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August 15, 2007 12:52 PM

Lookin' for the union label

* * * TODAY'S LIVE BLOGGING * * *

Six Democratic presidential candidates traveled to Waterloo, Iowa, on Wednesday, all hoping to win the seal of approval from the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.

We LIVE-BLOGGED the festivities from the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center.

Below is a complete recap of how it unfolded in REAL TIME.

Or, check out Thursday morning's Rocky Mountain News for a more concise summary of how labor issues are affecting the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination. (See that story HERE.)

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* * *

The event started at 2 p.m. Central time, and here's how the coverage began here at "Back Roads to the White House."

All the top candidates will speak over the next three hours. Only former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio have been excluded -- organizers said because they have little campaign organization in Iowa.

First up:

Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut

QUESTION: Dodd is asked why the average incomes of so many workers are so much lower today than in 1980, and why it's so difficult for many to people to earn a decent wage.

"It's directly related too the decline of union households in our country," Dodd says, and he says the "first order of business" is to make sure people's right to organize unions is protected.

He hits a theme he'll repeat several times, that "most of all we need someone who's going to stand up, and has the proven record...of standing up and fighting for working people."

QUESTION: Dodd is asked if he would consult with labor leaders to make sure every position in his administration -- not just the Secretary of Labor spot -- is filled by worker-friendly people.

Dodd says he'd consult labor across the board, particularly on filling the Treasury Secretary, Commerce Secretary and National Labor Relations Board positions.

QUESTION: Dodd is asked how he would fight against currency manipulation by foreign countries, particularly China.

Dodd touts his work on legislation that would punish countrires with extra trade duties if they are guilty of manipulating their currency to get an advantage on trade.

"I call on the president of the united states to suspend all imports of food and toys coming out of China...until he's assured...that these are safe products," Dodd says.

Dodd adds: "There will be no trading agreement that will earn my signature that doesn't include labor standards, health standards and environmental standards."

Dodd has left the room...

* * *

Next up...

Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina

QUESTION: Edwards is asked what he sees as the primary reason that incomes of average working people have fallen, and why it's so hard for so many people to get by in the richest country in the world.

Edwards starts by saying "What has happened is we have a country that doesn't value work anymore -- we value wealth."

He says that means the tax system is out-of-whack, with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and capital gains taxes that are lower than the taxes middle-class workers pay.

"We need tax reform that actually works for working, middle-class families," Edwards said.

Meanwhile, he says trade deals are currently being negotiated by "what's good for the profits of multinationals..." He says the country should ask what's good for workers instead.

QUESTION: Edwards is asked how he would bring down the growing trade deficit, particularly with China.

"Our trade policy is not working. Anyone who's paying attention knows it's not working," Edwards says. He said agreements need to include "real environmental standards" and "real labor standards." And he talks of the need for protections against currency manipulation.

QUESTION: Edwards is asked to explain his health care plan.

Edwards said his plan would require employers to cover their employees or pay into a government fund. It also includes reforms like mental health care parity, dental care, vision care and measures to prevent insurers from refusing coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

"You can choose what health care you want. You can choose from a private plan or the government plan, which is Medicare-Plus," Edwards said.

"If, in fact, America decides that a Medicare, single-payer government plan is the one that's best, that's perfectly fine with me, but I want America to make that decision," Edwards said.

He said he's the candidate who provided the first universal coverage plan -- and said he's being more honest than others about the cost, which he estimates at $90 billion to $120 billion per year.

Edwards raises his voice to stress the point he has been making lately on the stump: that the country needs a forceful president willing to confront special interests, lobbyists and especially insurance companies and the health care industry.

"We'll never see change, we'll never see universal health care, unless we're willing to stand up and fight these people... We have to quit being nice. This is outrageous" what the helath care industry is doing to people, Edwards said.

Reaching the close of his appearance, Edwards brags about marching picket lines with workers. He talks about how he'd fight for legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize into unions -- and he says he'd spend political capital to make that one of his top two priorities, with health care.

"I think our political leaders have run from organized labor...as if there's something bad," Edwards said.

Edwards said America can't be "all it can be without growing organized labor."

* * *

Next up...

Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware

(AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BIDEN SECTION, LOOK FOR HIS COLORFUL QUOTATION ABOUT WHY AMERICA HAS TO STOP "sucking off that breast which is China." But first...)

QUESTION: Biden is asked the question about why he thinks average working people are being left behind in the current economy.

Biden: "Because this president has declared two wars. He declared one in Iraq and he declared another on labor..."

He cites a National Labor Relations Board decision that started making it harder and harder for unions to organize, and said that as the proportion of union households dropped, the middle class suffered.

"You are the middle class," Biden said. "If you're going to grow the middle class in America, labor has got to grow."

QUESTION: Biden is asked how he sees energy and environmental policy being used to revitalize the American manufacturing sector.

He said he'd use the bully pulpit of the presidency and, as "the first thing I would announce as an executive order" would demand that every federal government vehicle gets more than 40 miles per gallon and requiring that every new government building be a "green building," thereby creating a demand for new products, new construction and new jobs.

Biden also stressed the need to invest more in renewable energy technology, and to "export" that know-how to improve the country's trade balance.

QUESTION: Biden is asked how he would bring down the trade deficit.

Biden said he'd change tax policy and end the war in Iraq because the taxpayers costs are adding to the debt that's now being held by China's government.

"They own a mortgage on our house," Biden said.

Biden causes nervous laughter in the room as he explains it this way: "We have to get off that sucking off that breast which is China." (sic)

QUESTION: Biden was asked the same question on health care reform.

He launches into a fiery attack on lobbyists and special interests that fund politicians.

"If I could pass one single law that would get you universal health care, it would be (public) financing of elections," Biden said.

"It's not about the plan," Biden said. "It's about the leadership. How are you going to get it done."

He mentions characters from a famous television ad, financed by special interests, who helped rally television viewers to oppose earlier attempts at helath care reform in the 1990s. "How are you going to beat 'Harry and Louise'?"

Biden said he would pass smaller parts of the health care reform package, like guaranteeing catastrophic health care coverage for all, as steps toward the ultimate goal of universal health care.

"Make sure you don't make the perfect the enemy of the good," Biden said.

And Biden said he'd "underwrite" experiments in individual states during his first two years to build momentum and public acceptance for a national system.

On another topic, he says Democrats will lose in 2008 if they don't nominate a candidate who has "unimpeachable credentials" on national security issues.

Biden leaves the stage denouncing President Bush and saying of national Republican presidential nominee, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, "I can't wait to debate Rudy Giuliani. I will eat him alive." (Check back and we'll include a link to Mike Gravel's almost identical statement in a live-chat with the Rocky Mountain News earlier this year. HERE'S THAT LINK.)

* * *

Next up...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

QUESTION: Richardson is asked why he thinks working people are having a hard time getting by in this country.

Richardson opens with optimism, saying he's hopeful the country can get out of that economic "morass."

He brings the issue home to Iowa, talking about 2,700 people who recently lost jobs at a plant in Newton, Iowa -- about an hour southwest of the forum in waterloo.

He talks about cutting health care costs, lowering inflation, and he is the first presidential candidate here to mention the need to protect workers' pensions.

Richardson blasts the Bush administration's tax cuts for upper-income earners, and he, like the others, talks of making it easier for unions to organize.

"I believe being a member of a union is good for American workers and is good for America."

Richardson says his Secretary of Labor would be a union member.

Richardson gets a laugh for the way he ended a long filibuster: "Am I going over? Am I still within two minutes? It sounds lik I'm going on forever, to myself."

Richardson adds that he would purge "union-busting attorneys" from OSHA and the Department of Labor.

QUESTION; Richardson is asked if the government should be responsible for assuring "full-employment."

Richardson said the current unemployment figures -- over 3 percent -- are unacceptable.

He talks about his record in Congress, as Energy Secretary and as governor of New Mexico -- bragging that he created 80,000 jobs in New Mexico -- where, he said, "the union wage is the prevailing wage."

On another question, Richardson said there needs to be a constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to balance its budget, and he calls for a line-item veto -- something that also would require a constitutional amendment.

QUESTION: Richardson is asked about his health care plans.

"I haven't been supportive of single-payer because I don't think the government can run health care."

Richardson stresses the part of his plan that calls for lowering Medicare eligibility from 65 years to 55 years of age. He talks about his plan to give all military veterans a "Heroes" health cared that would allow them to get treatment anywhere, not just at VA facilities.

Richardson's boldest promise at the union event: he promises that he'd set a goal to help union organizing so that at the end of his first term, 17 percent of America's workers are unionized. It would be 30 percent after his second term, he said. (Currently, an estimated 7 percent of the country's private-sector workforce is unionized.)

* * *

Next up...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York

QUESTION: Clinton is asked the question about why she thinks so many American workers are unable to make a decent living.

Clinton launches into her "invisible" Americans theme, saying the problems of too many people have been "rendered invisible" by their government and by large corporations.

Clinton says "It's not rich people that made America great." She then praises unions that fought for better wages, benefits and working conditions.

She said working families are falling through an economic "trap door." "Productivity is up. Corporate profits are up, but the average family income isn't," and costs are rising, Clinton said. "What we've got to figure out how to do is making our economy work for everybody again."

Clinton, like the others, talks about making it easier for unions to organize.

"When you're down to 7 percent of the private sector workforce being unionized, that means it's out of balance in America," Clinton said. "Part of what we've got to do is get back into balance."

Clinton talks about creating jobs by investing in the country's infrastructure -- including roads, bridges and ports. And she gets applause from communications workers sitting on the side of the room when she talks about investing to rural areas for telecommunications.

QUESTION: Clinton is asked how she would improve the country's balance of trade, and whether she supports the AFL-CIO's call for a "strategic pause" in new trade deals until workers' rights are protected.

Clinton said that, "in effect," there will be a strategic pause until there is a new president, because President Bush won't be able to get any new trade agreements passed.

Clinton cites here proposed legislation to re-evaluate existing trade agreements.

"We need to go after those countries who are not doing what they said they were going to do," Clinton said.

Clinton, whose husband was in the White House during passage of the North American Free Trade Act, said people always ask her "Are you for free trade or fair trade." "I say, 'I'm for smart, pro-America trade," Clinton siad.

QUESTION: Clinton is asked about her health care proposals.

All week, former Sen. Edwards has been challenging her to come up with a specific plan to outline her goal of providing universal health care.

Clinton said that next week, in New Hampshire, she will offer specific proposals to improve health care quality, and that in September she will unveil a specific plan on "how we cover everybody."

She used the question to take a swipe at President Bush's longtime political adviser, Karl Rove, who has been among those calling her health care strategy "socialized medicine."

"I feel so lucky I now am giving them such heartburn," Clinton said.

She alluded to her failed attempts to enact health care reform in the 1990s.

"I don't want to miss again. I want to make it happen." She talked about taking on special interest groups that have blocked reform. "It's hard to believe even Richard Nixon wanted to have health care that covered everyone," Clinton said.

In closing remarks, Clinton again said she saw few differences among the Democratic candidates on labor issues.

"We've got friends of labor across that stage," Clinton said. "The contrast between us and the Republicans could not be more stark."

She said that's why she is already focusing on the big prize -- winning the general election, not just the Democratic nomination.

Clinton said workers could not afford another four years of Republican rule.

"Therefore, I'm running a campaign right now, not just to win the nomination but to win the general election and to beat whatever Republican they put up," Clinton said.

She cited her adviser, husband former President Bill Clinton, saying: "We understand how to beat national Republicans."

* * *

Next up, the final speaker...

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois

QUESTION: Obama was asked the standard question about why he thinks average workers have such a hard time getting by in today's economy.

Obama said one of the reasons is because the organized labor movement has been weakened.

One need, he said, "is to have a Department of Labor that actually believes in labor."

Obama said President Bush and Republicans came into office intent to "destroy" the union movement. "I look across this room, it's clear that they did not succeed."

He said it was important to have a president who was willing to talk about unions: "When was the last time you heard someone talk about the labor movement in a State of the Union speech," Obama said, drawing loud laughter from the audience.

Like all the other candidates, he said he would support pending legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize.

QUESTION: Obama was asked how he would reverse the country's trade deficit and handle trade agreements overall.

Obama said, too often, trade agreements -- and the economy in general -- are evaluated based on the needs of Wall Street investors, not the needs of average workers on Main Street.

Obama said he had not signed off on the AFL-CIO's call for a "strategic pause" in new trade agreements, but quickly added, "What I can guarantee you is I will not sign off on a trade agreement that doesn't have strong labor provisions, that doesn't have strong environmental provisions..."

"If we can't sell cars into South Korea, I don't understand why you would allow them to sell into the United States of America," Obama added.

QUESTION: Obama was asked to explain his plan for universal health care.

He said that if he were to design a system "from scratch," it might be a single-payer system, but since the country already has a patchwork of private company-provided health care, with a government system as a backup, it's more feasible to add universal coverage to the existing system.

"Every American should have access to a type of plan I enjoy as a member of Congress," Obama said. "My attitude is I shouldn't have a better health care plan than the people who are paying my salary."

He used a follow-up question to talk about his refusal to take money from lobbyists -- saying that special interest money has taken power away from average people and held back things like health care reform.

"We're going to have to overcome that, and the only way we're going to overcome it is if we're ...organized," Obama said.

Obama said the key to reform on issues like health care was to reinvigorate the labor movement.

"We've got to strengthen you," Obama said.

Obama also used a line he often uses on the campaign trail when talking about the health care industry: "I don't mind insurance companies and drug companies having a seat at the table. I just don't want them buying all the chairs."

Obama said he would make the case to the American people that the labor movement's interests are the interests of American society as a whole.

He said unions helped bring improved wages, improved benefits, shorter-work weeks and other rights.

"I'd tell everybody, particularly people who aren't union members, that this country's middle class was built by the union movement," and if that movement suffers, fewer people can afford health care, higher education, and that hurts society as a whole, Obama said. "That costs everybody."

* * *

The forum has ended, and so has the live coverage.

Watch Thursday's Rocky Mountain News for a full report on how labor issues are affecting the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

For now, it's time for a...

Posted by M.E. Sprengelmeyer at 12:52 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

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