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AFL-CIO Presidential Forum
Dear
Council AFA-CWA Members,
AFL-CIO Presidential Forum
On the evening of August 7th, I and other AFA-CWA
members had the pleasure to attend the AFL-CIO
Presidential Forum held at Soldier Field in Chicago. An
estimated 20,000 union members attended what was being
billed as "the world's largest job interview" with the
workers doing the interview. AFA-CWA members from ATA,
Alaska, United, US Airways, American Eagle and Northwest
attended the forum. All candidates, both Republican and
Democrat, were invited to attend with 7 Democratic
candidates attending. Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Joe
Biden, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen.
Chris Dodd, Former Sen. John Edwards and Rep. Dennis
Kucinich accepted the challenge. The fact that no
Republicans decided to stand in front of union members
and the working class told the crowd about who supports
labor issues and who does not. Under threatening skies,
issues such as trade, healthcare, pensions, Iraq,
national security, mine safety, NAFTA and the right to
join a union were just some of the many questions asked
of the candidates during the 90 minute debate. One of
the most profound and moving moments came when a retired
disabled member of the United Steelworkers, Steve Skvara,
had a question for Sen. John Edwards and talked about
losing his health care when his company filed bankruptcy
and ultimately closed. While Mr. Skvara qualified for
Medicare because of his age, his wife of 36 years does
not and is one of the nearly 50 million Americans
without health care coverage. You can watch Mr. Skvara's
question and answer at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Di7-tuPrUc. The
question brought the crowd to their feet in support of
our union brother and the struggle that his family deals
with every day. The sad thing is that his story is just
one of millions of Americans in a similar situation.
Northwest flight attendant, Janette Rooke, was picked to
ask a question concerning the loss of pensions in the
aviation industry and the excessive compensation that
airline executives receive upon restructuring their
airlines under the current bankruptcy laws on the backs
of the frontline workers. However, time ran out and
Janette was unable to ask her question on air. She did
have the chance to ask the question individually to some
of the candidates after the forum and represented
AFA-CWA proudly.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said it best in his
opening comments "America is desperate for change".
Following the forum President Sweeney was asked who won
and his response was "the American worker won".
The age of the internet provides each member the
opportunity to directly ask each campaign, both
Republican and Democrat, questions that are important to
you and your family. You can ask each campaign how they
stand on these issues that are important to your family
and the questions and concerns you share around the
dining room table. The question that many have for the
candidates is not just what are you going to do for the
working class but how are you going to make it happen?
Don't be happy until you get an answer to your question.
Several leading newspapers commented about the unique
nature of the forum and how it may change the race for
the White House. The Washington Post said "that the
battle for the party's nomination may be entering a new
phase".
Barbara
Easterling (CWA Sec/Tres.) Larry Cohen (CWA
President) Jannette Rooke (NWA Flight
Attendant) Pat Friend (AFA-CWA Intl.
President)
In Solidarity,
Alin Boswell
Chairperson, Legislative Policy Committee
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
LEC President, DCA
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA |
