Legislative-Political Meeting: Clinton, Obama Commit To Fight for Key CWA Issues

"If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple." —    Barack Obama	"The reason we have been such a rich and successful country is because of the American labor movement." — Hillary Clinton

Showing that they agree more than they disagree — and how vast the gulf is between their positions and John McCain's — the two Democrats running for president championed the Employee Free Choice Act, health care reform, universal broadband and other key CWA concerns in speeches at April's Legislative-Political Conference.

Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama spoke with fluency and passion about labor issues, bringing cheering CWA members to their feet again and again. The back-to-back speeches 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 flight attendants and other 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 trade deal with Colombia and vowed to make sure that trade policies in the future protect American jobs.

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.