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AFSCME Backs Clinton for President |
AFSCME announced today the union has endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president.
With 1.4 million members, AFSCME is one of the largest unions in the country. The union engaged in an extensive 10-month process to choose a presidential candidate, one that included two nationally televised candidate forums and surveys by mail and phone of active and retired members.
AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said Clinton is the candidate with “the strength and experience to make change happen.” Announcing the endorsement, McEntee said Sen. Clinton is the overwhelming choice of AFSCME members.
We had the most talented and diverse field of presidential candidates we’ve seen in years. But when all was said and done, among our members, Hillary Clinton clearly emerged as the best candidate to take back the White House for America’s working families. She has a record of leadership, of bringing people together for more than 30 years. Hillary Clinton inspires our members. She sparks the flame we need to win.
AFSCME has announced it will spend $60 million to mobilize its members for the 2008 elections.
This is the seventh endorsement for Clinton by an AFL-CIO-affiliated union. She also has won the endorsement of the AFT, the Bricklayers (BAC), the Letter Carriers (NALC), Machinists (IAM), TCU/IAM and the United Transportation Union (UTU). (IAM’s endorsement of Clinton in the Democratic primary was accompanied by an endorsement of former Gov. Mike Huckabee [R-Ark.] in the Republican primary.) Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has won the support of three unions: the Mine Workers (UMWA), the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Transport Workers (TWU). The Fire Fighters (IAFF) union has endorsed Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).In August, the AFL-CIO Executive Council said it would not yet make an endorsement for a 2008 candidate, freeing AFL-CIO unions to endorse candidates for the caucuses and primaries. The AFL-CIO will continue the Working Families Vote 2008 campaign to help elect a worker-friendly Congress and president.
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As a member of AFSCME in Ohio I am deeply disappointed my union has chosen to endorse Hilary. Have any of the members been watching the debates at all? Tuesday night clearly demonstrated two facts. The republicans want to run against her, because she’s not “electible” and second, she double-talks. I think Dodd, Edwards, and Obama all did a first rate job of pointing that out without malice.
Good God in heaven!!! WTF is wrong with the AFSCME? Hillary Clinton is NOT a friend of the Unions and of working Americans. Remember NAFTA and the WTO? Who helped push that through? Remember Bill Clinton? Do you think for one second that Hillary is going to denounce the “good work” htat her husband did many years ago? Is she going to seriously help improve condidtions for workers in this country, let alone Union members? Mark my words, we workers will so regret this and every other endorsement for Hillary Clinton!
I have repeated this ad nauseum—Dennis Kucinich, who is now 4th in the polls, and moving up faster and faster, is the ONLY candidate who cares about the working conditions of Americans, of keeping jobs here, of FREE Universal healthcare for ALL Americans, sometghing which will no longer need to be used as a bargaining tool in Union negotiations. He is the only card carrying Union member among all the candidates.
AM I going creazy? The AFSCME endorsing Hillary Clinton? Are our leaders getting something under the table for this? I cannot make any sense of this!!!
I urge all of us workers to stand up and vote for OUR best interests, and not those of our supposed AFSCME “leaders.” They are leading us down a path of further anguish, job loss, and poor to no healthcare coverage! When WE go to the polls during the primaries we must VOTE UNION - we must VOTE for DENNIS KUCINICH!
Does anyone else think that endorsing candidate Clinton is less than inspiring?
Do others think that we can, or should, be able to mobilize our members to campaign for her on any basis other than she is not a Republican?
Will the 70% of Americans who oppose the war and occupation of Iraq feel inspired by a candidate that says that leaving Iraq will be “very complicated” - a barely disguised admission that she plans to leave U.S. troops in Iraq and the region for many years. The Clinton strategy is to win the presidential election by campaigning against the Bush regime’s “incompetent handling of the war” and making enough people believe she will end it.
Does anyone believe that her health care proposal - bound up with her links to the insurance companies - is a rational solution to our health care crisis? Not even close to HR 676 which would institute a single payer health care system in the U.S. by
expanding a greatly improved Medicare system to every resident.
Many of us hoped that a labor party would be formed in the late 90s following President Clinton’s ramming through of NAFTA. Does anyone expect that candidate Clinton will put new “free trade” agreements on hold until we rebuild our industrial base and provide an adequate safety net for the millions of working Americans hurt by Clinton’s neo-liberal agenda?
While Kucinich may express support for unions and has the voting record to back it up, I believe his candidacy is all about trying to keep so called ‘progressives’ in line and duping them into thinking the Democratic Party can be made more progressive from within. That strategy has failed repeatedly, since Jessie Jackson in 1984. The Democratic Party is corrupt and rotten to the core. I hope Ralph Nader’s lawsuit over the undemocratic tactics the party and SEIU used to keep him off the ballot in 2004 and undermine his candidacy is successful and wakes people up to the reality: by selling their souls to the highly unethical and anti-democracy junior partners of the Republicans, unions have set back progress for workers. None of the current crop of sell-outs deserves our endorsement or votes.
Way to go afscme! How did you make your decision? I’ve watched all the debates and I’m pretty sure that she is incapable of giving a straight answer. Alhidalgo hit it on the head, not only did the CLINTON presidency give us NAFTA, they also failed to deliver on the striker replacement bill. I wish people would take the time on this election that it merits. Great candidates like Joe Biden are getting overlooked. I believe that he brings the most foreign policy experience, and is the straightest talker of the bunch. No offense but kucinich is my congressman, and he can’t get anything done because, who will take him serious?
So, effectively, the Democrats are the “lesser of two evils”, and therefore, what are we stuck with? I do believe the candidates have good intentions, but you can plainly see how incredibly difficult it is to make any progress at all or get anything done when you have a country so torn by ideologies, and so confused by what everyone is telling them as to what is good for the nation, and you have a government that is so ineffective because it is headed by a self-proclaimed dictator. Many people will buy whatever their candidate of choice is selling, because they want to believe it so badly.
I personally will vote for the candidate that says two things: 1) we must get out of Iraq now, and admit that our invasion has been an immoral and unjust invasion of another country, and 2) that the candidate is PRO-UNION all the way, and will vow to protect American workers. Those two things are what I believe to be the first step in healing this country, and without those, our country will fail.
I really believe we should see how the primary “shakes out” before any endorsements are thrown around…
As a Wess coast AFSCME I must side all 10 of the Internation VP’s from the west who opposed this move. Luckily our constitution does not bind councils and locals. I will continue to support John Edwards, as the candidate that big mangment fears most. After the dust settles in Denver I will commit myself to the nominee. Always reminding them that my time comes at cost-never forget that I am one of the little workers, I feed students, my sisters and brothers run laundries, do front line medical support, tend campus grounds, provide hospital security, etc. etc. Do what is best for us and you do what is best for Ameica.
Excuse me, but I watched the last debate and very honestly I had the feeling that Edwards and Obama spent the entire time “swiftboating” Ms. Clinton. She handled the attacks more graciously than any other candidate could have done. Frankly, I think she will make a tremedous president and although prior to the last debate I still favored Edwards and Obama as possibles I no longer feel that way. Ms. Clinton will indeed win the next election as President of the United States of America and unlike you pigs who have slandered her she will treat you equally and pass legislation that is needed to provide health care for our children, not veto everything that could possibly help the middle and lower class citizens as well as the wealthy, but she will do it without warrantless wiretapping and punishing the middle class so that a handfull of multimillionaires can feed her campaign funds.
I also agree that we should see how the primaries “shake out” before passing judgement on anyone who has the courage to stand up for America and its citizens. I say GO HILLARY
Nobody in either party impresses me.How any organization can support Hilliary is beyond me.I can not support anyone that believes,we owe amnesty to illegals and should give them driving previleges in New York state.What is wrong with these people?Hillary couldn’t make a decision if her home were on fire.Get off your rear ends and go register Independent if enough people do you will see changes in how our government works.
“Best wishes” and good luck with your endorsement.. Not thinking of a candidate that wil change the nation, I think they chose the Hillary because she unfortunately will win the nomination.
heaven help us all!
Valory1234 : didn’t Ms. Clinton vote for warrantless wiretapping? I’ve never heard her speak out against it. Has she ever spoken out against her husband’s 1996 Effective Death Penalty Act, which eroded habeas corpus rights and paved the way for Bush’s fascist assault on legal rights? Will she call for its repeal and set free all the Black youth caught up in the phony Drug War? She will guarantee that health care as long as it enables insurance companies to gouge you and I.
There are several better possible candidates than any of the Republicrats:
Elaine Brown
Cynthia McKinney
Ralph Nader
Winona LaDuke
Leonard Peltier
If Labor had supported Ron Daniels in 1992 or Ralph Nader in 1996, we’d be living in a far different, and better, USA than the current corporate plutocracy.
I respect the decision of the AFSCME. It’s a tough choice; however, I think it’s only fair to remind your membership of Clinton’s votes against Labor.
S. 3569—The Oman Free Trade Agreement expands the failed model of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Like NAFTA and CAFTA, the Oman agreement does not contain adequate environmental protections or enforceable protections for such core worker rights as the freedom of association. Oman is not a democracy, and its workers are unable to form independent unions or to bargain collectively. At the same time, the agreement allows any company incorporated in Oman to sue the U.S. government, undermining the ability of state and local governments to protect public health, strong communities and the environment. The bill passed June 29, 2006.
H.R. 6—The overhaul of the nation’s energy policy (H.R. 6) is expected to create thousands of jobs through the construction of pipelines, power plants and new nuclear power facilities. It also would allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the construction, expansion or operation of any facility that imports or processes natural gas, including liquefied natural gas. The Senate passed the conference report on the bill July 29, 2005.
S. 2020—As part of the budget reconciliation process, which included tax cut and spending cut legislation, the Bush administration and congressional Republican leaders were seeking $70 billion in tax cuts, mostly for the wealthy, paid for in part by huge cuts in vital working family programs. After some changes, the Senate passed a $60 billion tax cut bill, with more than three-quarters of the benefits going to families with $100,000 or more in annual income. The bill passed Nov. 18, 2005.
H.R. 2739—U.S. and international labor and human rights activists long have fought to include strong and enforceable workers’ rights standards, including the freedom of association, in trade agreements. The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the Bush administration did not include enforceable core labor standards. The agreement also contained a new temporary guest-worker program for professional workers entering the United States from Singapore. The bill passed July 31, 2003.
H.R. 2738—U.S. and international labor and human rights activists long have fought to include strong and enforceable workers’ rights standards, including the freedom of association, in trade agreements. The U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement negotiated by the Bush administration did not include enforceable core labor standards. The agreement also contained a new temporary guest-worker program for professional workers entering the United States from Chile. The bill passed July 31, 2003.
H.R 3295—The Help America Vote Act overhauls our nation’s election system by creating minimum national standards for voting machines, provisional ballots and statewide voter registration lists. The conference report passed Oct. 16, 2002, 92-2.
Here’s where my candidate stands, in his own plain spoken words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfVrz6MChQE&sdig=1
Like I said, I know it’s a tough choice. I hope you’ll join me in making the right one.