Well, maybe i will. 28 years ago and some change i was sitting around a Conference Room table at 2 a. M. 8 1 2 months pregnant. I kept trying to slip my swollen feet up on to a chair where nobody would notice, and for the women in the audience who have been pregnant, you will know that i couldnt actually sit there for more than about half an hour without getting up and taking a little departure but i was too embarrassed to tell everybody i had to go to the bathroom. I needed to get some papers. I needed to make a phone call. I needed to do this, i needed to do that. I needed to pee. And i felt like i was alone and i was in a room full of men and i didnt think anybody there was going through what i was going through so one of our big messages today is that you are not alone. Thats another thing that today is all about. Fast forward a few years later in a different job and my daughter is a toddler. I had a client who was extremely demanding. I loved my client. She was one of my first mentors but i needed to get home because i would wake up in the morning trying to figure out, how could i get home by bedtime. You know what thats like. I told her, i love to cook. Why dont you come over to my house for dinner and i will make dinner. I dont actually love to cook. She would come over every night and i would make dinner and i would get a chance to say good night to my daughter. Im not so sure she thought i liked to cook but she liked my meals and she was willing to accommodate my schedule so i could be home for bedtime. Terrific mentor and a great client. My final story is one that i have told very, very often. This is about employers who get it. I was sitting in a conference, room working for mayor daily, a little intimidating character for those of you who have ever met him. I had just been promoted and it was one of my first meetings in his office. I was sitting across from susan sure. She was the first ladys chief of staff. We kept looking at each other and finally the mayor realized that we werent paying any attention. He says, where is it that you need to go thats more important than here . So in a moment of complete, i dont know, horror, terror, truth, i said to him, the halloween parade starts in 20 minutes and we are 25 minutes away. And he said, and this is really important, then what are you doing here . And i am telling you, from that moment he had my loyalty, he had my work. I worked twice as hard. I was determined to be worthy of that. [ applause ] so as we have heard from all of you, what we have heard is hard working folks who are trying to make ends meet, we need to raise the minimum wage. Point number one. We have heard Everybody Needs to get to go to the halloween parade, so Workplace Flexibility is important. Paid leave is important. Were one of the only countries that doesnt have paid leave child care is important. For a while now weve talked about the glass ceiling, but you know what, it is that sticky floor that is the problem for so many minimum wage workers who cant get that break to get ahead. These are the issues weve heard from you. If you are that single mom who sends your kid to school with a little bit of a fever because you dont have any child care, ive done that, if you are that dad who would love to stay home with your children and your company has a policy that allows you to stay home but nobody in the culture of your Company Takes advantage of that policy, if you are a parent who never has been able to attend a Parent TeacherConference Let alone a concert or a play in your school because your employer has rigid hours, if you are a company who wants to do the right things by your employees but simply doesnt know what to do, well let me tell you something, youre in the alone and this day is for all of you. [ applause ] so we are excited to be here. Were going to learn. Were going to have announcements to make. Were going to have a conversation with one another, but the most important thing i want you to remember is that this day is an important moment, but its not just a moment, its a movement. Its a movement and we are Going Forward from this day forward. So with that, i want you to welcome my partner in this with whom without whom this conference would simply not have been possible, who is an advocate for workers around the country each and every single day. Please join me in welcoming secretary tom perez. Thank you. [ applause ] morning all right. Good morning. You know, on cue valerie announced that this was a movement and general rosa delora walks in and takes her seat. Did you notice that, yall . Hello, general. Great to see you. Its an honor to be here, and i want to say thank you to valerie, to tina, to our partners in the white house, to our remarkable partners at the center for American Progress, nira and her wonderful team. I must take a moment to thank our wonderful people in the womens bureau. Latifa doing great work around here. You know, these regional summits have been remarkably productive and instructive, and heres what weve learned. Weve learned two things from these regional summits because weve been asking people the following things. Whats keeping you up at night . What are your biggest sources as a working family, as a single parent, what are your biggest sources of fear and concern . And the first thing we hear is that im working harder and falling further behind. What keeps me up at night is my second job because i cant afford to make ends meet. What keeps me up at night is the sense that i want to put food on the table but i also want to be home to eat at the table with my family because the most important family value is time spent with your family. And i dont enjoy that luxury. I dont enjoy that luxury because the minimum wage has decreased in value 20 from where it was 30 years ago. I dont enjoy that luxury because my wages have been flat even though im working 50, 60 hours a week. I dont want to be on food stamps, im told, were told with regularity, but i cant afford not to be on food stamps. And that is why the president is so he focused on equal wages. Making sure that nobody in this country who works a fulltime job should have to live in poverty. [ applause ] and that is why in addition to fighting for harkin miller, the president is using his pen and his phone to make sure we use every regulatory tool in our arsenal to help working families. For instance, the president helped to make sure that 2 Million Home Health workers have access to minimum wage and overtime protections. As you know, 90 women, 50 people of color, 40 to 45 on some form of public assistance. These people are doing gods work and they deserve a fair wage and overtime benefits. And so well continue to fight for wage fairness because weve heard that throughout our six visits to the various regional summits, but weve also heard something else, which is we need to make sure, as valerie correctly pointed out, that we have the flexibility we need to make sure that i can go take my kid to the doctor. I can take my mother or my father to the doctor. You know, we have such a changing universe here. You see, the nature of the family has changed. The nature of work has changed. Were living in that modern Family Society but were still stuck with leave it to beaver rules. Thats the world were living in, and weve got to change that. And you know [ applause ] you know, too many people, as valerie correctly points out, have to choose between the job that they need and the family that they love. Thats a choice that no one should have to make. Ive heard nira say with great remarkable passion that, you know, you shouldnt have to win the boss lottery to be able to take two hours off to take your kid to the doctor. President clinton did a great thing when he passed the family and medical leave act, but for millions of americans who are either not covered by the family and medical leave act or who are nominally covered but in fact are not covered because they simply cant afford to take that time off, we need the next frontier of workplace fairness. We need the next frontier of flexibility. We need to make sure that we are avenue no longer of the company of three or four nations on the planet who are the only nations on the planet who dont have some form of paid leave. Thats not who we are as a nation. [ applause ] thats why were fighting for this. Thats why weve been working so hard. Thats why the president continues to support grant year after year of state paid leave fund, because states are demonstrating that you can do this. Employers are demonstrating that you can do this and its the right thing to do and its the smart thing to do. Employers who pay a minimum wage, employers who pay above a minimum wage, employers who have flexible leave policies, they are creating a competitive disadvantage a competitive advantage for themselves and for their shareholders, and thats why were fighting to do this. Thats why im so proud to announce today that were investing in critical new research to understand the benefits of paid leave and that d. O. L. Will be investing in new grants to support the creation of state paid leave programs. [ applause ] by the way, speaking of the fmla, we believe that all families deserve its protections, and thats why we have proposed new rule changes just last week to realize the promise of windsor and to give all our lgbt brothers and sisters in legal samesex marriages the same rights that every family has. [ applause ] you know, im a labor lawyer and im a civil rights lawyer. You know what, as valerie said, progress does not roll in on wheels of inevitability. It takes everybody in this room, in this nation, it Takes Coalition building. Civil rights act of 1964 were celebrating the 50 year anniversary. That was first introduced in 1948. This workplace visibility, the fmla, we need to take the next tier. We have a president who is committed to that. We have partners who are committed to that. I am confident that we will, indeed, build this movement because we have generals like rosa delora, valerie jarrett, we have the general in chief, barack obama and joe biden and everybody else and we have my partner right here, the nonprofit leaders, the president for the center for American Progress and my friend nir nira tandin. Nira. That was great. So, i have to say, what great partners. We should be able to make a lot of change with this team, and i want to say on behalf of the center for American Progress, weve been really thrilled to have a fantastic partnership over months and months and months leading up to the conference with valerie at the white house and the entire White House Team and the department of labor, which has had a fantastic team. Valer valeries absolutely right. We all have stories, every one in this room and the people you represent, thousands upon thousands of people have a story. I have my own story, which is that, you know, when i had two young children, i had a son who was a year and a half, daughter was 4 1 2. It took a very high pressured job with a lot of time commitments to the job, and i had but i had a boss at that time who saw that i was struggling a little bit and she rescheduled meetings around me, made sure she changed her schedule so i could have my responsibilities both as a parent and as a worker. She changed around the entire work culture to accommodate parents. And as secretary perez said, i really felt like i won the boss lottery, but thats a real problem in this country. You shouldnt have to win the boss lottery. We should all have work situations where people recognize that when we are good workers and good parents, thats where the bottom line is and thats why [ applause ] and thats so much of what today is about and the white house has a fantastic report out today making the case for how improving our working conditions for families is set for the bottom line. We have fantastic partners from around the country, most importantly we have women, parents here today who are struggling with the challenges of making those terrible choices. When weve heard these voices in our in the events leading up to today, weve heard from parents who had to put Sick Children on a bus because it was that or making their rent. Weve heard parents struggling with the decisions about going to work when they know they should be home. Parents talking about how theyve anxiously waited until 5 00 and then dashed home because they knew their child didnt have child care. And thats whats motivated today. Again, today is not just about changing this conversation, its ultimately about changing the country. And were going to do that with everyone here. [ applause ] everyone here staying committed. We have fantastic academics, advocates, people and Business Leaders who recognize how critical it is to have the workplace rules that will help them compete in the 21st century. I want to say a few things to a few of our partners who have helped support putting this conference together. Connie millstein foundation, the ford foundation, the Lloyd Gardner foundation, bright horizons, nekc, all of these people are leaders. [ applause ] all of these people are leaders who bring together diverse viewpoints and ensure that we can make change. We have to learn from these models. Well have a great day today. Today is just the beginning. Were going to have to roll up our sleeves to make change at the local, state, and ultimately federal level to improve the quality life for all our families and ult mittly for our economy. So its my great honor and privilege to introduce joe biden and Vice President biden and jill biden because these are key people who work every day to improve working families and who we are so thrilled to help start out the conference. [ applause ] good morning, everyone. Good morning. I think i need some of what tom perez is drinking. He really had some energy, didnt he . Its wonderful to welcome you all here to this important discussion and thank you, nira, for that kind introduction. Everyone here knows the challenges facing working families. I, myself, can vividly recall teaching full time, getting a masters degree, and raising three young children. Even though i had a lot of support and resources, it was still a lot at once. And those kinds of challenges have only increased for todays working family. Today in 3 4 of families all parents work, whether its a single parent family or both parents working. Women are nearly half of our work force but too many women still men and often face advancement barriers. And on top of an already complicated child care schedule and community obligations, many working families are also caregivers foraging parents. More and more Companies Know that they need to find ways to address those challenges so that they can attract and retain talent. They also know that People Choose one job over another because it is in the best interest of their families. Last month i was in seattle for a discussion with Business Leaders and employees to hear more about some of the creative ways that they are addressing these challenges and attracting and retaining top talent. What i heard there was pretty simple. Employers need to take more than just the eight hours a day an employee is sitting at his or her job. They should also think about the stresses that employers that employees face outside of work, child care, aging parents, long commutes. If an employer can find creative ways to ease some of those stresses, employees can be more productive with the time that they are at work. What i heard also from employees was very clear. When they felt that their workplaces valued and appreciated them, they were upbeat and enthusiastic about their jobs. They were committed to their employers and they saw that their job was not just the place that they went to work for eight hours a day but a place that they were invested in the companys mission. One of the companies that the discussion was moes. A Software Company that works hard to create a flexible structure. Jamie, a project manager at moes told us that her days were filled with organizing meetings and making sure her team is getting everything done. But because of moes no meetings friday policy, she was able to enroll her twins into four a fourday kindergarten next year and start friday fun days this summer. Not only is jamie getting to spend time with her kids, she also has peace of mind that every monday she wont have to catch up on a days worth of missed meetings. R. E. I. Was another company that participated in the discussion. They allow for flexible commuting so employees can go in earlier and miss rush hour. Im sure thats something everybody here can relate to coming into washington. As an outdoors company, they also want their Workplace Culture to encourage employees to live healthy lives. What they referred to as nature nurture. So they encourage employees to get outside, go for a hike, and engage in activities that they enjoy outdoors. Pretty nice, huh . The participants also discussed other ways to address many of the challenges every working family faces offering on site day care, providing a set amount of paid leave and connecting workers with elder care programs. Underscoring all of these policies was another theme. Employers should trust employees and trust that these Solutions Make workers happier and more productive. Its important that businesses adopt policies that recognize that life is rarely simple and that the American Family has changed. When we think of caregivers, we also think of a mother caring for her child. That image does not reflect todays reality, particular