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John Edwards Meets with Union Family Members in Seattle
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| John Edwards |
David Groves, communications director for the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC), sends us this report from Seattle, where John Edwards met with nearly 1,000 union members in the second AFL-CIO town hall forum with 2008 presidential candidates.
“If we want to build the middle class in this country… it is absolutely crucial that we make it easier, not harder, to organize unions in the workplace.”
That was the message presidential candidate John Edwards delivered to union members who gathered Tuesday at the International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 751 Hall in Seattle.
The event was the second of the AFL-CIO’s Working Families Vote 2008 national town hall forums. Dozens of AFL-CIO unions were represented in the packed house, many members proudly wearing union T-shirts and creating a patchwork of colors in the audience.
Dave Freiboth, head of the host Martin Luther King County Labor Council, welcomed union members to the event, and Rick Bender, WSLC president, introduced Edwards as a man who “brought a positive message of change” to the 2004 campaign as Sen. John Kerry’s running mate.
Before taking questions, Edwards noted that today marked a sad anniversary.
Four years ago today, George Bush flew onto an aircraft carrier and declared: “Mission accomplished.” Not quite. The Congress was given a mission this past November, and that mission has not yet been finished, either. And that mission is to end this war in Iraq.
Edwards urged Congress to stand strong in the face of Bush’s veto of the Iraq withdrawal timetable and to demand it again repeatedly. “It’s the president of the United States who’s defying the will of the people,” he said.
But it was rank-and-file union members who literally took center stage at the Seattle forum, as workers told their stories and got to ask Edwards direct questions. The event was a breath of fresh air compared to the scripted, audience-screened stage shows that President Bush routinely conducts.
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Aletha Johnson, an IAM 751 member who has worked at the Boeing Co. since 1979, described how the number of good union jobs has dwindled at Boeing and many other manufacturing companies around the nation. She asked Edwards:
As president, how would you protect American manufacturing jobs, and protect against the outsourcing of our jobs?
Edwards’s response earned strong applause:
First of all, we need to get rid of tax laws that create incentives for companies to send jobs somewhere else. Then we need to support trade agreements that have real labor standards, real environmental standards, and that we can enforce those standards.
Paul Lee, an Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 8 member in the audience, asked about immigration reform.
Edwards mentioned that border security and creating a “path to citizenship” for immigrant workers are important components of comprehensive immigration reform, but got the strongest applause when he said we need to “crack down on employers who are knowingly violating the law.”
Steve Kofahl is a claims representative for the Social Security Administration, where he has worked for 33 years, and a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3937. He asked Edwards what he would do to strengthen the delivery of critical social services to the Americans who need them.
Edwards replied first by thanking Kofahl and his fellow workers in the federal government who he said aren’t thanked nearly enough for their service to the country. Edwards then said the chronic understaffing at federal agencies must be addressed and that we need to stop contracting out that work to the private sector.
But Edwards kept coming back to the freedom to choose unionization as critical for America’s future.
It’s one thing to say this before a labor audience. It’s a different thing to talk to America about how important (union organizing) is to strengthening this democracy. It’s more than being willing to sign the Employee Free Choice Act. I will put whatever pressure is necessary to get it passed (in Congress), and I will make the case to America about why this is so important.
If we want to save the middle class in America, organizing and unions are a critical component of that.
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.
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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