Sweeney rallied with workers at Regions Hospital and at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Monday. He encouraged them to participate in the Nov. 7 elections.
"The priorities of workers are their jobs, their health care, retirement security, education, the environment, training, trade policy," Sweeney noted. Other issues include the right to organize, and trade policies that undercut the products of American workers.
One issue that has workers around the nation motivated to vote is the minimum wage, Sweeney said. Working people are angry Congress tied it to reducing the estate tax, which would benefit only the wealthiest of the wealthy.
"That was insulting to millions of workers. It\'s not so much our members who are minimum wage workers," he said. "But, they\'re concerned about those who are at the lowest level of the economic ladder. The Congress can give themselves an increase almost every year, and, over the past nine years, they haven\'t increased the minimum wage."
The bill didn\'t pass, because of opposition to tying the wage to the estate tax break.
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AFL-CIO President John Sweeney (center) joined AFSCME Council 5 Director Eliot Seide and AFSCME members for a rally outside Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Workers are holding signs reading "Health Care Is a Right." Photo by Michael Moore, St. Paul Union Advocate |
Another major concern of labor is the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs, Sweeney added. He says they\'re being replaced by low-paying jobs, and that\'s weakening the structure of the American family and the country\'s economy.
Sweeney heads the nation\'s largest labor federation, with affiliates that represent workers in many sectors of the economy. He said he\'ll be back in Minnesota before the election to rally workers again.
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Sweeney rallied with workers at Regions Hospital and at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Monday. He encouraged them to participate in the Nov. 7 elections.
"The priorities of workers are their jobs, their health care, retirement security, education, the environment, training, trade policy," Sweeney noted. Other issues include the right to organize, and trade policies that undercut the products of American workers.
One issue that has workers around the nation motivated to vote is the minimum wage, Sweeney said. Working people are angry Congress tied it to reducing the estate tax, which would benefit only the wealthiest of the wealthy.
"That was insulting to millions of workers. It\’s not so much our members who are minimum wage workers," he said. "But, they\’re concerned about those who are at the lowest level of the economic ladder. The Congress can give themselves an increase almost every year, and, over the past nine years, they haven\’t increased the minimum wage."
The bill didn\’t pass, because of opposition to tying the wage to the estate tax break.
|
|
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney (center) joined AFSCME Council 5 Director Eliot Seide and AFSCME members for a rally outside Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Workers are holding signs reading "Health Care Is a Right." Photo by Michael Moore, St. Paul Union Advocate |
Another major concern of labor is the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs, Sweeney added. He says they\’re being replaced by low-paying jobs, and that\’s weakening the structure of the American family and the country\’s economy.
Sweeney heads the nation\’s largest labor federation, with affiliates that represent workers in many sectors of the economy. He said he\’ll be back in Minnesota before the election to rally workers again.