Sen. Edwards: What Can I Say
If you want to see 500 union members and supporters as happy as all get-out, watch them meet and hear from Sen. John Edwards.
The Oregon AFL-CIO hasn't endorsed a candidate for president, and I'm not playing favorites here, but Sen. Edwards hit the ball out of the ballpark in his speech to our Convention today in Seaside. On every issue -- health care, the war in Iraq, and more, he gets it. Working people are the backbone of our country, and we need to work hard to make sure that a child of a mill worker can have the opportunity to someday run for president.
Rep. Kucinich made a similar point on Friday -- that we need to keep the doors open for poor and middle class children to thrive just as the child of a CEO has. That is what our labor movement is about. It's my story and the story of so many of the union members, officers and staff with whom I am honored to work. That's exactly why we're here.
Other highlights so far today:
- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Organizing Director Stewart Acuff honored us with wall-shaking speeches. When these two were done speaking, I was energized and ready for a fight. Bring on 2008!
- U.S. Senate Candidate (and Oregon House Speaker) Jeff Merkley gave a rousing speech to our delegates, as did candidate Steve Novick yesterday. These two are good friends of labor and received a warm welcome from our folks.
- Our terrific Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Byrd and I were re-elected to our leadership posts.
- About ten media covered our Convention today, including three Portland news stations, the Oregonian, several coastal newspapers and the Associated Press.
- Our 400 delegates in attendance have worked night and day to develop resolutions on everything from health care, to how we conduct our Convention. I have been doing this work for 30 years, and I have never seen such an energetic group thinking through these issues and working together like I have seen this weekend. Our members know that the decisions they make this weekend are not just lip service. They will have an impact on the state, and they are weighing them as such. Great work, everyone!
Labels: Barbara Byrd, John Edwards, John Sweeney, Oregon AFL-CIO, Tom Chamberlain
Kucinich Speaks to Oregon AFL-CIO Delegates on Trade, WTO
Last night, our delegates heard from the first of two U.S. Presidential candidates who are visiting our Convention in Seaside -- U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich. He spoke to our delegates and guests on trade, health insurance and much more. We were pleased to have the Oregonian in attendance, and saw this story this morning:
Kucinich, a congressman from Ohio, may trail better-known candidates in raising money, but he wowed the crowd of about 200 at the opening party at the Best Western Oceanview Resort.
They hooted and cheered several times during his 40-minute speech, especially when he hit hard on repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement and getting the United States out of the World Trade Organization, both moves popular with labor.
And they loved that he made fun of other presidential candidates for refusing to stand up to health insurance companies, which he says are driving health care into the ground.
"Somebody's running for president of the United States and they're saying they can't take on the insurance companies? Let me tell you, I'm ready for that," he said. "If you can't take on the insurance companies, who else can't you take on?"
Read the rest at the Oregonian's web site -- and stay tuned for complete audio of his speech.
A disclaimer here -- the Oregon AFL-CIO has not endorsed a candidate for President, and all major candidates of both parties were invited to attend.
Labels: Convention, Dennis Kucinich, Oregon AFL-CIO, Tom Chamberlain
Convention 2008: Why it Matters
Today and tonight, more than 400 working men and women from across Oregon are driving to Seaside for the Oregon AFL-CIO’s 50th biennial Convention. Between now and Wednesday, they will celebrate their accomplishments of the past two years -- and chart an ambitious course for building our labor movement and scoring victories in November 2008.
You can be sure they will have President Bush’s veto of SCHIP in mind as they decide where to steer the voter education and mobilization momentum of their 145,000-member organization. Several of the resolutions that members are bringing forward deal with -- imagine this -- improving health care affordability and electing leaders who will fight for lower costs.
Why does this matter to Oregon as a whole? In the past few years, Oregon’s union members -- our teachers, nurses, fire fighters, steelworkers and more -- have been among the most politically active in the nation. By knocking on tens of thousands of doors and talking to their co-workers each election cycle, they’ve convinced their co-workers and family members to make their voices heard.
In November 2006, when we cross-referenced the Oregon Secretary of State’s official voting results with our own union membership lists, we found that union members and the other registered voters in union households voted at a rate about 13% higher than the general electorate.
And when union members act on the resolutions they pass at Conventions like the one being held in Seaside, they make Oregon’s workplaces and communities stronger for all working families -- not just their own. Two examples:
They led the charge to raise the state’s minimum wage to among the highest in the nation -- twice, in 1996 and in 2002.
For years, they have supported legislation to bring renewable energy and good jobs to Oregon, restore much-needed funds to our local public schools, put more public safety officers in our communities and create a rainy day fund – and then, in 2006, they helped elect the decision-makers who would pass these reforms in the most worker-friendly Legislative Session in decades.
Because of the work Oregon’s union members have done to create good jobs and strong communities, several top state and national leaders will be joining them in Seaside: U.S. Presidential candidates John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Darlene Hooley, David Wu, several of the nation’s top labor leaders, and many more will be there to celebrate.
So what does this have to do with the President’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program veto? Because, for as much work as Oregon’s union members and other advocates for children and health care know, the President chose corporate profits over the health and peace of mind of working families. This is wrong.
Change needs to occur in the White House, in Congress, and at the ballot box if we are to fill our moral obligation to cover the uninsured children in Oregon and nationwide.
In the meantime, our members know that the veto makes it more critical than ever that they work hard to pass Measure 50, the Healthy Kids ballot measure that’s being fought by millions of Big Tobacco dollars.
And our 400 Convention delegates this weekend, representing 145,000 of their co-workers and joining 10 million other AFL-CIO members nationwide, are gearing up to make health care the number-one issue in the November 2008 election.
If the past few years in Oregon are any indication, you know that it’s just a matter of time until the decisions they make this weekend will make a difference for Oregon’s working families in November 2008 and in Oregon for years to come.
Labels: Convention, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, labor union, Oregon AFL-CIO, SCHIP, Tom Chamberlain
