Who Will Stand with You as President?
Undeniably, John Edwards hit it out of the park tonight at the AFL-CIO Presidential Debate. Edwards has a strong record of standing with Labor. The issues addressed tonight are ones that Edwards has long fought for: the right to join Unions, fair pay, safe working conditions, product safety, universal healthcare, ending the unfair influence Washington Lobbyists have on our legislation, among other issues. Edwards never has and never will accept donations from Washington Lobbyists.
These issues are critical to restoring our democracy and are issues that Americans care about. Issues that really matter.
As AFL-CIO President Sweeney stated in his opening remarks,the forum was organized because, "working Americans want to hear more about what the candidates will do to improve conditions for the working class." Mr. Sweeney stated that he believes the next President of the United States is at that forum. Oh, YA!
Watch Edwards opening remarks:
Edwards: Stands with Organized Labor
"The Labor Movement is the Best Anti-Poverty Movement" ~John Edwards
Today, labor issues are at a critical juncture. It's no coincidence that when labor was strongest, the gap between the poor and the wealthy was at its smallest. Today, the gap between the poor and the wealthy is wider than it has been since the Great Depresssion. Something is terribly wrong. Big corporate power is yeilding far too much influence over our economy and legislation, thus undercutting our democracy.
John Edwards, who has a long history of standing up to big corporations, is hammering hard on this issue. Again, he's driving the debate.
Tough as Nails and Twice as Sharp
On Monday, Edwards unveiled a bold Trade Policy: "Smart And Safe" Trade Policies That Put Workers And Families First.
Smart and Safe Trade
Current trade policies include special privileges for corporations, and make it more difficult working Americans to compete in the global economy. As president, Edwards will make sure we have smart and safe trade policies that help families and strengthen our economy. Edwards will:
1. Be a tough negotiator who will reject bad trade deals. Edwards will make sure trade deals help regular families, include strong labor and environmental standards and fight currency manipulation.
Demand a level playing field for trade. Edwards will assign top prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice to the job of enforcing trade laws, including the stronger labor and environment standards he will negotiate. He will eliminate tax incentives for corporations to move offshore.
2. Revamp trade assistance to help dislocated workers and communities. Edwards will create a new "Training Works" initiative, help communities recover from mass layoffs and strengthen the safety net for workers who lose their jobs.
3. Ensure the safety of imported food and drugs and enforce mandatory country-of-origin labeling, letting families choose the origin of their food. Edwards will also enforce a "zero tolerance" rule and immediately freeze the specific import of any food, toys, medicines, or other goods that threatens the health of our children and families.
Require Country-of-Origin labeling so that consumers have the option of choosing safe, American-raised meat and poultry and American-grown produce.
4. Edwards believes that in order to ensure that our trade policies and our economy work for regular Americans we need to end the influence of lobbyist money in Washington. He renewed his call for all federal officeholders and candidates from all political parties to join him in refusing to accept any form of campaign donation from federal lobbyists.
Click here for more on Edwards' Plan for Smarter Trade that Puts Workers First
On the first point, and as Edwards has said, "trade deals include special privileges for corporations." No doubt these deals were cut by corporate lobbyists and undercut the interests of working Americans.
As Tasini reported, this component is a hit on corporate lobbyists. Yes, the same lobbyists he challenged candidates to refuse donations from at the recent YearlyKos Presidential Forum. Edwards is not letting up.
John Edwards -- On Trade, Leading The Way Again
And Edwards is taking a huge swing at the corporate lobbyists by singling out the NAFTA-like Chapter 11 rights. Let me explain briefly (Public Citizen has a detailed explanation). Let's say a company doing business in a country that has a party to one of these so-called "free trade" agreements believes a law violates rights or protections the company has under the trade deal. The company can take its case before a trade tribunal, which can, then, rule that a law -- say an environmental law or labor -- is illegal under the so-called "free trade" regime and award tax-payer dollars to corporations. And this tribunal operates behind closed doors, with no public input or scrutiny and none of the basic due process or transparency one would expect in open courts.
This is really huge. These Chapter 11 rights is one of the most odious provisions of so-called "free trade" deals. They allow companies to undercut our democracy -- laws that are passed by the people we elect can be overridden by an unaccountable, unelected tribunal. Edwards is standing up and, effectively, saying he will not sign trade deals with these undemocratic provisions.
It's no wonder that it's being predicted that Edwards will win a number of Union endorsements. He has worked tirelessly for unions over the years. Edwards has walked the picket lines and helped organized labor over 200 times, he successfully fought to raise the minimum wage in six states, raised money for labor endorsed midterm candidates among a number of other pro labor efforts.
Marc Ambinder is predicting a number of Union endorsements for John Edwards:
AFL-CIO Report Card
Expect Sen. John Edwards to receive several early endorsements. He has the inside track to get the nod of the politically-active United Steelworkers, according to labor observers, and is a lock for the Carpenters. Edwards's rivals expect him to be endorsed by several other industrial unions as well, including the United Auto Workers, which is otherwise occupied with contract negotiations this month. A UAW sanction would help Edwards in Michigan, which might hold a presidential nominating caucus in January of 2008
Union insiders believe that the coveted SEIU endorsement -- and remember here that the SEIU isn't part of the AFL-CIO -- will go to John Edwards, Barack Obama or no one. Hillary Clinton is liked by some members of the SEIU board but a major SEIU player -- local 1199 chief Dennis Rivera -- has never really been a fan. Another Change to Win union -- UniteHere -- is partial to Edwards.
It's clear that John Edwards is The Labor Candidate. He's not standing with big corporations. Edwards' policies will benefit working Americans, not big multinational corporations. "As president, he will insist on pro-worker provisions in new deals, hold trade partners to their commitments, invest more in dislocated workers and communities, and ensure that imports are safe. Edwards believes that the U.S. should not enter any new trade deals that do not meet these tests." (Source)
As Edwards said in tonight's debate:
"We need to give the power back to you, back to working men and women across this country. "
"We ought to treat the pensions of the CEOs of the company, exactly they way we treat the pensions of all other workers. We ought to have Universal Health Care in this country."
"We do not want to trade their insiders for our insiders. "
"The system is rigged in Washington. We are going to stand up by saying no forever to lobbyist money in DC. "
"You will never see a photo of me on the frontcover of Fortune magazine, that I am the candidate that big corporate America is betting on. That will never happen."-John Edwards
For those who agree with Hillary and other candidates who accept Washington Lobbyist donations, please ask yourself the question that John Edwards posed at the YearlyKos forum:
"Do you have a Washington Lobbyist working for you?"