Edwards, Obama Walk with Striking Workers in Chicago

by Seth Michaels, Aug 6, 2007

Former Sen. John Edwards
Sen. Barack Obama

Some presidential candidates actually walk the walk—in this case, literally. Before he headed to the presidential forum at the YearlyKos convention of progressive bloggers in Chicago this weekend, former Sen. John Edwards took time to walk the picket line with employees at the Congress Hotel on South Michigan Avenue. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama joined the picket line in July, telling workers that if he’s elected president, they’re “going to have a friend in the White House who believes that workers can organize.” 

The hotel’s housekeepers, dishwashers and other employees have been on strike for four years because the Congress Hotel management has refused to offer a contract with wages and worker protections comparable to those of other hotels in the city.

Marching with the striking workers Saturday morning before participating in the YearlyKos forum, Edwards put it this way:

Your cause is the cause of working people—making sure that those who work earn a decent wage, get health care coverage and can actually support their families and their children.

Check out Prairie State Blue, an Illinois blog that includes photos of Edwards on the picket line. 

Sure, you can support workers and their unions without walking a picket line. But by taking the time to do so, these candidates show a willingness to meet workers where they are—and that they get the importance of unions to the quality of life of working families. 

Edwards, Obama and five other candidates will get another chance to prove their commitment to working families Tuesday night, when they take part in the AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum. (The televised broadcast, with “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann as moderator, begins at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central).

Find out more here.

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