Unions ride Dem wave

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Hill

Unions ride Dem wave
By Sam Youngman
March 28, 2007
Big Labor is this week putting the seal on what its leaders say is a “renaissance” that has rescued it from the abyss of 2004 and put it back at the center of Democratic Party politics.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), the three leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, sought out the endorsement of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) yesterday, holding court at the union’s legislative conference at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill.

This morning the entire slate of Democratic candidates, joined by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), are scheduled to address a presidential forum sponsored by the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

The forum will be the fifth of its kind this year — three have been held in the federal capital — as organized unions are enjoying what they say is “a real feeling of re-emergence.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/unions-ride-dem-wave-2007-03-27.html

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Hagel is there???? He has not been a friend to labor or working families in the past. Just two months ago he voted to repeal the minimum wage. Something strange is going on here.

[jwirr]

1. Hagel knows where the bread is buttered. He may be planning to

run. I live in a strong Union area of the country and am delighted that we are working with them. Much of what is good about our area is because the Union and Industry worked together to make it better for all the people living in this area. I also like the Union's work with the Apollo Alliance and other environmental programs to encourage alternative energy issues. In the end working together is what makes the world go round. pugs have it all wrong, it is not about "me" it is about "us".

[Orsino]

2. Well, the Dems will ride the Union wave, anyway.

I hope the unions are savvy enough to get substantive promises.