Edwards's Stance on Trade May Attract Union Support

[JohnLocke]

Edwards's Stance on Trade May Attract Union Support
By Kim Chipman and Nicholas Johnston--Bloomberg
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
----
Presidential candidate John Edwards stopped by a Teamsters union barbeque in Chicago last weekend to give President James Hoffa a preview of the speech he delivered yesterday, talking tough about labor rights and trade protectionism.

Hoffa liked what he heard, and quickly realized Edwards's labor platform could pump up pressure on other 2008 presidential hopefuls on trade and overhauling labor laws to make it easier for workers to form unions. Hoffa now plans to ask Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, "Do you agree with this?"

"Obama's not talking about it and Hillary isn't," Hoffa said in an interview at the cookout. "They've got to articulate this if they are going to have the support of organized labor."

Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, is urging union-friendly labor laws and higher taxes on the wealthy. He also would raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2012, target countries such as China that are accused of undervaluing their currency and impose new trade rules to help safeguard the interests of workers.

"It's not about closing trade down, but about the rules and making sure they work for working people and not just transnational corporations," David Bonior, Edwards's campaign manager and a former Democratic congressman from Michigan, said in an interview today.

(...)

As president, Edwards said, he would insist on protections for dislocated workers and guarantees that imported products are safe.

"Our trade policies have been bad for working Americans," he said. "Washington looks at every trade deal and asks one question, and only one question: Is it good for corporate profits?" He denied that his platform is "anti-trade" or "protectionist."

(...)

"For far too long, presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements, agreements like NAFTA, promising that they would create millions of new jobs and enrich communities," Edwards said. "Instead, too many of these agreements have cost jobs and devastated towns and communities across this country."

Negotiations for NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, were completed under President George H.W. Bush. President Clinton won congressional approval for the accord and implemented it.

Tonight's AFL-CIO forum could be important for Obama, 46, who hasn't said a great deal about trade. He has said NAFTA should be renegotiated and has broken with businesses that want to lower barriers to trade and capital.

(...)

Last week, he proposed a measure that would provide tax credits and preferences in government contracts to “patriotic'' companies that stay in the country. Companies would need to keep their headquarters and an overwhelming majority of their production in the U.S. and provide some health care and pension coverage.

Obama, like Edwards and Clinton, also calls for labor and environmental provisions in trade accords and policies that address workers' interests, not just those of big business, without being as tough or as specific as Edwards.

"Clinton has a lot of free-trade baggage," Bonior said. Obama "just hasn't been very vocal on this."

Clinton promoted her husband's trade agenda for years, and friends say that she is a free-trader at heart. “The simple fact is, nations with free-market systems do better," she said in a 1997 speech.

(...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aSgfY7J.3TmI&refer=home

[Bryan Buchan]

1. Edwards has it right

[JohnLocke]

2. Kick (nt).

[draft_mario_cuomo]

3. Let's hope so! nt

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. He needs to say 4 words.........

I will REPEAL NAFTA. Those words are what it will take to get full union support.