2008 Candidates Hammer Home the Message That America Needs Unions

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/03/28/2008-candidates-hammer-home-the-message-that-america-needs-unions/

2008 Candidates Hammer Home the Message That America Needs Unions

by Mike Hall, Mar 28, 2007

As the nearly 3,000 building and construction trades union members left the huge hall where seven Democratic presidential candidates stated their cases for the White House earlier today, cement mason Cameron Hall said he felt good, real good.

Said Hall, a member of Cement Masons Local 886 in Toledo, Ohio:

It’s good to see they know about us, about unions…that they recognize what we did and realize the potential we have to make changes in 2008. It reflects an attitude that too many other politicians don’t have. It makes you feel good.

There was a lot of feel good to go around as the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) wrapped up its three-day legislative conference in Washington, D.C., with a presidential forum.

All the candidates pledged their support for the Employee Free Choice Act and universal health care, promised to end the mismanaged war in Iraq and pass trade deals that protect workers’ rights and jobs.

The candidates also spoke about issues specific to building and construction trades workers, such as rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, protecting Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws, cracking down on contractors that misclassify workers as independent contractors and restoring project labor agreements to federal projects that President Bush banned via an executive order in his first weeks in office. (Davis-Bacon requires that federally funded construction projects pay the local prevailing wage, which prevents contractors from low-balling bids by undercutting wage levels for skilled workers.)

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who spoke last, drew a laugh when he kicked off his remarks:

At this point, everything that needs to be said has been said, but not everyone has said it….I have a vote to cast in the Senate at noon, so I’ll have to cut short my remarks. That probably merits some applause.

Obama did get a round of applause, but he also kept the crowd’s attention when he spoke about a 2004 trip to Galesburg, Ill. There, he met with workers who had lost jobs when a profitable, productive Maytag plant closed even after employees agreed to givebacks and despite local and state tax breaks to encourage the plant to stay open. The jobs went to Mexico.

FULL story at link.

[oasis]

1. Obama's story about the Maytag plant made me grind my teeth.

:grr:

[oasis]

2. Hillary will co-sponsor legislation that will require contractors to disclose worker pay. (eom)

[fuzzyball]

3. How many Americans will buy the cheaper washer/dryer from Mexico

Versus the expensive one made in USA with union labor?
Simple economics! The same reason we see Japanese, Korean
and next Chinese made cars on the streets.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. Trade is going to screw over American workers with or without unions

China has a comparative advantage in most manufacturing which is why we're moving to a service sector economy. I don't see a problem with unionizing the service sector where the rest of the world is not nearly as competitive (or the jobs need to be done here and can't be outsourced).

[JNelson6563]

5. Agreed!

Get into stores, hotels, restaurants! I know some large cities some of these are unionized but not outside of that! Huge untapped potential.

Julie