Full Obama speech, part 1

http://http://vimeo.com/36864910

Full Obama speech, part 2

In President Barack Obama’s first trip to Wisconsin following the pro-union protests that erupted last spring, he highlighted his belief in the importance of unionization and bringing jobs back to Wisconsin during a visit to a Milwaukee factory.

Obama greeted employees at Master Lock’s factory Wednesday, delivering his address in front of production crates stamped with “Made in America.”

The president said the company’s recent success is an example of high potential when unions and companies proactively work together.

“It makes more sense for Master Lock to bring jobs back home to Milwaukee. And today, for the first time in 15 years, this plant is at full capacity,” Obama said. “And that’s an example of what happens when unions and employers work together.”

Obama said Master Lock serves as an example for the rest of the country because of its recent effort to insource production and maintain local jobs. He said the increase in outsourcing has made numerous jobs in Milwaukee obsolete.

“So the result has been a pretty painful process for a lot of families and a lot of you,” Obama said. “Too many factories where people thought they would retire suddenly left town; too many jobs … got shipped overseas. And the hard truth now is a lot of those jobs are not going to come back.”

Still, Obama used his speech as motivation for American companies to fight back and place U.S. manufacturing on a competitive level by creating new jobs and restoring middle class prosperity.

To create an incentive for American manufacturers to pony up the difference in cost between production in the U.S. and elsewhere, Obama said he is working to ensure community colleges and universities provide Americans the necessary training prior to being hired by a company. He said this would take the burden off the companies to have to provide additional resources to hire American workers.

Obama said factories should want to bet on the country with the “best colleges and universities” to train workers with needed skills.

“Our job as a nation is to do everything we can to make the decision to insource more attractive for more companies – that’s our top priority,” he said. “We have to seize this moment of opportunity; we have an opportunity to create new American jobs and put American manufacturing back where it needs to be.”

While Obama said he chose to stop off at Master Lock because he wanted to applaud the company for aligning its goals with his, Brad Courtney, Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman, said the trip was only a re-election campaign stop with little real purpose.

“President Obama brought his roadshow to Milwaukee today, in what was ultimately nothing more than a taxpayer-funded campaign stop in quest for re-election,” Courtney said in a statement. “Sadly, the President’s remarks were simply more of the same empty promises we’ve come to expect from the campaigner-in-chief.”

Walker, who greeted Obama at the Air Force One landing, did not accompany the president to Master Lock, citing a stomach illness. During the president’s arrival, Walker presented Obama with a personal Milwaukee Brewers jersey with “Obama 1” on the back.

Walker said in a statement he has worked closely with other companies in the state to bring back jobs to Wisconsin.