Labor seizes the moment, unites to elect Obama
Author: John Wojcik
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 08/25/08 17:17
DENVER — Two thousand union members, more than half of them delegates to the Democratic National Convention, rallied here Aug. 24 to launch an unprecedented effort by labor to change America this fall. Intended or not, the huge labor gathering served to kick off and set the tone for the entire convention.
In a dramatic show of unity, leaders of the AFL-CIO, the National Education Association (NEA) and Change to Win clasped hands and raised their arms above their heads. The gesture brought down the house as African American, Latino and white members of nearly every union in the country rose to their feet in prolonged applause and began chanting, “O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA!”
The presidential race is the first one since several unions left the AFL-CIO to form the Change to Win coalition. “It’s important to note we are united in our determination to turn around America,” declared AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “And by united, I mean all of us — the AFL-CIO, the NEA, Change to Win, 17 million members, 28 million potential voters from union households — all of us together. We are united behind two champions of a better America — Barack Obama and Joe Biden — an incredible choice.”
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker laid out for the labor delegates what she described as their “special responsibility” during and after the Democratic convention.
“As labor delegates,” she said, “we are making sure this week that every single delegate to this convention understands as well as we do that we cannot turn around America unless we restore the free choice of working people to come together in unions and bargain for better wages and benefits and a real voice on the job.”
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/13592/
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