Clinton, Obama Pledge Support on Key CWA Issues

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had CWA members jumping to their feet, cheering and clapping wildly Tuesday morning during speeches in which both candidates pledged support for the Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform, universal broadband and other key CWA issues.

The back-to-back appearances at the Legislative-Political Conference by the two remaining Democratic candidates for U.S. president drew dozens of reporters and crews from every major TV network. 

Clinton, who spoke first, took note of all the union members she encounters or benefits from in a given day – from the crew staffing her plane to hotel and restaurant employees to workers who built the cars her campaign uses.

"The reason we have been such a rich and successful country is because of the American labor movement," Clinton said. "For far too long we've had a president and a vice president who don't appreciate what you do."

Like Clinton, Obama pledged to fight for and sign the Employee Free Choice Act. Listing some of the many assaults on workers and working families over the past seven years, he said, "It's time we had a president who didn't choke saying the word 'union.' We need to strengthen our unions by letting them do what they do best – organize. If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple."

Both candidates drew loud cheers when they blasted the Bush administration's proposed free trade deal with Colombia and vowed to make sure that trade policies in the future protect American jobs.

Clinton said she's angry that the administration and those in Congress who are hostile to unions have "taken to questioning the patriotism of those who want to organize workers."

Both candidates pledged to restore the mission of protecting workers to the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board, a mission crushed by corporate interests during the Bush administration. "It's not the Department of Management, it's the Department of Labor, and we are here to take it back," Obama said.

The nose-diving economy means unions are more important than ever, Clinton said. "We need unions not just in good times but in hard times, too - - especially in hard times because you know what it's like to fight for the underdog."

Obama recalled turning down a job offer on Wall Street as a young man to work as a community organizer in Chicago neighborhoods struggling after steel plants closed. Between job training and other aid, he said, "Block by block, we turned those neighborhoods around. And it taught me the most valuable lesson of my life – that ordinary people can do extraordinary things so long as they're organized and mobilized."

Both candidates said they're committed to the goal of CWA's Speed Matters campaign to ensure that telecom companies extend affordable, high-speed internet access to all Americans, bringing the United States out of the technological basement among developed nations.

The candidates drew major distinctions between themselves and Republican John McCain on health care, corporate welfare, trade and more.

The conference's other speakers made the same point, emphasizing that the working families have two "extraordinary" candidates to choose between.