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Mine Workers Back Obama for President |
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The Mine Workers (UMWA) union has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president.
The National Council of the Coal Miners’ Political Action Committee of the 105,000-member union voted unanimously today to back Obama and mobilize its members in support of his campaign.
UMWA President Cecil Roberts said Obama will fight for issues important to miners and all working families, such as health care, Social Security and safety on the job.
We are extremely proud to make this endorsement today. Sen. Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families. Most of all, Sen. Obama will implement the clear change in direction UMWA members—indeed, all American working people—must have if they are to once again move forward and have a true opportunity to realize the American dream. After eight years of being pushed aside by an administration, which neither respects nor values the contributions American working families make to our society, we are looking forward with great anticipation to a new era in our nation starting with the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
Roberts said Obama’s record stands in marked contrast to that of Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, on issues important to working families.
The UMWA first endorsed former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) last fall. Last week, Edwards, who suspended his campaign in February, endorsed Obama.
The two other unions that initially endorsed Edwards—the Transport Workers (TWU) and the United Steelworkers (USW)—also have given their endorsements to Obama.
Obama also has been endorsed by AFGE, the Boilermakers (IBB), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA), Postal Workers (APWU) and the Utility Workers (UWUA).
Thirteen unions have endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: AFSCME, AFT, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Bricklayers (BAC), Letter Carriers (NALC), Machinists (IAM), Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU), Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), Plasterers and Cement Masons (OP&CMIA), Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA), TCU/IAM, Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the United Transportation Union (UTU).
The IAM and IUPAT endorsements of Clinton in the Democratic primaries were accompanied by endorsements of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Republican primaries.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the UAW have announced they will not make endorsements during the primary season. The Fire Fighters (IAFF) union, which endorsed Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), has not announced a new endorsement.
In August, the AFL-CIO Executive Council said it would not yet make an endorsement for a 2008 presidential 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.
The presidential nomination process continues next month, when Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico hold the final contests.
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While the horror of a McCain presidency will have most active unionists voting for Obama, I think it’s a dreadful error for unions not to ask for a quid pro quo from Sen. Obama, just as all other voting blocs do, for one crucially important reason–for the last couple of years he has been listening almost entirely to one person on the economy, the U. of Chicago business professor, Austan Goolsbee. This man’s advice has led Obama to vote for the two trade agreements that have come before him, Peru and Panama, after refusing to meet with labor representatives on the issue. What I believe unions need to require of him to gain our support is simple. That he add to his inner circle advisors who have experience in large-scale economic development and stimulating the demand-side of the economy as well as “green” or sustainable economics. That he be willing to listen to an expert on the opposing viewpoint on the current trade agreements that, he would find out, do a lot more than regulate trade. This is the most important demand unions can make of the Presidential candidate for two reasons.
First is that, with the economy on the verge of meltdown, Obama’s advisors are stunningly deficient, and frequently top governmental spots are promised to the advisors. Here is the complete list of all his economics and domestic policy advisors from the Chicago Tribune:
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/chi-obama_m mon_nusep17,0,3844054.story?page=3)
Michael Froman - Citigroup bank exec., pro-free trade & “business-friendly”, former Pres. Clinton advisor
Austan Goolsbee - professor of business at U. of Chicago
David Cutler - Pres. Clinton health economist, opposes single-payer
David Blumenthal - Director, Institute for Health Policy, Harvard Medical School
Jeffrey Liebman - Economist, Harvard professor and member of Clinton White House Council of Economic Advisers. Research has focused on role of earned income tax credit in moving people from welfare to work
Dan Tarullo - International trade expert, Georgetown law professor and former Bill Clinton economic adviser i.e. GATT & NAFTA proponent
Eric Holder - Clinton deputy attorney general
Cass Sunstein - University of Chicago law professor
Laurence Tribe - Harvard law professor
Cassandra Butts - Senior policy adviser to House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt
Apparently Goolsbee, his original and closest advisor since he’s been in the Senate, has discouraged Sen. Obama from hearing anything to contradict Goolsbee’s advice. That means he’s taking Goolsbee’s word for why people, including the brilliant Lori Wallach, oppose the trade agreements, and for what labor economists propose for the economy in place of the failed supplied-side orientation. It doesn’t do to rely too much on someone who has contempt for getting the whole picture.
Which leads to the second reason to demand at least one progressive advisor. If the limited, lopsided perspective he gets prevents Obama from rescuing the economy, it could lead to a one-term Presidency and another wretched Republican crook of a President in a mere four years.