Solidarity between Democrats and organized labor evident in speech to AFL-CIO Executive Committee
Written by Kevin Doyle
The Democratic Party has long been a staunch supporter of unions and that solidarity was evident once again Thursday during Vice President Joe Biden’s speech before the AFL-CIO’s Executive Committee. The news he delivered certainly could not have been welcome by owner-operators of non-union and merit shops.
According to a report by CNSNews.com, Biden told the labor group "rebuilding our broken economy gives us the opportunity to get it right and reward workers" – as in union workers.
“We're going to make sure that in every policy, every decision, we don't lose sight of the folks that brought us to the dance,” he said -- a reference to organized labor’s support of the Obama-Biden ticket. “And toward that end, we have to make sure that the jobs we're creating come with fair wages and decent benefits.”
Biden focused on the stimulus package, noting it will send taxpayer money through the pipeline to union jobs and specifically those in the building trades unions. "The focus of this administration the first month has been to rebuild American roads, bridges, waterways -- jobs for the building trades union,” he said.
He said he and President Barack Obama will uphold the National Labor Relations Act designed to "encourage collective bargaining, encourage unions." He said it's not enough for corporations and government to "tolerate" workers forming unions -- "after using every trick in the book" to block them.
In addition to championing construction jobs, Biden described teachers, police officers, firefighters, hospital workers and factory workers as the "nation's heart and soul."
“Investing and getting more people access to broadband -- communication workers. Creating clean energy economy -- jobs that require electrical workers to modernize the grid, steel workers to go out and build the wind turbines, laborers to install the solar panels. Making our communities safer, jobs that require getting cops on the beat and keeping firefighters in firehouses. That's what we're trying to do," he said.
Source: CNSNews.com