Organizing for America | Just the Facts, Not the Rhetoric: John Sweeney and Barack Obama on AFL-CIO conference call today

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John Sweeney and Barack Obama on AFL-CIO conference call today

By Jim White - Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:18 pm EDT

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I had the good fortune to be in on the conference call today, July 31, 2008, with AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and the future President of the United States, Sen. Barack Obama. Mr. Sweeney spoke briefly about how we, as Union Brothers and Sisters can give Washington, “an indication of the breadth and power of labor if we all pull together”. “This year we are bringing together the biggest political program ever in the history of the AFL-CIO”, added Sweeney before introducing Sen. Obama.

“Thank you, all of you here and on the conference call. Thank you for all your hard work to bring change to our economy,” Obama said. “Everywhere I have been, in some of your hometowns, states and districts, the people I have talked to tell the same story. Wages are falling, jobs are disappearing and gas prices are on the rise.” Sen. Obama next touched on his experiences as a young lawyer working on the streets of Chicago, and related how that experience had shown him, “the truth at the heart of American success.” “For the last 7 ½ years, we have seen a different philosophy from the White House,” said Obama. “Lost your job to outsourcing – tough luck, a single parent trying to work and raise a child – tough luck, lost your home to foreclosure – tough luck. I have a different approach.” “If I am elected President, I will sign the Employee Free Choice Act to make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain for better working conditions. I will end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and create tax incentives for those companies that stay here. I want to invest in our infrastructure, roads and bridges which will create more jobs,” continued Obama. “We need to strengthen the American work force and we do not need a tilted National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that rules consistently against workers.” “I want to make education better, Make College affordable to all Americans, work to strengthen Social Security so when you have worked all your life and are ready to retire, you can retire in dignity.” Then came what I consider to be Sen. Obama’s defining statement, “Change doesn’t come from the top down, change comes from the bottom up.” Very much aware of the increasingly negative attack ads from the GOP spin machine, Sen. Obama ended with an appeal to labor leaders to help, “ clear up the doubts in the minds of your brothers and sisters about where I am coming from”, on the issues that matter to working Americans. While I cannot speak for the thousands of union leaders on the conference call with me, I came away from the call with a renewed sense of the possibilities our future holds as working people, as union members and as Americans. Therefore, I am asking all of you to join with me to make that future possible. Let us work together to put the most deserving candidate in the White House – Senator Barack Obama. (A very special thank you to Doris Crouse-Mays, of the Virginia AFL-CIO for sending me the invitation to join the conference call!)

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this is great! | Report to Admin

By Deborah Williams Aug 1st 2008 at 7:58 am EDT (Updated Aug 1st 2008 at 7:58 am EDT)

and speaks to the very issues that the mccain camp purports Senator Obama has no plan for.

Excellent!

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