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MAY 18. 2007
2008
Democratic presidential
candidate John Edwards
chose a local union headquarters to
make his first Portland campaign ap-
pearance. On May 2, several hundred
Democratic Party faithful filled the In-
ternational Longshore and Warehouse
Union (ILWU) Local 8 hall to hear Ed-
wards’ positions on health care, global
warming and the war in Iraq.
Though the earliest party caucuses
and primaries are still eight months
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
away, Edwards is campaigning around
the country — and making a special ap-
peal to union voters. The previous day,
he spent time with nearly 1,000 union
members at the Machinists District 751
hall in Seattle, Washington. At Local 8,
Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom
Chamberlain was asked to introduce
Edwards, and later that afternoon he
also met privately with the candidate.
“What I see is a guy who’s not afraid
to talk about labor outside of labor cir-
cles,” Chamberlain told the Northwest
Labor Press.
Edwards told the Portland crowd that
the United States needs comprehensive
labor law reform, starting with the
union-backed Employee Free Choice
Act (EFCA), which passed the U.S.
House of Representatives March 1.
“If you can join the Republican Party
by signing your name to a card, then
anywhere in America you should be
able to join a union by signing a card,”
Edwards said, alluding to the “card-
check” unionizing method EFCA
would set up.
“And while we’re at it, to give unions
more negotiating power, we ought to
ban hiring permanent replacements for
strikers,” Edwards said. “I’ve walked
picket lines with my brothers and sisters
in the union movement. I’ve contacted
employers. Basically I’ve done every-
thing I know how to do to help unions
organize, because there’s work to be
done if we want to save the middle class
in this country.”
Edwards’ labor message drew fre-
quent audience applause, and praise
from labor leaders in the crowd.
“Nobody is talking about our issues
in such a direct, straightforward way,”
said Ken Allen, executive director of
Oregon AFSCME Council 75.
When the subject turned to global
warming, Edwards’ proposals echoed
the labor-backed Apollo Alliance plan,
which calls for national investment in
clean renewable energy — and the
high-wage, high-tech jobs that would
come with it.
“We ought to put a billion dollars
into making sure the most fuel-efficient
vehicles in the world are built in Amer-
ica by union workers,” Edwards said.
The day before, at the Boeing Ma-
chinists Hall in Seattle, Edwards made
other pledges aimed at wooing the
union movement, including promises to
tighten labor and environmental stan-
dards in foreign trade agreements, end
tax breaks that encourage foreign out-
sourcing, and stop privatization of gov-
ernment jobs.
The Seattle event was the second of a
series of town-hall forums organized by
the national AFL-CIO to give union
members a chance to meet and ask
questions of Democratic presidential
candidates — and help the labor feder-
ation evaluate candidates’ appeal. The
series will conclude with a multi-candi-
date forum Aug. 6 or 7 in Chicago.
No Republicans have thus far been
invited to participate, but that’s because
the federation is only considering can-
didates whose public positions and
records are generally in line with labor
movement priorities, said AFL-CIO
spokesman Steve Smith. So far, none of
the Republican candidates have pledged
to support EFCA. All the Democratic
candidates have said they would sign
the bill.
On the AFL-CIO’s Working Fami-
lies Vote 2008 campaign Web site,
workingfamiliesvote2008.org, visitors
can check the records and watch video
clips of every candidate, Democrat or
Republican, and take part in online dis-
cussion about the candidates.
AFL-CIO unions have been asked to
hold off making presidential endorse-
ments until the AFL-CIO General
Board meets in early Fall to consider
whether it should make an endorsement
before the 2008 primary season begins.
PAGE 7