Biden Pledges Policies to Strengthen the Middle Class
"There is a middle class in the United States for one reason - the union movement."
U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) met with more than 250 union members and their families in South Florida Wednesday night as part of the AFL-CIO’s “Working Families Vote 2008” town hall series. During the 90-minute forum, Biden and working people from South Florida engaged in a lively dialogue touching on issues vitally important to America’s future such as education, the war in Iraq, retirement security, the need for good jobs in America and the freedom to form unions.
Biden pledged to support policies that work for working Americans and to restore the promise of collective bargaining on the job to help strengthen and expand the middle class.
"There is a middle class in the United States for one reason - the union movement," Biden said. But, he noted, the middle-class is shrinking in this country because of policies that favor the wealthy over working people and suppress the right to have a voice on the job.
"This president didn't just declare war on the middle class. He declared war on the union movement," Biden said. Several workers shared personal stories with Biden during the forum, highlighting issues they are facing both on and off the job.
Maggie Palmer, a teacher at an elementary school in a low-income Miami-Dade community, told Biden that the children in her classroom don’t have access to some of the basic educational tools - such as computers - that they need to learn to compete in a global economy.
Biden called for an end to Bush's tax cuts for millionaires as a way to pay for more computers in classrooms.
"You need to have a classroom for the 21st century. It's simple. If we eliminate that tax cut, I can do so much for American education. Every kid should walk into a classroom and have a personal computer at their desk."
Longshoreman Marc Crispi thanked Biden for his support of the Employee Free Choice Act, which restores workers’ freedom to form unions, and asked what else he would do as president to help workers use the power of collective bargaining to improve their wages, benefits and working conditions.
"If the most cherished right a country gives a citizen is the right to vote, and all you have to do is sign your name in order to register to vote, it shouldn't be any different to join a union," Biden said.
Biden went on to say that while passing the Employee Free Choice Act is vital to strengthening the middle class, more needs to be done to give Americans a voice on the job. “I'm not looking to get labor back on its feet. I'm looking to get organized labor running again," he said. "This should be a renaissance for organized labor, not just stopping the slide."
On Iraq, Biden called for an end to the war but did not give a specific timetable. "We've never been so isolated in the U.S. as we are today. We've gone from one of the most respected to the one of the least respected," he said. “When I end that war, that's $100 billion I can spend on health care, energy and the list goes on and on."
Biden also pledged to turn around our trade policy to make it a force for the creation of good jobs in this country and rights and protections for workers abroad. He said trade agreements must have stronger labor and environmental protections and that the current trade model is hurting workers all over the world by allowing our trading partners to ignore core labor rights standards. " I voted for NAFTA but haven't voted for a trade agreement since," he said.
South Florida AFL-CIO President Fred Frost, who moderated the forum, said the town hall-style meeting provided union members and their families with an unprecedented opportunity to raise issues that are important to working people throughout the country.
“Today working people in South Florida made their voices heard,” Frost said. “Sen. Biden left here with a true understanding of the problems facing families today and the need to support those Americans who keep this country strong by working hard, every day.”
The AFL-CIO's "Working Families Vote 2008" campaign is the broadest effort yet to involve working people in the selection of a president, aiming for record turnout in 2008 and full involvement by union members in the federation’s presidential endorsement decision-making process. The AFL-CIO's series of individual presidential candidate town meetings with union members will culminate with a multi-candidate forum in Chicago in early August.
The AFL-CIO has not endorsed Biden or any other candidate for the upcoming primary or general presidential elections.
Contact: Steve Smith (202) 637-5018
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