Making America Work for the Working Poor

This comes from one of my Union list serves. Please take the time to read and think about who will come forward in 2008 to run for President. Some are already positioning themselves. Both John McCain and John Edwards spoke at the Carpenters 39th General(Rubber Stamp & Pin) Convention in Las Vegas last August. Hilary Clinton will be making a serious bid for the job. Condelezza Rice is already being mentioned as a possible running mate for the Repug ticket. We must make some serious decisions about who were are going to support. Don't wait.....The time is now!!!!!!!!!!!!!...................In Brotherhood & Solidarity....................Scott From: Zwarich

To: CDUI@yahoogroups.com

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2006

This article (copied below) came in on Portside. John Edwards (as most
surely know) was Kerry's running mate in '04. Wilhelm (as most also surely
know) is the honcho at UNITE-HERE. This is a very well written piece.

John Edwards is 'coming out' for '08 by right off the bat by making his
first, and very direct and very un-ambiguous appeal to working people and to
Labor. This is clearly where he wants to root his campaign. What do we think
about him? Before we decide that, what do we know about him? Anybody?

Here is from his Wikipedia bio:

" Edwards was born on June 10, 1953, to English-American parents, Wallace R.
Edwards and Kathryn Juanita Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. The family moved
soon after Edwards's birth to Robbins, North Carolina, where his father
worked in a textile mill and his mother was a postal employee. Edwards was
the first person in his family to attend college; he first attended Clemson
University and later transferred to North Carolina State University when his
family moved to North Carolina.
He graduated with a bachelor's degree in textile technology in 1974, and
later earned a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, both with honors. While at UNC-Chapel Hill, he met and married his
wife, fellow law student Mary Elizabeth Anania. They wed in 1977 and each
served one-year clerkships for federal judges. "

So he does have working class roots, although his family is also described
by Wikipedia, (anyone can read his whole bio at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards ), as being "a middle class
family", so it is likely that they enjoyed and appreciated the benefits of
trade unionism.

Here is another clear instance where a United Progressive Labor could exert
power. United Progressive Labor would have the power to be 'listened to',
and very likely could command a response, by main arena populist politicians
like Edwards. He 'believes in', (if we listen to what he says), the right
things. His heart is rooted (he tells us) in a moral concern for economic
justice for the Common Citizens of the Nation. This is what the man is
SAYing. What has he actually done? What does he propose to actually DO?

What is his entire vision? It MUST be consistent. What is his foreign policy
vision? American Foreign Policy is now keenly targeted to maintain and
increase American economic global domination, by continuing to build the
Global Power of Mega Corporations. This is diametrically opposed to the
interests of America's Common Citizens, (the working people of the Nation).
Anyone who pretends to be on the side of working people CANNOT support a
continuation, and/or any further empowerment of Corporate Globalization.
Corporate Globalization is a naked world-wide strong-arm scam , a combined
loan shark scam and protection racket, that is run exactly like the Mafia.
Corporate Globalization represents the subversion of Democracy all over the
world, with a dramatic decline of the role and power of government itself,
(not just foreign governments, not just our OWN government, but ALL
governments, of 'government' ITSELF), to rein in Corporate Power. (Over half
of the 100 largest 'governments' in the world, in terms of the size of the
'economy' that they directly 'govern', are individual American
corporations). The Corporate Party, the interests of Big Money, (the de
facto Global Mega-Mafia), has openly declared war on much more than the
bogeyman of 'terrorism'. It has declared an all out economic war on working
people both at home, against America's Common Citizens, (American working
people), and around the world.

If Edwards, (or anyone else), is going to be a political champion for
working people, for the Common Citizens, then he must have a foreign policy
vision that projects a full understanding of the dynamics of Corporate
Globalization, and its enormous deleterious effects on the Common Citizens,
both in our own Nation, and in many other nations even less fortunate than
us. Does he fully understand the dynamics of the cruel and cutthroat
Globalized 'Race To The Bottom' among the Common Working Citizens in every
corner of the vast de facto American Empire, INCLUDING right in the heart of
America's working class communities?

We most definitely NEED a Champion to 'carry the banner' for working people.
But we don't need some 'country rube' who's heart is in the right place, but
his head seems a little jumbled. Getting behind a naive, (or worse,
hypocritical), mainstream politician would very likely hurt us MUCH more
than it could possibly help us. It would only siphon our energy into digging
a dry well. It would prevent us from doing anything else that might actually
be effective in moving our agenda forward. It would prevent us from
identifying and empowering Leadership that is motivated by both moral
concern and Strategic Vision.

I think we owe Mr. Edwards a serious look and listen. My own eyes and ears
are wide open. But he definitely owes Progressive Labor a full exposure of
his comprehensive 'Vision' for improving the lives of the Nation's Common
Citizens.

What are the implications here of Edwards' apparent unity with Wilhelm? Is
that a 'problem' for Progressive Labor? What's Edwards relationship to
Stern? United Progressive Labor had better weigh in here if it wants to play
a role.

Progressive Labor list serves could immediately identify and recruit their
best writers and spokespeople, as an 'officially designated' representative
of the Group, (for LAC, CDUI, SOS, MFD, AUD, TDU, ETC, ETC), to send serious
inquiries directly to Edwards by way of open public letter. As each list
serve sends off such an 'official letter of inquiry' to Mr. Edwards, it
could then encourage its members, in immediate follow up, to write their own
individual letters to Edwards. Projects like this could be done immediately,
even before a United Progressive Labor is officially formed. Forging
cooperation around targeted projects like this will provide the opportunity
for progressive unionists to become acquainted over time through working
together, and the bonds that could form up in consolidation could begin to
take shape.

But if United Progressive Labor had an established identity, it could get
its 'open letter' more widely published, (on Common Dreams, Portside,
TruthOut, Etc). This would obviously help 'leverage' a public response from
Edwards, or other main arena politicians that might want to come around to
'court' Labor.

We've got to pin this guy Edwards down. Right off the dam bat. If we don't,
he is liable to 'take root' in Big Labor and sell out working people. We
can't let a 'poseur' occupy this position. On the other hand, if this guy is
the Real Thing, then we've got to start lending some motion to what he is
trying to do.

Read what he has to say here, (along with Wilhelm), and what does anybody
think about him? Here's the piece by Edwards and Wilhelm:

RZ

----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 11:35 PM
Subject: Making America work for the working poor


Making America Work for the Working Poor
By John Edwards and John Wilhelm
The Boston Globe

Friday 17 February 2006

It used to be that poverty was invisible in America. When Michael Harrington published "The Other America" in 1960, he wrote about the unseen millions living in inner-city housing projects, in Appalachia, in rural America. The poor were stuck in isolated ghettos, dying towns, and industries that Harrington called the economic underworld of American life. As the rest of the country went to work and prospered, the poor were bypassed.

Our nation launched a war on poverty in the 1960s and 1970s that helped move millions of Americans out of poverty and into the middle class. While we were able to make some important progress, we still have much work to do. We saw just how pervasive poverty is when we saw the images of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on our television sets.

One of the great disgraces of our country is that a vast new impoverished population has developed in our midst. These are the Americans who work - in fact, they labor at the heart of the industries that drive our economy - yet they still are unable to make ends meet, even as they work at two or three jobs.

Thirty million American workers, 1 out of every 4, make less than $8.70 an hour. These workers, even the ones who work full time year-round, do not earn enough to lift a family of four out of poverty. While whole industries are exporting high-wage jobs to other nations, American workers have been left with jobs that don't pay enough to cover their rent, healthcare, or school books for their children. In this global economy, the service industry jobs that are staying here are not the jobs with the best pay and benefits.

This is both a shame and a challenge - a shame because America has always honored the ethic of hard work - yet millions of Americans are struggling at two or three jobs and still finding the middle class out of reach. It's a challenge because we have a moral responsibility to help those who are doing everything they can to get by, but are still stuck at jobs with poverty wages. The fact that powerful corporations make huge profits by keeping wages low does not reduce our moral obligation to help the working poor. In fact, it adds to our obligation.

Consider the hotel industry, which employs more than 1.3 million people in this country. The consulting firm Ernst & Young, in its outlook on the hotel and lodging industry, says: "The Good Times Continue to Roll." But good times for whom? Profits have risen to pre-9/11 levels, yet the average wage for a housekeeper is below the poverty line. Hotel chains are finding the money to invest in their image, their grounds, and their rooms, while wages for hotel workers remain far too low. Hotel chains are investing more in imported cotton sheets, yet relatively less in wages for workers.

Hotel workers all across this country believe in the American ethic based on the principle that hard work can lead to a better future. They do not lack motivation, dedication, or skill. What they lack is power. About 90,000 workers in the hotel industry are represented by the union UNITE HERE. In such cities as New York and San Francisco, where UNITE HERE has made significant progress on behalf of workers, wages are significantly higher than in cities where most workers do not belong to a union.

Hotel workers who belong to unions have been able to save money, buy homes, and give their children more opportunities. Imagine what it would mean for such cities and towns as Boston, Lynn, and Framingham if the wages for hotel workers could match the wages of disappearing manufacturing jobs. These families would be able to move out of poverty and into the middle class, which would help reinvigorate these communities.

To support the hard work of hotel workers by giving them more opportunities to achieve the American dream, we are launching the "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign. Our goal is to build a broad coalition of hotel workers, community activists, religious leaders, political leaders, and people of conscience to encourage the hotel industry to make good on the American promise.

For generations, America has been the land of opportunity - the place where if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could get ahead. Unfortunately, most Americans are working just as hard, but still struggling to make ends meet.

It is time for America to become the land of opportunity again, so no American who works full time lives in poverty.

Too many hard-working Americans are struggling to get by. It is time for America to once again reward work. It's time to make work pay again and to give these workers the opportunity to live the American dream.

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John Edwards is a former Democratic senator from North Carolina and vice presidential nominee. John Wilhelm is president of the UNITE HERE hotel workers union.