Roll On, Johnny!

Published on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 by The Nation

Edwards Gains Key Union Endorsements

by John Nichols

John Edwards had a very good Labor Day.

At a rally in Pittsburgh, the populist candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination received the endorsements of two of the nation’s most progressive unions, the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers. Those endorsements come just days after he gained the backing of the powerful Carpenters union, and they signal what many believe will be a surge in labor endorsements for the former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president.

Aides to Edwards, who has aimed his message at labor from the start of the current campaign, say they expect more important union endorsements of their candidate in coming days and weeks.

The Service Employees and the Teamsters — both million-plus member powerhouses of the American labor movement — are said to be close to coming out for Edwards, as is the Laborers union, a key player in the building and construction trades sector. Edwards is also expected to gain the endorsement of the United Auto Workers — thanks in no small part to the work of former Michigan Congressman David Bonier, a stalwart ally of labor who is helping organize the campaign. The UAW backing would come despite some recent criticisms of SUVs by the candidate that have not set well with leaders of a union that represents workers who still make a lot of those vehicles.

Edwards is likely to get the most individual union backing in a race where the nation’s two labor federations, the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win coalition, are not likely to make formal endorsements.

Edwards won’t get all unions with him, however.

Out of a tactical desire to be with the front runner, the Machinists and the United Transportation Union have gone with New York Senator Hillary Clinton. The Firefighters are backing a longtime ally of their union, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd.

But Edwards is opening the lead he will need among unions if he is to be a serious contender after the the caucuses in Iowa — where he is running strongest and where, frankly, he must win to stay in the race.

Tom Harkin, Dick Gephardt and other labor-beloved also rans can attest that union support does not guarantee that Edwards will be able to make it all the way to the nomination, or even that he will be able to maintain a candidacy to the end of a race in which he is seen as trailing Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

But, if Edwards can win Iowa, union support will be essential in later-voting states such as Michigan and Ohio, where the auto workers are strong, and Pennsylvania, where the steelworkers are a major presence. And if he gets the Service Employees, he will enjoy a boost in California, where the union is a powerful political force in the Los Angeles area and beyond.

The former senator knows how much he needs the unions.

That’s why a delighted Edwards was in downtown Pittsburgh Monday to tell a thousand cheering steelworkers and mineworkers that, “America was not built on Wall Street. America was built by steelworkers and mine workers.”

He is right about that.

Now, the question is whether those unions — and some even larger ones — can build the “Edwards for President” campaign into a winning proposition.

John Nichols’ new book is The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders’ Cure for Royalism. Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson hails it as a “nervy, acerbic, passionately argued history-cum-polemic [that] combines a rich examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the ‘heroic medicine’ that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to ‘reclaim and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for the defense of our most basic liberties.’”

Copyright © 2007 The Nation

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

Oh, fer Chissake! What is it going to take?

Feb 27, 8:15 PM EST

Labor language threatens antiterror bill

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/CHARLES DHARAPAK


WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush and his Senate allies will kill a Sept. 11 antiterror bill if Congress sends it to the White House with a provision to let airport screeners unionize, the White House and 36 Republicans said Tuesday.

"As the legislation currently stands, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Senate Republicans swiftly backed up the threat with a pledge by more than enough senators to block any veto override attempt.

"If the final bill contains such a provision, forcing you to veto it, we pledge to sustain your veto," they wrote to the president. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., planned to offer an amendment to strip the provision from the bill.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that allowing screeners to unionize would impede the department's quick response to possible threats. Fast redeployment of screeners, such as in response to Hurricane Rita and the failed London plot to blow up airliners, cannot wait for negotiations, he said.

Chertoff said screeners are as much on the front lines in the war against terror as military troops.

"Marines don't collectively bargain over whether they're going to wind up, you know, being deployed in Anbar province or in Baghdad," Chertoff told reporters after a briefing with senators. "We can't negotiate over terms and conditions of work that goes to the heart of our ability to move rapidly in order to deal with the threats that are emerging."

Other federal employees have collective bargaining and whistle-blower protection rights.
Chertoff's reasoning, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, is "an insult to the hundreds of thousands of dedicated public safety officers with collective bargaining rights - from border patrol agents to firefighters to the Capitol Hill police," said John Gage, president of the federation.

The White House made its displeasure with the union provision clear before the House passed it as part of its Homeland Security bill. Sen. Susan Collins said Chertoff told her that a statement Thursday would include an explicit veto threat.

Casting the provision as a deal-killer would flex Bush's political muscle with the new, Democratic-led Congress on the old battleground of labor rights. It also could throw an obstacle into talks over how to debate and pass the recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission.
For now, senators are eager to follow the House and pass a bill enacting the commission's recommendations to tighten the nation's security. The House bill also includes a provision that would let TSA screeners bargain collectively.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to conduct the debate over the next 10 days without the distraction of Iraq.

The sense of urgency on the 9/11 recommendations was conveyed to both leaders in a letter Tuesday from families of those killed in the terrorist attacks on that day in 2001.

"This legislation is far too important to be politicized by ... controversial amendments and debate, particularly those relating to Iraq," wrote Carol Ashley and Mary Fetchet of the Voices of September 11th.

Reid and McConnell said the Iraq debate would wait for next month, after passage of the 9/11 bill. The arrangement would allow the Senate to debate legislation bolstering anti-terrorism security measures on railroads and airlines without being distracted by the furor over President Bush's buildup of troops in Iraq.

"We have got to finish this bill," Reid, D-Nev., said as he opened the Senate session. He read parts of a letter from relatives of people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks asking the Senate to consider the legislation "without complications regarding Iraq."

Even minus an Iraq debate, provisions in the anti-terrorism bill or planned amendments make the legislation contentious.

In addition to its opposition to the TSA provision, the White House also opposes an amendment that would let states delay adopting standardized drivers' licenses.

Collins said Chertoff delivered a staunch defense of the administration's position during the GOP caucus' weekly policy lunch Tuesday. She said she nonetheless plans to try to attach an amendment that would delay requirements for states to adopt national drivers license standards.

Many states have complained about the cost of the program, and civil libertarians are concerned about privacy issues.

Other measures in the bill would improve rail and aviation security, provide funds for state and local emergency communications systems, improve intelligence sharing between federal, state and local officials, and expand a visa waiver benefit for favored countries.
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The bill is S.4

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(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.