I’m here to talk about one of the most important issues to any union leader and any working-class person, any US senator, and any human being: our time.

As president of the United Auto Workers, I represent four hundred thousand working-class people and six hundred thousand retirees. I know when my members look back on their lives, they never say, “I wish I would have worked more.” When people reach the end of their lives, they never say, “I wish I made more money.” What they wish for is they wish they had more time.

That’s what work does. We are paid for our time, and when we work, we are sacrificing time with other people, with family and friends, and time for other things we wish to do. But time, just like every precious resource in our society, is not freely given to the working class.