Sarah
2003-08-31 22:57:01 UTC
Remarks by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney at Labor Day Reporter
Roundtable
August 28, 2003
As we come to Labor Day 2003, working America is facing a crisis. It's
a jobs crisis and it's the number 1 issue facing Americans. Despite
our so-called recovery, far too many people are out of work and many
have been out of work for a long time. White collar as well as blue-
collar employees are losing jobs, and many of these jobs aren't coming
back. And executives are slashing health care and retirement benefits.
President Bush has pulled the rug out from under America's working
people and rolled out a red carpet for the wealthy and giant
corporations.
There has been more net job loss under Bush than under any President
since Herbert Hoover. One Nobel prize winning economist recently
called the Bush economic policies the worst in 200 years, adding that
the Bush tax cuts that predominantly benefited a wealthy few will mean
a 10-year budget deficit of nearly 6 trillion dollars.
For the same money that Bush spent on millionaire tax breaks, he COULD
have stimulated the economy and created jobs by building roads and
schools, helped provide much- needed health care, sent urgently-needed
aid to the states, and given tax breaks to the low and middle income
earners who need it and will spend it to get the economy moving.
Labor Day was established to get respect for workers and curb abuse by
setting the eight-hour day. Workers have struggled to put protections
for workers into place for 150 years, and the result has been a solid
middle class and more time for families. But now the Bush
Administration is trying to take away protections against excessive
hours by excluding as many as 8 million workers from overtime pay.
There's a disturbing pattern here. Employers are hiring fewer workers
here in the U.S. and working them longer - and now the Bush
administration is trying to make it cheaper for them to work employees
even longer with its proposed changes to overtime rules. A vote on an
amendment to block the Bush regulations is expected to take place in
the Senate next week, and we are working very hard to build support
for that amendment.
In fact, Bush has attacked worker protections every chance he's
gotten. He has slashed health and safety protections, denied Homeland
Security department and federal screeners the basic freedom to form
unions, and is trying to privatize Medicare and Social Security.
In the face of the most anti-worker Administration in decades,
America's workers are struggling to get a leg up in this economy - -
and many are trying to form unions. Half a million workers formed a
union last year with one of our 64 union affiliates, and over 3
million workers have formed unions since 1995. Although the pace of
new organizing is still not where we want it to be, it is far greater
than many people realize and greater than it has been in decades.
This year, we expect to see major organizing efforts among health care
workers, roofers in Arizona, California farm workers, auto workers,
and state workers in New Mexico, Illinois and New Jersey. The Cintas
laundry workers are fighting for a union with UNITE and the
Teamsters - - Cintas is the nation's largest industrial laundry, and
the workers are organizing in dozens of cities across the U.S.
Workers are organizing because, with a union, working people win basic
rights, such as a say in their jobs, safety and security. An Economic
Policy Institute paper released earlier this week showed that unions
raise compensation, including wages and benefits, by 28 percent. And
it showed that unions raise wages for workers without a union as well.
A high school graduate without a union will see a bigger paycheck just
because he or she is working in an industry that's more than a quarter
unionized.
What's important to know is that more than 40 million Americans say
they would form a union tomorrow - - but too few will ever have that
chance. Cornell research shows that 95 percent of private-sector
employers fight their workers' efforts to organize a union -- often
breaking the law. Three-quarters of employers force workers to sit
through closed-door meetings against the union. Half illegally
threaten to shut down if their workers choose a union, and a quarter
illegally fire union supporters.
What employers do is shameful and wrong - - and our communities
suffer. When fewer workers have unions, the standard of living falls
for everyone and the gap between the rich and poor grows.
That's why this Labor Day, we're launching a major campaign to build
nationwide support for workers' freedom to choose a union. In city
after city, community and elected leaders are joining with unions to
stand with workers who are trying to form unions, and calling on
employers to honor this basic American right. Local union leaders are
organizing roundtables for workers who are struggling to organize to
sit down with elected officials - and in fact, all the Democratic
candidates for President will meet with workers who are forming
unions. Most of those worker roundtables have already taken place.
The AFL-CIO is also joining in the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride to
support immigrant rights, including their freedom to organize unions.
More than 60 buses, filled with workers and immigrant rights
advocates, will converge here in DC and then in New York City in early
October.
And after watching the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration,
union members are ready to take on the challenge of electing a working
people's president. We're planning the largest and earliest education
and mobilization effort ever for the 2004 elections. In 2002, 93
percent of union members say they received election information from
union sources, including from fellow union members at the workplace.
We will meet that, and top it, in 2004.
The AFL-CIO just held our Presidential forum in early August and, as
you know, some unions have already endorsed Dick Gephardt. Many unions
are still going through a membership education and polling process to
find out which Democratic candidate -- if any -- they want to support.
We also asked President Bush to speak to our AFL-CIO Executive Council
in August or at any time of his choosing this summer, and he declined.
While we tend to work more closely with Democratic presidents who
share a progressive working families agenda, the AFL-CIO has always
had a relationship with Republican administrations too --- until this
one. George Bush is the first president with whom the president of the
AFL- CIO has never met since our founding - and I personally think
that is a travesty.
Next week in Detroit, I plan to announce the formation of a new
union -- Working America - - which will be directly affiliated with
the AFL-CIO. There are millions of working people who would like to be
part of the AFL- CIO's efforts for social justice and who want a voice
to speak out and work to change the direction of this country. Working
America will give them that chance. We will recruit for Working
America in communities nationwide, including knocking on doors to
build support for an even bigger push for legislation and policies
which help working families. It will focus on national, as well as
state and local legislation.
Finally, let me just say that I travel this country constantly. People
are very dissatisfied with the way this country is going. They want
jobs and the ability to make a bread and butter living. They want
affordable health care, and they want their basic freedoms honored on
the job. This Labor Day, the union movement is determined to continue
to lead the fight for a better America.
http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/pr08282003.cfm
Roundtable
August 28, 2003
As we come to Labor Day 2003, working America is facing a crisis. It's
a jobs crisis and it's the number 1 issue facing Americans. Despite
our so-called recovery, far too many people are out of work and many
have been out of work for a long time. White collar as well as blue-
collar employees are losing jobs, and many of these jobs aren't coming
back. And executives are slashing health care and retirement benefits.
President Bush has pulled the rug out from under America's working
people and rolled out a red carpet for the wealthy and giant
corporations.
There has been more net job loss under Bush than under any President
since Herbert Hoover. One Nobel prize winning economist recently
called the Bush economic policies the worst in 200 years, adding that
the Bush tax cuts that predominantly benefited a wealthy few will mean
a 10-year budget deficit of nearly 6 trillion dollars.
For the same money that Bush spent on millionaire tax breaks, he COULD
have stimulated the economy and created jobs by building roads and
schools, helped provide much- needed health care, sent urgently-needed
aid to the states, and given tax breaks to the low and middle income
earners who need it and will spend it to get the economy moving.
Labor Day was established to get respect for workers and curb abuse by
setting the eight-hour day. Workers have struggled to put protections
for workers into place for 150 years, and the result has been a solid
middle class and more time for families. But now the Bush
Administration is trying to take away protections against excessive
hours by excluding as many as 8 million workers from overtime pay.
There's a disturbing pattern here. Employers are hiring fewer workers
here in the U.S. and working them longer - and now the Bush
administration is trying to make it cheaper for them to work employees
even longer with its proposed changes to overtime rules. A vote on an
amendment to block the Bush regulations is expected to take place in
the Senate next week, and we are working very hard to build support
for that amendment.
In fact, Bush has attacked worker protections every chance he's
gotten. He has slashed health and safety protections, denied Homeland
Security department and federal screeners the basic freedom to form
unions, and is trying to privatize Medicare and Social Security.
In the face of the most anti-worker Administration in decades,
America's workers are struggling to get a leg up in this economy - -
and many are trying to form unions. Half a million workers formed a
union last year with one of our 64 union affiliates, and over 3
million workers have formed unions since 1995. Although the pace of
new organizing is still not where we want it to be, it is far greater
than many people realize and greater than it has been in decades.
This year, we expect to see major organizing efforts among health care
workers, roofers in Arizona, California farm workers, auto workers,
and state workers in New Mexico, Illinois and New Jersey. The Cintas
laundry workers are fighting for a union with UNITE and the
Teamsters - - Cintas is the nation's largest industrial laundry, and
the workers are organizing in dozens of cities across the U.S.
Workers are organizing because, with a union, working people win basic
rights, such as a say in their jobs, safety and security. An Economic
Policy Institute paper released earlier this week showed that unions
raise compensation, including wages and benefits, by 28 percent. And
it showed that unions raise wages for workers without a union as well.
A high school graduate without a union will see a bigger paycheck just
because he or she is working in an industry that's more than a quarter
unionized.
What's important to know is that more than 40 million Americans say
they would form a union tomorrow - - but too few will ever have that
chance. Cornell research shows that 95 percent of private-sector
employers fight their workers' efforts to organize a union -- often
breaking the law. Three-quarters of employers force workers to sit
through closed-door meetings against the union. Half illegally
threaten to shut down if their workers choose a union, and a quarter
illegally fire union supporters.
What employers do is shameful and wrong - - and our communities
suffer. When fewer workers have unions, the standard of living falls
for everyone and the gap between the rich and poor grows.
That's why this Labor Day, we're launching a major campaign to build
nationwide support for workers' freedom to choose a union. In city
after city, community and elected leaders are joining with unions to
stand with workers who are trying to form unions, and calling on
employers to honor this basic American right. Local union leaders are
organizing roundtables for workers who are struggling to organize to
sit down with elected officials - and in fact, all the Democratic
candidates for President will meet with workers who are forming
unions. Most of those worker roundtables have already taken place.
The AFL-CIO is also joining in the Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride to
support immigrant rights, including their freedom to organize unions.
More than 60 buses, filled with workers and immigrant rights
advocates, will converge here in DC and then in New York City in early
October.
And after watching the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration,
union members are ready to take on the challenge of electing a working
people's president. We're planning the largest and earliest education
and mobilization effort ever for the 2004 elections. In 2002, 93
percent of union members say they received election information from
union sources, including from fellow union members at the workplace.
We will meet that, and top it, in 2004.
The AFL-CIO just held our Presidential forum in early August and, as
you know, some unions have already endorsed Dick Gephardt. Many unions
are still going through a membership education and polling process to
find out which Democratic candidate -- if any -- they want to support.
We also asked President Bush to speak to our AFL-CIO Executive Council
in August or at any time of his choosing this summer, and he declined.
While we tend to work more closely with Democratic presidents who
share a progressive working families agenda, the AFL-CIO has always
had a relationship with Republican administrations too --- until this
one. George Bush is the first president with whom the president of the
AFL- CIO has never met since our founding - and I personally think
that is a travesty.
Next week in Detroit, I plan to announce the formation of a new
union -- Working America - - which will be directly affiliated with
the AFL-CIO. There are millions of working people who would like to be
part of the AFL- CIO's efforts for social justice and who want a voice
to speak out and work to change the direction of this country. Working
America will give them that chance. We will recruit for Working
America in communities nationwide, including knocking on doors to
build support for an even bigger push for legislation and policies
which help working families. It will focus on national, as well as
state and local legislation.
Finally, let me just say that I travel this country constantly. People
are very dissatisfied with the way this country is going. They want
jobs and the ability to make a bread and butter living. They want
affordable health care, and they want their basic freedoms honored on
the job. This Labor Day, the union movement is determined to continue
to lead the fight for a better America.
http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/pr08282003.cfm