/news/ en CWA Votes Copyright 2008 2008-08-27T15:57:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/obama_i_believe_in_unions/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/obama_i_believe_in_unions/ On August 5, Barack Obama spoke passionately about labor issues during a town hall meeting in Ohio. Obama started off strong, declaring, “I believe in unions.” But, he didn’t stop there. Obama said: “If you look at the history of this country – things we take for granted, the 40-hour work week, minimum wage, overtime, healthcare benefits, paid leave, child labor laws. Those were all labor fights.” Obama is taking a clear pro-union message to audiences beyond union halls and is spreading the word about the importance of labor issues in general, and the Employee Free Choice Act in particular. Watch the full video: 2008-08-25T14:56:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/meet_barack_obama/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/meet_barack_obama/ The AFL-CIO has created a neat flash book to introduce folks to Barack Obama. It's full of information about his background and his stances on the most important issues -- from the economy to health care to retirement security. Check it out here, and share it with other CWA members. Candidates, Barack Obama 2008-07-01T14:34:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/cwa_pledges_support_for_barack_obama/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/cwa_pledges_support_for_barack_obama/ On June 23, CWA delegates committed their energy and resources and pledged to work "as never before" to elect Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States.  Senator Obama has made clear his commitment to CWA's four key issues -- the Employee Free Choice Act, universal health care, fair trade and good jobs, and financial security for retirees -- and he has proven his ability to energize millions of people across the country, unite voters across party lines and bring many new people into the political process. Watch this video of Senator Obama thanking CWA membership for our support at our convention on Monday and send the video to your friends and co-workers. 2008-06-25T16:49:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/introducing_mccainpedia_org/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/introducing_mccainpedia_org/ McCainPedia.org is a wiki, a type of Web site comprised of editable information from many sources, which serves as the Democratic National Committee's repository for all things McCain. The goal of the site is to host thorough, vetted, and comprehensive research and information about Senator John McCain in real time. According to the site: In the past, research by candidates and political parties was hidden from the public and couldn't be accessed by voters trying to figure out how they should vote, by activists looking to influence the election, or by bloggers trying to find good research to help write their blogs. With this resource, which will be constantly updated with additional material through the election, we are embracing the idea that opening up our resources is the best way to engage voters and elect a Democrat to the White House. The main difference between McCainPedia.org and other wiki sites is that it is not open to be edited by the general public. The DNC's Research, Communications, and Internet teams make up the editors for the site and because of this approach, unlike traditional wikis, all of the information posted on the site has been vetted for accuracy, and has been verified to be correct by the DNC. Check out the site throughout the election to learn everything from the details of the lasted McCain blunder to more information on his dangerous lack of knowledge about the economy. 2008-06-19T19:37:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/john_mccains_youtube_nightmare/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/john_mccains_youtube_nightmare/ Last year, Brave New Films released 'The Real McCain,' highlighting the troubling discrepancies and lies in John McCains's record and public statements. After almost 2 million views, Brave New Films decided they needed to tell the next chapter in the story, which brings us to the sequel: 'The Real McCain 2': 'The Real McCain 2' would be funny if John McCain weren't running for president. In clip after clip, Senator McCain contradicts himself and the truth. One clip shows him claiming he walked down the streets of Baghdad neighborhoods with no body armor. The next clip shows video of McCain during his supposedly unarmored walk wearing, of course, armor, and details the rest of the security present: more than 100 American soldiers, three black hawk helicopters and two apache gunships overhead. In another outrageous part of the video, McCain claims he has extensive background and knowledge of the economy -- and then we see him admitting he still needs to be educated on economic issues and lacks economic expertise to delve into George Bush's interest rate cuts. 2008-06-16T18:59:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/mccain_says_fundamentals_of_the_economy_are_very_strong/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/mccain_says_fundamentals_of_the_economy_are_very_strong/ We could try to give John McCain some credit - maybe when he said the "fundamentals of the economy are very strong," he just wasn't considering $4 a gallon gas, the surging unemployment rate, or the home foreclosure crisis. But the sad reality, as we've reported before on the CWA Votes Blog, is that McCain just doesn't get that there is a serious problem. Here's McCain's pronouncement, made at the same time reports of record-breaking oil prices, rising unemployment rates, and huge stock market losses: As Tula Connell writes, "it's long past time for such pat pronouncements." John McCain shouldn't be given a pass for accepting the Bush premises of low taxes on the rich and utter abandonment of a fair playing field for all workers. Those policies haven't worked for the past seven-plus years, and they won't work for four more. 2008-06-10T16:49:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/organizing_fair_wages_and_health_care_oh_my/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/organizing_fair_wages_and_health_care_oh_my/ Big business is afraid of The Employee Free Choice Act. The Employee Free Choice Act, which is supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help middle class economic growth by making it easier for workers to unionize. Forbes.com reported last week on the fears of a union renaissance by some business associations:  Union membership encompasses just 7.5% of the private sector, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fearful of a potential resurgence in the United States. Now the group, which represents business interests, is opposing a laundry list of bills fluttering about Capitol Hill, which the chamber says would make it easier to organize a union, expand worker benefits at the expense of employers and lift the caps on punitive damages sought by employees in lawsuits. So, what are they so scared of? Having to finally follow existing law that protects the rights of workers to organize? That would be terrible! "What's going on on Capitol Hill right now is nothing less than a radical rewrite of our nation's unemployment laws," says Randel Johnson, the chamber's vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits. But forget 2008. "We're very concerned about the next four years," Johnson says. The prospect of Democrats controlling Congress and the White House is unsettling for foes of labor expansion. The presumptive democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama has vowed unwavering support for the Free Choice Act as well as other labor issues like restructuring trade deals to protect workers here and abroad. Of course Sen. John McCain is in favor of anti-union laws and opposes, in lock step with George Bush, the Employee Free Choice Act.  Teamsters' spokesman Galen Munroe says, "It's pretty much accepted that Americans want change after the Bush administration."  And that's exactly what they're going to get. 2008-06-06T19:09:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/mccain_on_trade_what_planet_is_he_on/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/mccain_on_trade_what_planet_is_he_on/   Eighty percent of Americans are sure this country is on the wrong road economically. Sen. John McCain acknowledges this, yet believes it has nothing to do with foreclosures, 4 dollar gas, or the health care crisis; instead he blames Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for their opposition to a widely criticized free trade agreement with Columbia. Seth Michaels wrote an enlightening article for the AFL-CIO Now blog on the reasons behind McCain's ardent support for the trade agreement. Maybe McCain is spending too much time listening to the lobbyists who run and fund his campaign -- one top backer actually lobbies for Colombia's government. Clearly, he's not listening to the millions of working families who are unhappy about lost jobs, shuttered factories, foreclosures and rising costs.   Nor is he thinking about the exploited Colombian workers who face intimidation, threats and even murder if they try to secure their rights at work. Last year, 39 trade unionists were killed in anti-union violence in Colombia, and 24 have been killed already this year -- more than one a week. 
 Michaels was echoing the President of AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, in accusing McCain of being out of touch. Sweeney emphasized Columbia's history of human rights abuse. John McCain glossed over horrific human rights abuses and the deaths of hundreds of Colombian union activists today when he urged Congress to pass the Bush administration's ill-conceived Colombian trade pact. Workers in Colombia are targeted for violence and blocked from joining unions to lift their lives and prevent exploitation, making fair trade impossible. In fact, Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world to be a union member. The fact that McCain believes not passing Bush's bad trade deal with Colombia is the reason Americans think we're on the wrong track is a measure of how out of touch he's become with working people's concerns. 
 McCain is clearly happy following the paths of trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and the agreements with Peru and Chile straight into Columbia without acknowledging the problems with previous agreements or the issues of the Columbian people, creating an obviously fallible campaign argument in the process. So, no Mr. Senator, 80 percent of Americans do not think we are on the wrong track because of democratic opposition to the Columbian trade agreement. You could figure it out, Senator McCain, by starting with a good, hard look in the mirror. 2008-06-02T19:48:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/democrat_travis_childers_wins_red_ms_district_with_support_from_cwa/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/democrat_travis_childers_wins_red_ms_district_with_support_from_cwa/ Democrat Travis Childers won Mississippi’s May 3rd special election to represent the traditionally Republican first congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, with the help from the Communications Workers of America. CWA locals, along with the United Steel Workers, helped Childers win this stunning victory by distributing mailings, placing robocalls, phone banking, and talking about his message during everything from baseball games to Sunday dinner. CWA District 3 Legislative-Political Coordinator Beverly Hicks said every CWA local union and unions throughout the state got involved and worked together. "It's so important to put people in office who will be accountable and who will support working families and the issues that are so important to us. That's exactly what happened in this election," she said. Despite what Garry Jordan, president of CWA Local 3517, describes as Republican attempts to distract voters with terrible advertising, the efforts of CWA to keep the focus on the economy, health care, and other concerns for working families proved to be effective. "We'll do it all over again in November" when Childers must run again, Jordan said, adding that union members were seeing a real change in Mississippi and the opportunity to elect a U.S. Senator and other representatives who would "get people health care, get them workers' rights and the Employee Free Choice Act and stay focused on their issues." This is just one example of what organized efforts on behalf of working families can achieve. Keeping the focus on what really matters to middle class Americans and not letting up can put good people like Travis Childers in office where he belongs. 2008-05-27T20:24:00-05:00 http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/mccain_thinks_your_social_security_benefits_belong_in_a_game_of_roulette/ http://healthcarevoices.org/cwavotes/content/mccain_thinks_your_social_security_benefits_belong_in_a_game_of_roulette/ A big thank-you to CWA Retiree Michael Joyce from Indiana for catching this and sending it our way! Sen. John McCain recently appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly, where he suggested that not only did he want to risk your Social Security benefits by putting them into the stock market, but that he was more concerned with the bottom line of bankers on Wall Street than middle class Americans, who would benefit greatly from such a windfall. Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans points out that this is an unreasonable thing to ask from seniors, who are already struggling with out-of-control gas and grocery prices, exposing them to unnecessary risk and uncertainty. “Not only did Senator McCain support privatized Social Security in a March 3 interview with the Wall Street Journal, but in 2006 he voted to shift Social Security’s annual surpluses into a reserve account that would be converted into private accounts. [S. Con. Res., Vote #68, 3/16/06].  Earlier in his Senate career, McCain voted twice to replace Social Security’s guaranteed benefits with income from risk-based private investments. [S. Con. Res., Vote #56, 4/1/98; S. Con. Res., Vote #77, 4/1/98]” Additionally, in a March 3rd Wall Street Journal article, McCain was revealed to be considering raising the Social Security retirement age to 68 and reducing the cost of living adjustment. Coyle explains: “Current –and future – retirees demand the truth about the prospects for their retirement security.  We call upon all in public office to speak clearly about their intentions for Social Security.” Not all older Americans have the luxury of a $100 million beer fortune to live lavishly off of – McCain needs to start worrying about middle class retired Americans, not banking industry fat-cats. 2008-05-27T19:49:00-05:00