Edwards calls for changes to labor laws

[Omaha Steve]

Source: USA Today

Edwards calls for changes to labor laws

By Joe Winn, Indianola Record-Herald
INDIANOLA, Iowa — Federal legislation mandating reforms in labor laws is needed to guarantee fairness in the workplace, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told Iowa voters Saturday in Indianola.

"We need to change the labor laws in this country, it's become clear the labor laws have become stranded in the favor of employers, and all we want is fairness for employees, not an advantage for workers over their employers." Edwards said to roughly 200 people filling the back deck at the home of Ray and Joanne Walton.


Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards speaks to local residents during a noontime gathering, Friday, at the Italian Villages restaurant in Adel, Iowa.

Edwards, who asserted himself as a strong union supporter, said repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and strengthening negotiation rights for employees on strike will benefit American workers. He also noted that implementing "card check neutrality" would ease the process of employees joining a union by only requiring them to sign a certified union card.

These steps would ensure workers' ability to collectively bargain for a fair deal and stop the bleeding of American jobs overseas, said the former U.S. senator from North Carolina.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-21-edward...

[Triana]

1. YES!!! That's my President! He can spend $800 on haircuts...

..and I wouldn't care - if he could get NAFTA overturned!!!

Lovin' me some John Edwards....haircut detractors be damned.

[w4rma]

4. Can we not even bring up that manufactured "issue"? Let's talk about this issue. It's very important

It's one of the most important issues in America right now and he's the only candidate in the upper tiers who is talking about it.

[Triana]

5. Good point..

....I just had to get that little jab in about the stupid non-issue - just for the contrast when put next to a REAL one.

I agree - NAFTA is VERY important. I'd *LOVE* to see that done away with.

[w4rma]

8. Awesome! (nt)

[saltpoint]

2. NAFTA is an issue that I bet gets discussed quite a bit in the

kitchens and patios of the country, especially in households of working people.

And if so, that is going to bid well for pro-Labor, right-to-organize Democrats against any corporate Republican.

A lot of voters know the name Ken Lay and what happened to his employees' economic futures. They also know that building a fence isn't going to erase the economic injustice between U.S. and Mexican borders. And when major corporations say, we want maximum profit on one hand and want to ship your job overseas on the other, it really leaves the Democrats in a much stronger position in 2008.

And in those same real-world, around-the-kitchen-table households, that's just on the Labor issues. We haven't even gotten to Iraq yet.

We're strong on this issue; the red team is weak. Let's take advantage of the disparity and swing for the deep bleachers.

[iamjoy]

3. Good For Him

I am tired of all of these laws favoring corporations at the expense of their workers.

In his quest to eliminate poverty and strengthen the middle class, Edwards said organized labor is the most important movement for workers' rights in American history.

"What a lot of Americans have seemed to forgotten is these great manufacturing jobs weren't great jobs before the union," Edwards said.

Of course, as one attendee pointed out, Edwards does need to provide more specifics. However, Edwards has provided specifics on other programs and ideas he has, I am confident he will do so with these. It's not necessarily a bad idea though, to remind the American people what we owe the labor movement, since it seems many have a negative impression of unions now.

[davsand]

6. I'll take him seriously when he talks about repealing Taft-Hartley.

It isn't that I'd be unhappy to see NAFTA go away. Certainly, our "free trade" agreements are killing American jobs--there is no real dispute about that.

I also think that our "free trade" and outsourcing of jobs really does pose a major threat to US security. Once those industries are gone--out of country--we are left vulnerable to trade embargoes in the event of an international dispute. You can't suddenly create the plants and facilities to produce this stuff nor can you suddenly train a workforce to do the job.

Imagine how screwed the US would be if we no longer had access to steel made by foreign producers (that really is a possibility given the current level of American ability for steel production.) Similarly think about all the information that US companies have now housed in foreign countries.

Frankly, I have marveled that the GOP hawks were not screaming about this issue a long time ago. However I have not heard Dems screaming about it either, and they are supposed to be on the side of Labor...

Taft-Hartley goes back to 1947, and it, essentially, enlarged the NLRB along with limiting ability to strike. It also provided for the Feds to, essentially, kill a strike that is deemed a "peril" to national health or security. If you look long and hard at it, damn near ANY strike can be deemed a peril, and the corporation has THAT government interference in its back pocket in any strike scenario.

I'm loving Edwards for bringing these issues up. He's paying Labor lip service for sure. I'll take him (or any other candidate, for that matter) seriously--as an honest to gosh "Labor candidate"--when they talk about repeal of Taft-Hartley.



Laura

[OhioChick]

7. It's Refreshing to Hear

Edwards acknowledge the "bleeding of American jobs overseas."

K&R