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Dodd Highlights Health Care, Employee Free Choice Act |
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| Christopher Dodd |
Yesterday afternoon, we launched the first in a series of presidential town hall forums in which union members get a chance to hear directly from 2008 candidates and have an opportunity for one-on-one questions. Sen. Chris Dodd took part in this first AFL-CIO Working Families Vote forum in Sacramento, Calif., and Anastasia Ordonez, communications director for the California Labor Federation, give us highlights from the event.
More than 100 working people joined Dodd in Sacramento, where the Connecticut senator pledged to work for universal health care and passage of stronger laws to ensure employee freedom to form unions. Dodd made the point about health care this way:
Nobody in this country should be excluded from health care. I advocate expanding Medicare to cover 9 million uninsured children. That would make a huge difference.
Dodd also took on another critical issue for working families: retirement security.
People deserve to enjoy their retirement years with dignity and respect. Pension reform is absolutely critical. I know the difference between a pension fund and a slush fund.
Several workers shared personal stories with Sen. Dodd during the forum, highlighting the need for health care reform, the protection of retiree benefits and new laws protecting workers’ right to organize unions and bargain collectively.
Cesario Aguirre, a worker at Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento, said that he and his fellow employees at Blue Diamond have been repeatedly harassed and intimidated by the company during their five-year effort to join the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. He asked Dodd what he would do to restore workers’ freedom to choose a union without interference from management. Dodd replied:
I’m a strong supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act. When the Employee Free Choice Acts wins in the Senate and the Senate passes it into law, I will be the first President to sign it into law.
The Employee Free Choice Act, which passed the House in March and is now in the Senate as S. 1041, would level the playing field for workers seeking to form unions. Dodd, who has a 91 percent lifetime voting record in favor of working families, according to the AFL-CIO Congressional Voting Record, said:
For a quarter of a century, I have been there for workers and have protected workers’ rights. You’ve had my back, and I’m going to have yours.
In response to a question about America’s involvement in Iraq, Dodd said, “In a year, the U.S. military should be gone.” He also emphasized that everyone should thank the men and the women in the service regardless of their feelings on the war.
Sacramento Central Labor Council Executive Secretary Bill Camp, who moderated the town hall meeting, said it provided union members and their families an opportunity to raise issues important to working people throughout the country.
What we saw today wasn’t a stump speech. Working families in Sacramento got the chance to have a real dialogue with a candidate for President who heard firsthand our concerns about making America stronger for the working people who built this country to be what it is today.
The AFL-CIO, which has not endorsed any candidate for president, is holding these town hall forums as part of an intensive six-month program to engage union members and their families nationwide in the AFL-CIO’s presidential endorsement decision-making process. Find out more about all the candidates, and get easy access to video clips, polling, the latest political news from blogs around the country and more at the new AFL-CIO Working Families Vote 2008 website.
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