Union Families Meet with Presidential Candidate Dodd

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/04/30/union-families-meet-with-presidential-candidate-dodd/

Union Families Meet with Presidential Candidate Dodd

Anastasia Ordonez, communications director of the California Labor Federation, sent this dispatch on yesterday’s town hall meeting in Sacramento with 2008 presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd.

Close to 100 union members came together yesterday at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 17 union hall in West Sacramento, Calif., to meet with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) during the first of the AFL-CIO’s Working Families Vote national town hall forums. Bill Camp, head of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, welcomed the union members and their families who came to hear this presidential candidate’s positions on key issues such as health care and retirement security.

Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, introduced Dodd and commended the senator’s long-term efforts to protect U.S. jobs and advocate for health care reform. And this is where the formalities ended.


Sen. Chris Dodd responds to a worker’s question during the first in a series of
AFL-CIO presidential forums.

After the short introductions, Dodd opened his remarks with a few words in Spanish: “En las palabras de César Chávez, Sí, Se Puede!” (In the words of César Chávez, Yes, We Can!) Sounds of pleasant surprise erupted from the audience. It’s no secret the senator is a fluent Spanish speaker, but the surprise is that this Connecticut Yankee appears comfortable enough to joke around in Spanish with native speakers. Indeed, the senator’s ease with union members set the tone for the rest of the afternoon’s event. Alternating between a fast-talking and passionate style, the seasoned senator covered a range of issues during the Q&A with local union members.

Maria Gomez, a laundry worker at the Sacramento Hilton for 21 years, explained to Dodd that she had only received health care coverage through her employer five years ago thanks to a strong union contract and was grateful for when she had to undergo open-heart surgery recently. She asked Dodd what he would do, if elected president, to ensure that millions of uninsured Americans have affordable health care. “Nobody in this country should be excluded from health care,” responded Dodd, and he proposed to expand Medicare to cover 9 million uninsured children nationwide as a first step toward winning guaranteed, affordable coverage for all.

When Cesario Aguirre, a local worker who said he was harassed for wanting to join a union, asked Dodd what he would do to protect workers’ rights, Dodd pledged that he would start by appointing pro-union people to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). That won him a loud round of applause. Dodd then pledged to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, saying, “There is a direct connection between the decline of union membership and the growing gap between the rich and poor in this country.”

FULL story at link.

[jillan]

1. Dodd's a good, solid candidate.

I would like to see him move up in the polls.

I support Biden first, but Biden and Dodd are very close in alot of areas. They both have tremendous experience, both would do a great job in the WH, both very strong Union supporters. Maybe our guys just picked a wrong year to run? It's early yet!