Addressing the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council meeting in Miami by video yesterday, President Barack Obama spoke strongly on the need for a strong labor movement in America, calling unions “a big part of the solution” to the economic crisis and urging Congress to “level the playing field for workers” by passing the Employee Free Choice Act:
I’ve signed legislation helping to guarantee equal pay for equal work and expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program to millions more children. We’ve reversed the ban on project labor agreements and we’ve overturned the previous administration’s Executive Orders which were designed not only to undermine critical government work - but to undermine organized labor.
I’m also pleased to have nominated Hilda Solis, a daughter of union members and a lifelong champion for working families, to be my Secretary of Labor - and that Vice President Joe Biden has agreed to lead my administration’s Task Force on Middle Class Working Families. This Task Force will work hand in hand with my cabinet and White House agencies - as well as with all of you - to focus on growing and sustaining the middle class.
I want to repeat something that those of you who joined us for the Task Force announcement heard me say: I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, and to my administration, labor unions are a big part of the solution. We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests - because we cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement.
The truth is, the road ahead will not be easy. The economic crisis we face is vast and the challenges we confront are many; you know this because your members have already had to make sacrifices. But I have every confidence that if we are willing to do the difficult work that must be done, we will emerge from these trials stronger and more prosperous than we were before. And as we confront this crisis and work to provide health care to every American, rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, move toward a clean energy economy, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act, I want you to know that you will always have a seat at the table.
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When Barak Obama finally realizes how corrupt, deceitful and untrustworthy you really are, you and Stern and all of his cronies will finally be exposed.
Posted by Francisco Martinez on March 4, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Posted on March 4, 2009 at 6:40 PM
As a former organizer for LIUNA,I wonder when our current labor leaders will reconsider their pro-amnesty agenda and start advocating once again for the American union members who pay their salaries.We are black,white,latino,asian and native Americans who demand a return to a pro-American agenda. In this economic downturn is it really in our intrests to advocate ,organize and even legitimize illegal aliens at the expense of union members sitting in halls nationwide? Why are we advocating for our replacements? I wonder if Terry O'Sullivan's affiliation with UNI GLOBAL UNION is affecting his primary responsibility, for which he's paid 585K a year,to advocate for the American worker.Of course that doesn't take into account the money he takes in at Ullico or speaking engagements at pro-amnesty pac conventions.Let's return to the job at hand,their are millions of American citizens to organize who don't reside,voluntarily,in the shadows.Debate this and other topics at Union Forums.org John Buck formerly of Laborers Eastern Region Organizing Fund NYC,NJ,DEL strongbuck2003@yahoo.com
Posted by John Buck on March 5, 2009 at 4:02 AM
Posted on March 5, 2009 at 4:02 AM