Union Families Meet with Presidential Candidate Dodd

Sen. Chris Dodd responds to a worker’s question during the first in a series of AFL-CIO presidential forums.

Anastasia Ordonez, communications director of the California Labor Federation, sent this dispatch on yesterday’s town hall meeting in Sacramento with 2008 presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd.

Close to 100 union members came together yesterday at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 17 union hall in West Sacramento, Calif., to meet with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) during the first of the AFL-CIO’s Working Families Vote national town hall forums. Bill Camp, head of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, welcomed the union members and their families who came to hear this presidential candidate’s positions on key issues such as health care and retirement security.

Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, introduced Dodd and commended the senator’s long-term efforts to protect U.S. jobs and advocate for health care reform. And this is where the formalities ended.

After the short introductions, Dodd opened his remarks with a few words in Spanish: “En las palabras de César Chávez, Sí, Se Puede!” (In the words of César Chávez, Yes, We Can!) Sounds of pleasant surprise erupted from the audience. It’s no secret the senator is a fluent Spanish speaker, but the surprise is that this Connecticut Yankee appears comfortable enough to joke around in Spanish with native speakers. Indeed, the senator’s ease with union members set the tone for the rest of the afternoon’s event. Alternating between a fast-talking and passionate style, the seasoned senator covered a range of issues during the Q&A with local union members.

Maria Gomez, a laundry worker at the Sacramento Hilton for 21 years, explained to Dodd that she had only received health care coverage through her employer five years ago thanks to a strong union contract and was grateful for when she had to undergo open-heart surgery recently. She asked Dodd what he would do, if elected president, to ensure that millions of uninsured Americans have affordable health care. “Nobody in this country should be excluded from health care,” responded Dodd, and he proposed to expand Medicare to cover 9 million uninsured children nationwide as a first step toward winning guaranteed, affordable coverage for all.

When Cesario Aguirre, a local worker who said he was harassed for wanting to join a union, asked Dodd what he would do to protect workers’ rights, Dodd pledged that he would start by appointing pro-union people to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). That won him a loud round of applause. Dodd then pledged to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, saying, “There is a direct connection between the decline of union membership and the growing gap between the rich and poor in this country.”

Dodd also won applause when he said the United States needs to get out of Iraq within one year and when he charged credit card companies with “thievery” for raising interest rates that contribute to a vicious cycle of debt and poverty in America. He gave equally strong answers to questions about retirement security and education, saying he wanted to guarantee both for future generations.

So where did Dodd stumble? During a short exchange with local press, he said he would prefer not to interfere with tribal sovereignty when he was asked about his position on the gaming compacts with California’s American Indian tribes. These agreements between the state and casino-owning tribes do not currently provide worker protections, and the tribes have waged a fierce battle with workers who want the freedom to join a union.

Perhaps he was being deferential to the rather powerful tribes in his home state that own and operate several multibillion-dollar casinos, but Dodd did not seem to understand that workers in tribal casinos lack the basic protections that all workers are due. This is a hot-button issue for California’s working families and one that can’t be glossed over.

In short, we had a good visit with Dodd. He established himself as a smart, earnest man who deserves a chance to be heard in a race with several celebrity (i.e., much louder) candidates. There is still a long way to go before the heat of 2008, but Dodd appears ready.         

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