Gephardt Set to Gain Union Endorsement

[undergroundrailroad]

Gephardt Set to Gain Union Endorsement


By LEIGH STROPE
The Associated Press
Monday, July 28, 2003; 9:00 PM


WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt is picking up another union endorsement - his seventh.

The International Alliance of Stage Employees, Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Technicians, or IATSE, will officially announce its support of the Missouri congressman on Tuesday in New York. The union has more than 100,000 members in the United States and Canada.

Union President Thomas C. Short said Monday that Gephardt "has demonstrated through words and most importantly his actions, that he supports working families. He has fought to protect the rights of unions to organize, bargain and represent their members."

The AFL-CIO's executive council will meet next week in Chicago to gauge the political temperature of its 65 affiliate unions and whether a single labor endorsement is even possible. An endorsement likely won't happen unless a candidate can receive the backing of unions representing two-thirds of all rank-and-file members.

Should the AFL-CIO choose to enter the primary fray, Gephardt, a longtime ally of organized labor, is considered the most likely candidate to get an endorsement. The federation has granted only two early endorsements: Walter Mondale in 1984 and Al Gore in 2000.

[ThorsteinVeblen]

1. Gephardt endorsed by RNC

They like their opponents weak, ugly and idiotic.

[Jim Sagle]

2. Not having any eyebrows is just the icing on the cake.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

9. Remember, the RNC wants Dean, and would settle for Kerry

What they don't want is a Democrat who will go against the corporate trade agreements that Gingrich loved so much - along with a fair number of DLC "new Democrats" as well.

[JeniB]

3. I am amazed that with all of these endorsements

some people are still trying to rule him out. If Kucinich is so much better on labor, where are his union endorsements.
Go Gep!!!

[lancemurdoch]

4. I agree

Gephardt has been 110% behind labor for decades. I like Gephardt a lot, he is my favorite. I'm sure Kucinich would be one of the most pro-labor candidates, he gets maybe a B+ or A- but Gephardt is the A+, vote against NAFTA candidate for his decades of service for labor. I also think Kucinich is not a good speaker, another reason I am more for Gephardt than Kucinich. And of course, Dean would probably get a C- or D for his labor ideas...he's SOCIALLY liberal, but he does not seem to have a lot of concern for working class people. I'm fine with being socially liberal, I'd say I am socially liberal, but my primary concern is labor and Gephardt has decades of work behidn this.

[BrewCrew]

5. I hear that

First off, Gephardt would be anything but a weak candidate. The guy's background in itself is enough of a contrast. The fact he is from a midwestern state with working class roots. His dad was a milk truck driver and his mom a secretary shows that Gephardt is better able to understand where regular people like myself are coming from because that is where he came from to.

In that regard, he offers a real contrast to W. The problem with Bush is that he didn’t grow up that way. Bush doesn't understand what’s happening to working families in this country. I don’t think the President understands that people all over this country are losing the high paying, high standard of living jobs that are worth having in this country. Bush can't see the faces of the people behind the statistic of 6.4% unemployment and the fact that we’ve lost 100,000 jobs in the last two months. Dick Gephardt does and he's been fighting for those people for years. More importantly, he's been leading the fight!

I'm union and I know 1 thing. Dick Gephardt has led the way against unfair trade proposals like NAFTA, China PNTR, Fast Track 1997, Fast Track 2002, and most recently the Singapore and Chilean Trade agreements. This agreements have only led us to a race toward the bottom. Years ago we feared our jobs going to Mexico. Now those jobs in Mexico are leaving for China. It's nothing more than a race to the bottom. That's why we need an International Living Wage. Corportations need to stop giving us all a big fist fuc!

Personally, time and time again Congressman Gephardt has been there for me and now it is time for me to be there for him! I don't expect any candidate to receive the full AFL-CIO endorsement, however I do expect several more unions to get behind Gephardt.

Sorry. I know I've been doing a lot of ranting of late, but I really think Dick Gephardt gets an unfair shake on DU, by a lot of folks who don't know much about him. Seriously, I fear how much Newt Gingrich would have been able to accomplish if Dick Gephardt was not been there fighting him every step of the way!

[JeniB]

6. Thanks BrewCrew

I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall here. It's nice to read a good solid piece fo support for Gep.

[blm]

7. Gephardt is treated unfairly....

Yours is a just rant. Before you showed up at DU, some of us were defending ALL the other candidates from the unfair onslaught. People seem to have trouble keeping their entire records in perspective.

[Kolesar]

8. What union base does Gephardt draw from in St. Louis?

I have been trying to think of what industries are in St. Louis. Anheuser-Busch and McDonnell aircraft come to mind. There may be some auto plants in Missouri, but I don't think there are any steel mills. Does anybody know?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

10. a kick for anti-NAFTA Gephardt

one of the good guys