Biden, speaking via videotape yesterday, told representatives of the 13 BCTD unions:
“Welcome back to the table, it’s about time after eight years….We now have people on the Hill, we now have people in the White House who care a lot about you and respect you….For too many years we had a leadership in this country that dealt the middle class out of the American dream.
“We’re going to change that. We’re going to deal the middle class back in and you’re a big, big reason why….We can’t achieve a strong middle class without a strong labor movement. In this administration we know you are not the problem. You are a gigantic part of the solution.”
Before delegates wrapped up the morning session and headed to Capitol Hill for an afternoon of lobbying on key issues such as the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform, they heard from progressive radio and TV talk show host Ed Schultz.
Schultz said it’s time to hold accountable the lawmakers who rode union family support to office and tell them they must make good on their promises to move a working families’ agenda, especially the Employee Free Choice Act.
“When you go to the Hill, tell them: ‘I’m here, I’m in Washington, I’m going to knock on your door and I’m going to tell you the union folks of this country, collectively every union together, raised more money and did more social networking, and did more phone calling, and put more boots on the ground than at anytime in contemporary American history, I will tell you directly, it’s time to collect!’” Schultz said.
“I know if the Employee Free Choice Act is passed it is the only hope we have of rebuilding and reconstituting the middle class in this country as we know it.”
Schultz plans to feature the conference and the work of the BCTD on an upcoming edition of The Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC.
Reprinted from the AFL-CIO blog, http://blog.aflcio.org
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Biden, speaking via videotape yesterday, told representatives of the 13 BCTD unions:
“Welcome back to the table, it’s about time after eight years….We now have people on the Hill, we now have people in the White House who care a lot about you and respect you….For too many years we had a leadership in this country that dealt the middle class out of the American dream.
“We’re going to change that. We’re going to deal the middle class back in and you’re a big, big reason why….We can’t achieve a strong middle class without a strong labor movement. In this administration we know you are not the problem. You are a gigantic part of the solution.”
Before delegates wrapped up the morning session and headed to Capitol Hill for an afternoon of lobbying on key issues such as the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform, they heard from progressive radio and TV talk show host Ed Schultz.
Schultz said it’s time to hold accountable the lawmakers who rode union family support to office and tell them they must make good on their promises to move a working families’ agenda, especially the Employee Free Choice Act.
“When you go to the Hill, tell them: ‘I’m here, I’m in Washington, I’m going to knock on your door and I’m going to tell you the union folks of this country, collectively every union together, raised more money and did more social networking, and did more phone calling, and put more boots on the ground than at anytime in contemporary American history, I will tell you directly, it’s time to collect!’” Schultz said.
“I know if the Employee Free Choice Act is passed it is the only hope we have of rebuilding and reconstituting the middle class in this country as we know it.”
Schultz plans to feature the conference and the work of the BCTD on an upcoming edition of The Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC.
Reprinted from the AFL-CIO blog, http://blog.aflcio.org