Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with working men and women and union leaders from around the nation, Senator John Kerry accepted the 13 million-member AFL-CIO’s endorsement today at a vibrant rally beneath a banner reading “America Needs Good Jobs.”

“We’ve had three years of national priorities that placed the special interests of corporations and the wealthy over those of regular workers and their families,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “John Kerry will lead us in our fight to make creating good jobs America’s number one priority…to make affordable health care a right and not a privilege…He will fight so that we have trade that’s fair to workers here at home and fair to workers around the world.”

Senator Kerry was introduced by a group of workers, including a factory worker, a striking Safeway worker, a teacher and an engineering technician who is likely to be hurt under President Bush’s attempts to allow employers to slash overtime pay to eight million workers.

“America has a jobs crisis. We’ve lost 2.8 million good manufacturing jobs over the past three years, more than in the preceding 22 years,” read the AFL-CIO General Board’s statement to endorse Kerry. “Today we are unified in our support of a presidential candidate, one who not only can take on President Bush, defeat him and turn our nation around, but who is all of the best things America has to offer.”

“The AFL-CIO wholeheartedly endorses Senator Kerry for president,” continued the statement. “We pledge to him and to the nation that we will run the most powerful campaign in the history of our movement - - a campaign of, by and for America’s working families.”

Sweeney pledged that the union movement would mobilize earlier, and on a larger scale, than ever before in its history for the 2004 elections. One out of four voters in 2000 were from union households.

The General Board of the AFL-CIO voted without opposition to endorse Senator Kerry earlier in the day, with several unions abstaining, including the UAW and UNITE. The General Board represents the top democratically elected leadership of the union movement, including the top leaders of all 64 member unions, the AFL-CIO Executive Council, representatives of state federations as well as trade departments. In 2004, an AFL-CIO endorsement required a two-thirds vote of the General Board.

Contact Lane Windham 202-637-5018