SEN. JOHN EDWARDS
UNIONIZING WORKERS WILL GROW, STRENGTHEN THE MIDDLE CLASS

Former Sen. Edwards invited AFT leaders to envision a president who will walk out on the White House lawn and talk to the public about how important unions are to the survival of the middle class, to economic security, and to preserving democracy.

“I will be that kind of president,” said Edwards, “because I believe it to my core.”

Both of Edwards’ parents were union members, as is his brother, an electrical worker, today.

“The only reason they got healthcare is because they were in a union,” he said.

Edwards articulated a cohesive vision for an America with labor law reforms favoring workers and their rights, education reform, adequate housing, affordable higher education and meaningful tax reform.

“We need serious sanctions that don’t exist today for employers who violate the law,” said Edwards. “We need first contract arbitration. We need the banning of permanent replacement for strikers. All those things are cruicial to empowering workers.”

Another key to strengthening and building the middle class, he said, is healthcare reform. “I’m the only Democratic candidate with a specific universal healthcare plan,” Edwards noted. Under that plan, employers would be required to provide healthcare benefits to their employees or they would have to pay into a government fund that would do the same. Moreover, all types of care would be covered, including mental health, preventative, long-term, chronic, dental and vision.

Edwards would fund health coverage for everyone in the country by rolling back President Bush’s tax cut for people who make more than $200,000 a year.

He would improve education by fixing the “dysfunctions” of No Child Left Behind, investing in early childhood education, providing better pay and training for teachers, and ensuring affordable college education for all qualified students.

He discussed a program that he and his wife Elizabeth started known as College for Everybody, that would get thousands of students into college. Right now, the program is being privately funded with great success on a small scale in North Carolina. As president, Edwards would like to make the program national.

Regarding the war, “America needs to be getting out of Iraq,” he said. He advised Democrats in Congress to continue what they’ve started: Submit a bill to the president with timetables for withdrawal. If it’s vetoed, they should do it again. “We ought to stand our ground. We are right about this.”