Aug. 1—Union members and other voters will have a unique opportunity to hear all nine Democratic presidential candidates address vital working family issues during the nationally televised AFL-CIO Working Families Presidential Forum Aug. 5.

C-SPAN will broadcast the forum live from Chicago starting at 8 p.m. EDT. Working men and women will pose questions on critical issues, including jobs and the economy, health care, retirement security and the freedom of workers to join unions. National Public Radio’s Bob Edwards will moderate the forum.

Earlier this summer, the nine Democrats and President George W. Bush were invited to answer a detailed AFL-CIO questionnaire on working family issues. Seven of the Democratic candidates have responded, but all are scheduled to participate in the forum. Bush did not respond to the questionnaire and declined an invitation to appear before the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council meeting in Chicago or at any other time at his convenience this summer in Washington, D.C.

Recent surveys show the nation’s economy and job picture are the top concerns of potential voters. Since 2001, more than 3.1 million private-sector jobs have vanished, and 2.4 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since August 1998, in large part due to flawed trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“The first thing I would do is get rid of the failed Bush economic policies, and that means rolling back the tax cut and replacing it with policies aimed at creating jobs and helping workers, not rewarding the wealthiest. It means bringing back sound budget policies that improve confidence and investment in our companies. It means focusing our federal infrastructure resources on critically needed projects like building roads and bridges and sewer systems,” says Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) in his questionnaire response.

Recent trade polices, says Rep. Richard Gephardt (Mo.), have prompted a skyrocketing trade deficit and the loss of millions of good U.S. jobs. “I will stick by the principles that have always driven my decisions on trade agreements—they must be a force for progress here and abroad, and they must include labor and environmental protections,” he says.  

For the views on jobs and the economy of all candidates who responded to the AFL-CIO questionnaire, click here.

Almost 60 million Americans were without health insurance at some time during the past year. Health care costs are soaring, and more employers are cutting coverage and benefits and imposing price hikes on employees. Seniors especially are hit hard by rising prescription drug prices.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a physician, says his first step would be to expand the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to every child and adult younger than 25 with incomes up to three times the poverty level. He also would allow families to buy into a health plan similar to government employees’ plan and would provide tax credits to keep insurance affordable.

Among his proposals to rein in prescription drug costs, Dean says he would allow states to control drug costs as Vermont and Maine have done, permit importation of drugs from nations that have strict health protections similar and limit approval of direct-to-consumer drug advertising.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) says, “The only real workable solution for our health care woes is to adopt a single-payer plan much like Canada, financed by an employer tax of 7 percent on payroll. Medicine should be left to doctors, nurses and their patients, not to ‘for profit’ insurance companies.” 

For all the candidates’ responses on health care, click here.

Recent corporate bankruptcies have drained billions of dollars in retirement savings from workers. Only about one in five private-sector workers have guaranteed defined-benefit pension plans, and the collapse of companies like Enron and WorldCom show how dangerous it is for workers to rely only on 401(k) plans for retirement security. The Bush administration wants to privatize Social Security with risky private accounts that would require benefit cuts, higher payroll taxes and an increased retirement age.

The surest way to protect Social Security, says Al Sharpton, “is with a full employment policy and economy…. I am against benefit cuts, higher payroll taxes (but not against progressive payroll taxes) or raising the retirement age.”  

To see all the candidates’ responses on retirement security, click here.

Workers who join together to form unions face an array of employer tactics to suppress their freedom to organize and bargain collectively. According to Cornell University’s Kate Brofenbrenner, 25 percent of employers illegally fire workers trying to unionize, 75 percent hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns and 92 percent force workers to attend closed-door anti-union meetings. The Bush administration has attacked federal workers’ right to join unions by stripping collective bargaining rights from 50,000 Department of Homeland Security workers and has weakened civil service protections for all 170,000 department employees.

Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) says, “I support real labor law reform, including measures such as card-check recognition. I also support making sure corporations face severe punishments when they violate the rights of workers.”

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) says he “led efforts in the Senate to maintain civil service and collective bargaining rights for federal workers in response to the [Bush] administration’s legislative assault against those rights for employees at the Homeland Security Department, Defense Department.…As president I will support measures to restore those rights.”

For all the candidates responses on workers’ freedom to join a union, click here.

The candidates also responded to questions about education, corporate accountability, a strong and secure America and civil and human rights.