Search Results for 'mccain'
Legislation & Politics |
Feb 12 |
Kourpias Retires as Alliance for Retired Americans President
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George Kourpias, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans since its inception in 2001, has announced his retirement as head of the organization.
Under Kourpias’ leadership, the Alliance grew into a 3.5 million member organization that was a leader in stopping then-President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. In the 2008 presidential elections, Alliance activists mobilized in key battleground states to highlight the stark contrasts between Barack Obama and John McCain on Social Security and Medicare. On Election Day, union retirees voted for Obama by 72-26 percent.
Kourpias said that on the heels of the November election, it is time to turn over the reins of the Alliance.
I have never been more proud of my fellow union retirees than I was on election night. But all that our hard work and great success guarantees us is an opportunity—nothing more. It has been a tremendous honor to help grow and lead a progressive army of grassroots retirees. We have fostered lifelong activism among union and community leaders, and I believe our collective voice has made a difference.
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Feb 10 |
Senate-Passed Recovery Bill Would Create Jobs; Republicans Bent on Killing It
The Senate this afternoon approved (61-37) an $838 billion economic recovery package that reflects much of what President Obama sought in legislation to get the nation’s economy moving again. But it eliminates more than $40 billion in aid to fiscally strapped states and other job-creating provisions that are part of the House-passed version of the bill.
The Senate bill is somewhat of a compromise to win the votes of three moderate Republicans—Arlen Specter (Penn.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine)—and prevent a filibuster by Republican leaders. The filibuster threat was turned back last night.
The bill now goes to a House-Senate conference, where House leaders say they will attempt to focus on restoring the jobs provisions, while maintaining 61-vote filibuster-proof support in the Senate.
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Feb 9 |
Even McCain’s Economist Says We Need Big Recovery Package
The economy is rolling faster and faster downhill—more 1.5 million jobs lost in the past three months—and Republican leaders in the Senate and House, along with their wacko radio talkers, are trashing President Obama’s economic recovery program.
But if action isn’t quickly taken, even darker days are ahead. Says Mark Zandi, a former economic adviser to Sen. John McCain:
Without stimulus, unemployment will rise well into the double digits, and the economy will not return to full employment until 2014.
Tomorrow, some 500 members of the community activist group ACORN, along with AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, will rally at 2:30 p.m. on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to urge Congress to quickly pass the recovery legislation.
Economy, Legislation & Politics |
Feb 6 |
Buy American Opponents: Un-American
What do Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have in common?
They both oppose provisions in the economic recovery package that would ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent on products that are made in America-to the maximum extent possible. The Buy America provision survived the recent Senate debate, despite attempts to kill it by someone who consistently wraps himself in the American flag: Sen. John McCain.
In the words of United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable “want to give American tax dollars to foreign manufacturers to create jobs overseas.”
Legislation & Politics |
Jan 29 |
Were Bailout Funds Used to Plot Against Employee Free Choice?
This week, we learned that shortly after the approval of billions in bailout funding for major banks, at least two bailout recipients were involved in a conference call for lobbyists and Big Business figures plotting to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act.
Now, a coalition of five major government-reform groups is asking Congress to fulfill its duty of overseeing the bailout funds and making sure they aren’t being used for political purposes like fighting the freedom to form unions.
In a letter sent to Congress today, leaders of Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG, Change Congress, Democracy Matters and Public Campaign asked for an investigation into whether taxpayer dollars are being spent on political influence-peddling.
This story may be the tip of the iceberg. That’s why we’re calling for Congress to investigate whether Bank of America, AIG, or other recipients of billions in bailout money used taxpayer dollars to send “large contributions” to any political organizations.
Economy, Legislation & Politics, Organizing & Bargaining |
Jan 1 |
2008 in Review: Union Members: Yes, We Can; Yes, We Did
Here’s the final part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
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Change was in the air—and on the way—in November, as the AFL-CIO’s biggest-ever political mobilization headed toward the finish line. Tens of thousands of union volunteers packed local union halls to phone bank or to talk with union family voters in neighborhoods around the country in the final get-out-the-vote push to elect Barack Obama and win even bigger working family majorities in Congress.
Obama chose a union hall as his last campaign stop. On Election Day morning, he popped into UAW Local 550’s Indianapolis phone bank. Said Keith Neargardener, UAW Region 3 CAP director:
You know, to make the union hall your last stop before becoming president sends such a great message. It shows how he’s not afraid to say the word union and to embrace and support unions openly.
Economy, Legislation & Politics, Organizing & Bargaining |
Dec 31 |
2008 in Review: McCain Sinking, Employee Free Choice Act Rising
Here’s the fifth part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
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The presidential campaign dominated the headlines as summer turned to fall.
By Labor Day, the traditional start of the campaign season, the tens of thousands of union volunteers who had been on the ground for months intensified their efforts. On the job, at the doors and on the phones, they talked with even more union members about the stark differences between Barack Obama’s working families agenda and John McCain’s corporate platform.
In a Labor Day message, Obama told workers:
It’s time you had a president who honors organized labor—who’s walked on picket lines; who doesn’t choke on the word “union”; who lets our unions do what they do best and organize our workers; and who will finally make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land.
Economy, Legislation & Politics, Organizing & Bargaining |
Dec 30 |
2008 in Review: Workers Win Unions, Crown Bad Bosses
Here’s the fourth part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Check out Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.
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In July, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka gave a speech to delegates at the United Steelworkers (USW) convention warning that as the presidential campaign heats up, there will be attempts to divide workers by race. His bold and much-needed statement went on to became a YouTube, Internet and blog sensation throughout the campaign season:
Barack Obama has always, always been on our side. This is a guy who’s voted with labor 98 percent of the time….There’s not a single good reason for any worker—especially any union member—to vote against Barack Obama. There’s only one really bad reason to vote against him: because he’s not white.
Economy, In the States, Legislation & Politics, Organizing & Bargaining |
Dec 29 |
2008 in Review: Workers Sign Up with AFL-CIO Unions
Here’s the third part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
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May-June
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Union members knocked on the first of what would be 10 million of union voters’ doors around the country to talk with them about the key working family issues in the 2008 elections. In the late spring and early summer, we focused on John McCain’s record on health care and the economy.
Along with door-to-door walks, union members mobilized through phone banks, labor council meetings, political training, worksite leafleting and public events.
As union volunteers talked with union members about McCain plans to tax their health care benefits, other union activists were shadowing McCain’s every stop, demanding real health care solutions answers and not just Band-Aid solutions.
Economy, In the States, Legislation & Politics |
Dec 28 |
2008 in Review: McCain Revealed and McCain Reviled
Here’s the second part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Check out Part 1 here.
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March-April
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The job loss hits kept coming—63,000 in February and 83,000 in March. But President Bush and congressional Republicans kept up their fight against extending unemployment insurance benefits to workers who run out of benefits before finding new work in a crumbling economy.
In April, more than 400 central labor councils begin dedicating their monthly meetings to educating and mobilizing their members around health care reform for the coming elections. Most saw huge turnouts.
Union members continued making endorsements in the primaries, many selecting Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Barack Obama (D-Ill). But they were unified in their opposition to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and showed up at campaign stop after campaign stop urging him to meet with workers. He never did.
Meanwhile the AFL-CIO launched McCain Revealed, a website detailing McCain’s long anti-working family career and dangerous policy proposals.
