Clinton Refuses To Cross Picket Line For Dem Debate
Senator Hillary Clinton, D-NY, announced today that she will forgo CBS News' upcoming presidential debate unless the network can reach a resolution with its employees, who have authorized a strike.
"The workers at CBS News have been without a contract for close to two and a half years," the Senator said. "It is my hope that both sides will reach an agreement that results in a secure contract for the workers at CBS News but let me be clear: I will honor the picket line if the workers at CBS News decide to strike."
In issuing the statement Clinton becomes the first Democratic candidate to publicly state her refusal to cross the picket line. Others in the primary race have expressed solidarity with the CBS writers.
CBS News is slated to host its first Democratic debate on December 10 at the network's Los Angeles studios. Last week, however, approximately three-fourths of CBS News' 500 employees (writers, desk assistants, graphic artists, and assignment editors, mostly) voted to authorize a strike. Employees at the news station have been without a contract since April 2, 2005 and have scheduled a negotiating committee to meet on the situation following the Thanksgiving break.
Three weeks ago, the entertainment and screenwriters of the Writers Guild of America (which also covers CBS News employees), began a strike of their own, after negotiations on a new contract for the union's 10,500 members hit an impasse. These members of WGA are seeking a percentage of the retail price of movies and television episodes downloaded on Internet; something to which the studios have yet to agree.
Democratic presidential candidates have made the strike a forum for demonstrating their pro-labor credentials. On Friday, former Sen. John Edwards joined the picket lines at NBC's studios in Burbank, proclaiming that the WGA Strike was a "fight for justice." Clinton's refusal to participate in the upcoming debate, however, is the most forceful stance yet.
"America's unions are the backbone of America's middle class and I will always stand with America's working men and women in the fight to ensure that they are able to earn a fair wage," the Senator said.





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November 21, 2007 12:04 PM