Robert Reich: Bernie 1st pres. candidate since RFK to join picket line.

[Divernan]

Bernie joined workers in a picket line today at a plant in Iowa, where they're seeking higher wages. The last candidate for president I recall joining a picket line was Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

For years labor unions have been marginalized or castigated by Republican politicians, and taken for granted by Democratic ones. Every four years the Democratic candidate for president promises organized labor that he or she will push hard for labor law reform once in office, but nothing ever happens. In 2008, Obama committed himself to the "Employee Free Choice Act," which would have strengthened labor protections and enabled workers to organize with a simple majority in an up-or-down vote -- but Obama never followed through. In 1992, Bill Clinton promised labor that if elected he'd make labor law reform a central issue -- but Clinton never pursued it.

Bernie is making stronger promises. He believes, accurately, that the decline of organized labor (from 33% of the private sector workforce in 1955 to less than 7% today) is directly related to the decline of the American middle class. If elected, I believe he'll follow through.

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich?fref=nf

[Skwmom]

1. Bernie's history backs up his SUPPORT for labor. n/t

[billhicks76]

50. He's Truthful...Clinton Lied Because It's What They Do

Anyone think Bush Sr was involved with the hit on RFK? That TV special two years ago about the famous actress who watched Sirhan was educating.

[Human101948]

2. That was one of Obama's campaign promises that flew out the White House window...

"Understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain, when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I'll walk on that picket line with you, as president of the United States of America. Because workers deserve to know that someone's standing in their corner," he said at a rally in Spartansburg, S.C., in November of 2007.

[dorkzilla]

14. That is depressing.

He also vowed to get rid of lobbyists.

[zeemike]

24. And close Gitmo, end the wars and other things.

But promises are easy to make and politicians rely on a short memory and excuses about the bad guys that won't let them do anything...and the cult of personality.

Critical thinking has gone out of fashion.

[eridani]

46. I'm cutting him slack on Gitmo, given that Congress refuses to fund closure n/t

[zeemike]

49. Well not me because Gitmo is a military operation

And as CIC he has the power to order it closed...congress has no say so in that case.
The excuse that congress will not fund it is bullshit...what it means is that he wanted to hand it off to the congress and they said no...so he just continued it.

Did you ever ask yourself why it would cost money to stop doing something? The money was not to stop doing it but to do it somewhere else.

[LuvNewcastle]

52. Thank you.

That's a lame excuse I'm tired of hearing.

[INdemo]

16. Yes I remember when he said that

and at the time it was pretty impressive...As were promises Bill made regarding unions...Well Hillary as with every other issue she wont get too involved with labor or union issues because that would piss off her corporate sponsors. Her rhetoric will goes only as far as the thick checkbooks allow.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Divernan.

[antigop]

4. Thanks for posting, Divernan. K&R nt

[mountain grammy]

5. K & R

[dpatbrown]

6. And he's the first candidate since RFK

that I have been excited about. Long time coming. Get your lawn signs up, today. Get people thinking and asking questions about Senator Sanders.

[dsc]

7. I think he is being unfair to both Clinton and Obama

If you want to see who is to blame for there being no card check, then look at many of the Southern Democrats who are elected in states with virtually no union presence. In both of their cases, Obama and Clinton had to deal with Southern Democrats who were not friendly to unions. For Obama it was Hagan, Warner, Nelson 1 and Nelson 2, Landrieu, Pryor, and Lincoln. For Clinton it was Robb, Sasser, Hollings, Nunn, Breau, Pryor (the father), Bumpers, and Shelby.

I don't see card check getting through Congress no matter who is President. Every GOP member is against it and so will any Democrat elected from the non union South.

[Divernan]

8. Neither Clinton nor Obama employed the bully pulpit for labor, once elected.

And Reich made no reference to a "card check" you go on about.

And do provide a link, even one link, any link at all! of Clinton or Obama on a union picket line, before or after their elections.

[dsc]

15. I didn't say they were on picket lines

but card check is union reform it has been the top priority of unions for decades. The fact is the south is very anti union across all parts of society. NC is the least unionized state in the nation (to the point that the DNC couldn't find unionized hotels for the convention). But both Presidents fought for good appointees to the NLRB, Obama did his by recess (that was what the whole recess appointment case was about) They could speak out more forcefully, but that said, I don't see how policy would be any different if they did. Marriage equality is more popular than unions in the South.

[roguevalley]

19. they both did squat once elected and there is nafta and tpp.

All you need to know

[dsc]

28. yes most people call going to SCOTUS to get their appointees

to be able to serve, lose, and then reappoint when the filibuster was changed to permit 50 vote cloture doing nothing. That is what Obama did.

[jwirr]

22. Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor in Bill Clinton's

administration.

In the documentary he now has on Netflix he talks about how hopeful he was when he was appointed because he could finally put some of the ideas he and Bill had talked about into action.

He goes on to state that he was never allowed to do any of it because Bill Clinton had other ideas.

As for Obama - when they talk about being disappointed in him they are talking about his refusal to take part in the demonstrations in Madison WI against Scott Walker. He did not need congress to do that.

[dsc]

30. I am not saying Clinton was perfect

but he did appoint good appointees to the NLRB, he did try to help advance the union agenda in Congress but it was a lost cause due to Southern Senators. Unionization is the enemy in the South. Just think back to what Tennessee did to Volkswagon for the sin of actually not campaigning against a union vote and what they threatened to do to Volkswagon if the vote had passed. The CEO of Volkswagon could have married a man in a public ceremony aired to the entire nation and Tennessee wouldn't have touched a dime of the tax breaks. Unions are looked on that badly in the South, they just are.

[jwirr]

33. I was just trying to explain why Reich is not unfair to

Clinton and Obama.

[EEO]

9. Where was Hillary Clinton?

[Divernan]

10. Most likely at a soiree at a gated estate in the Hamptons, dahling!

[LovingA2andMI]

17. Yes, Right.....

[hifiguy]

39. She doesn't do "mixing" with the commoners and the peasantry.

There important (read RICH) people to cut deals with behind closed doors or velvet ropes. Our role is solely to look on adoringly at HRH.

[jalan48]

29. She and Andrea Greenspan were having coffee and eclairs.

[left-of-center2012]

57. Where was Hillary Clinton?

At a wine and cheese event on Wall Street?
Tea and crumpets with the Royals?
Re-launching her campaign (again)?

[LWolf]

11. ?

Of course I'm happy that Sanders joined a picket line. I don't think he's the first since RFK, though.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=108x62884

[Divernan]

12. Very fair point - I was quoting Robert Reich's post.

And he qualified his statement with "to the best of my recollection."

So you have, as we say in court, refreshed our recollection.

[LWolf]

13. I only remembered

because I was supporting DK at the time, and joined a picket line 50 or so miles to the north on the same day.

[Divernan]

18. Good for you, walking the picket line.

My family has a proud union history - grandfather coal miner fought the Pinkertons - he's buried in Mt. Olive Illinois - where Mother Jones is buried. My dad, with a double degree in mechanical and electrical engineering, finished college at the height of the depression and went to work with his dad in the mines for a couple of years before getting a teaching job. Come WW II he got a job designing electrical systems for war planes and post war became plant manager of a heavy machinery manufacturing plant. His first day at the plant (in the late 40's), he called the union shop steward in and gave the instruction that whenever a machine malfunctioned, it was to be immediately shut down. Dad was to be notified when it was repaired, and no workman would be assigned to run it until my Dad had operated it to be sure it was safe.

At his funeral, the union leaders came up to my Mom and me and told us how much they respected my dad for the honest man he was and how he looked out for worker safety. They also told us how every other year, when the contract had to be renegotiated, and the corporate suits came down from Chicago, both sides would posture and shout for 3 or 4 days. (I remembered how my dad wouldn't get home until 11 p.m. or so when that was going on.) They said after those days of negotiating, my Dad would meet privately with the union chief negotiator, and tell him what was the best deal the corporate side would agree to. Because he was so honest, they rightly believed him and the following day the details would be agreed to. All these decades later, how I would love to be able to talk to my Dad and hear first hand about those days.

The workers loved him and there was never a strike in the years he ran the plant. They knew that he knew what it was like to risk your life to provide for your family. When he died in his mid 40's, a new manager was brought in, and there were several strikes, after which the plant was sold, and a few years later shut down.

I can still remember the annual party he threw at our house for all the foremen and their wives. He and my Mom had these really silly party games to put everyone at their ease. A truly good man.

[LWolf]

20. Over my 40+ year working life,

I've learned that good bosses, bosses who treat their employees like they are respected and valued, enjoy the respect and support of those employees.

[hifiguy]

40. My mom worked for years in the office of a company

that made high-precision non-ferrous metal castings for the aerospace and aviation industry. Second-generation family owned business in those days. The owner did not care for unions. His strategy for staying non-union? Higher pay and better benefits than the union guys were getting.

That said, I strongly support unions and my dad was a lifelong union man (he was a master heavy equipment mechanic) until he got hurt in a shop accident and had to retire.

[Ken Burch]

26. I seem to remember Jesse joining a picket line(or speaking to a strike rally)in Wisconsin in '88.

Could be wrong about that.

Still...first MAJOR Democratic presidential candidate in decades to take a clearly pro-labor stance like that. Dukakis steered clear...Clinton made labor the enemy from the start of his campaign, Gore treated labor as irrelevant in 2000, Kerry did the same in 2004, and Obama largely gave workers lip-service(though he did do some progressive things in office)other than signing the Lilly Ledbetter law, which any president would have had to sign by then.

And the truth is, few if any of those candidates gained anything by keeping labor out in the cold. Clinton would have won anyway once Perot was in(and probably without him-the electorate was to Clinton's left in '92 and the right-wing backlash largely happened because Clinton spent most of his first two years attacking progressives and workers rather than standing up to the frothing Christian-feudalist right).

[LWolf]

32. Reich

doesn't recall accurately, but that's okay.

I'm glad Sanders is on the picket line.

[Ken Burch]

34. Me too. n/t.

[dmosh42]

21. Corporate media in America will keep that info blacked out!

[George II]

23. Unfortunately it was NOT a "picket line". Makes for good headlines and good "PR", but it's false!

[Divernan]

25. Photos don't lie, sweetie! Can't say the same for your post.

http://election.democraticunderground.com/1251571322

[dsc]

31. well actually if that was the picket line this was

then I don't see why it is vastly different from what O'Malley did in Vegas a few days ago.

[Divernan]

36. Rain, meet parade! Now where did Hillary walk a picket line? Crickets.

I'm glad to hear that O'Malley is actively pro-union. Got a link for his walking a picket line in Vegas? It should be shared so that he gets recognition this Labor Day Weekend.

[dsc]

37. Here is your link

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/01/1417427/-Three-Presidential-Candidates-go-to-the-union-convention-But-only-one-went-to-the-demonstration

and I am so sorry for daring to say that Martin O'Malley deserved some credit to. It wasn't me who claimed that not since 1964 did someone march with a union. The fact is given that this was in informational picket I don't see the difference between what Bernie did and what Martin did but only one, and it sure ain't Martin, is getting coverage for having done so.

[Divernan]

43. Thanks. I'm delighted to praise O'Malley for this.

Here's the thing, as Monk used to say - in the current state of DU, there are some outrageous claims being made - ones that fly in the face of all reality, and of course, they never have links as proof. In this very thread, an HRC supporter made the bald-faced statement that Bernie was not on the picket line (at the Iowa plant). Of course he provided no link, or perhaps his bizarre, alternative-universe definition of "picket line". When I provided him with a link with photos of same, he had no rebuttal, so disappeared of course. So I'm beginning to ask for links to factual claims (not opinions of course). It's my OP, so I don't feel that's unreasonable.

I like Martin O'Malley very much - have had family in "Balmer" as the natives pronounce it for decades, so have followed his career. I'd be happy to see him as a VP for Bernie. If O'Malley wins the primary, I'd be delighted to campaign for him and vote for him. I do not say that about HRC.

I just suggest that your support for him would be most effective if you include links. Up to you.

[rhett o rick]

38. The truth makes great headlines. People are supporting Sen Sanders because he tells the

truth.

[beam me up scottie]

45. This isn't a picket line???

[Divernan]

47. Should we send out a search party for George II?

Surely now that we have presented this photo to him, he will have the class to admit he was completely, 100 % wrong with his post! Well, we all make crass mistakes George II - just some more than others.

[beam me up scottie]

48. He never has before.

Why would this thread be any different?

[neverforget]

51. Lol! It's going to be a long wait

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=506328

[azmom]

27. Bernie is the middle class champion

And our next president.

[Dont call me Shirley]

55. Bernie also champions the working poor and the poor.

[colsohlibgal]

35. Go Bernie!

I hope Bernie is well protected, if he seems like a real threat....well we know what happened with Bobby.

[hifiguy]

41. Honest to FSM, I worry about that every day.

[sabrina 1]

42. I don't think there is any doubt that Bernie is right. And Unions need to support those who have and

are supporting them before there are no unions left.

[WillyT]

44. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[Bohemianwriter]

53. If it was ever covered by corporate media...

It would read "radical socialists joining forces with union thugs seeking to destroy Capitalism"....

[1StrongBlackMan]

54. Make that the SECOND pres. candidate since RFK to join picket line ...

This honor goes to the untalked about Martin O'Malley.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/omalley-joins-las-vegas-union-trump-protest-509092419698

[Divernan]

56. Props to O'Malley in post 43 above!