Sen. John McCain has a habit of voting away good U.S. jobs--not to mention overtime pay, Social Security, Medicare, our freedom to form unions and bargain and more. When the AFL-CIO started doing research to uncover John McCain's record on working family issues, it was like peeling an onion--layer after layer of hostile, Bush-esque actions and positions wrapped in McCain's camouflage as a straight-talking maverick.
The latest to come to light: McCain was a "key figure" in the deal that awarded a multi-billion-dollar air tanker deal to a joint venture that includes the European company EADS rather than to Boeing. McCain pushed the Pentagon to change the bidding process in a way that disadvantaged Boeing, Time magazine says. And some of his top advisers have out and out lobbied for the award to EADS/Airbus--one of them while serving as McCain's national finance chairman. [Time magazine, 3/11/08]
Facing recession, America lost 63,000 jobs last month alone. Had Boeing been awarded the air tanker deal, it would have supported at least 44,000 new and existing jobs here in the United States, many of them good union jobs.
For McCain, this is business as usual. And we want people to know that.
So the AFL-CIO has launched a McCain Revealed website to introduce the presidential candidate to the public and a multi-layered campaign to reach more than 13 million union household voters in 23 battleground states. Everywhere John McCain goes, union activists are there to confront him on economic issues and demand that he speak to working families' concerns. From worksite leafleting and door-to-door canvassing to microtargeting direct mail and phone calls, we'll make sure John McCain's real record is on the public record.
Here's just a taste:
John McCain: More George W. Bush. McCain supported President Bush's positions 95 percent of the time in 2007 and 89 percent of the time over Bush's two terms in office. (Congressional Quarterly Voting Study, 110th Congress)
McCain's Health Plan: Tax Benefits, Increase Costs. His plan would make employer-provided health benefits part of taxable income, essentially creating a new tax for working families. It undermines existing employer-based health care and pushes workers into the private market to fight big insurance companies on their own. It would reduce benefits, increase costs and leave many with no health care at all. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/5/06; Health08.org Forum, 10/31/07; Los Angeles Times, 11/20/07; The Commonwealth Fund, 6/20/05)
His Trade Policy: Support Every Unfair Trade Deal Available. McCain, a self-proclaimed "free-trader," voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and to allow China to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO), although the United States has lost more than 1 million jobs because of NAFTA and 1.8 million jobs since China entered the WTO. He voted to allow overseas outsourcing of government contracts and to weaken Buy American laws. (H.R. 3450, Vote #395, 11/20/93; S. 1307, Vote #170, 6/30/05; H.R. 4444, Vote #251, 9/19/00; Economy Policy Institute, 10/9/07; S. 1637, Vote #32, 3/4/04; S. 2400, Vote #135, 6/22/04; S. 1050, Vote #191, 5/21/03)
McCain on Rights: Oppose Freedom to Form Unions and Bargain. McCain voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act, which would level the playing field for workers trying to form unions and bargain with their employers for better pay and conditions. But he voted for a national "right to work" for less law that would cripple workers' unions. (H.R. 800, Vote #227, 6/26/07; S. 1788, Vote #188, 7/10/96)
McCain on Retirement Security: Privatize Social Security, Cut Medicare. McCain supports privatizing Social Security, putting our retirement at risk, and raising the Medicare eligibility age. (SCR 83, Vote #68, 3/16/06; SCR 18, Vote #49, 3/15/05; S. Amdt. 144 to SCR 18, Vote #47, 3/15/05; SCR 86, Vote #56, 4/1/98; SCR 86, Vote #77, 4/1/98; S. 947, Vote #112, 6/24/97; S. Amdt. 445, Vote #115, 6/25/97)
Get to know the real John McCain and spread the word. Visit McCain Revealed for more information, to find out how you can make sure America knows who McCain really is and to join in demanding that he renounce the failed Bush economic agenda.
McCain is a bitter old man that wants to be President so he can get revenge. If he's elected, we'll be bombing not just Iran, but VietNam as well.
God help us all.
When I was a steelworker, I worked with a crew that spent the day goofing off and telling me, "don't work so hard, you've got to make the job last." Every one of them made more money than I, and when the boss wanted to promote me, the union prevented it because, despite the fact that I was much more productive and took initiative, I didn't have seniority. There was one guy on the crew who wouold punch in, go find a place to hide, and then sleep all day. It took THREE YEARS TO FIRE this dirtbag because every time the boss tried, the union woud come out and say, "no way".
Gee, I wonder why Japanese and Chinese steel is so much cheaper than American?! I wonder why there are so few steel jobs in America?!
A friend of mine was working on a shoot for a TV commercial. There was a box of gear in the way of a shot so my friend went to move it a few feet and out of the shot. The union rep leapt up and said don't touch that, that's a union job, and we had to wait an hour while a guy from that union showed up to move it.
Anything that tends to take power away from unions is going to have a positive effect on jobs and the economy.
You're the kind of idiot who, when a dog bites a man, demands the dog be killed to kept the neighborhood safe...but never said a word when the man kicked the dog everyday before.
I also worked at a auto plant. A kid worked at a heattreat station and was exposed momentarily to high temperatures. Safety issues made short sleeve shirts mandatory around the plant. But at the heat treat station, workers were issued a forearm sleeve for protection from the heat. The sleeves were made out of wool. The kid was allergic to wool and asked for cotton....he was fired immediately. The union stepped in and got the kid his job back.
I had a supervisior, in a computer programming department tell me he never hired anyone over thirty.
*MY EXPERIENCE* tells me you're an idiot.
If your wondering why foreign steel is cheaper, it's because they spent money on newer more efficient foundries. The US companies asked King George for protection, then sold out.
That's why I am asking you to do something courageous -- tell the Hillary Clinton campaign to stop helping McCain get elected by arguing that he's more qualified than Barack Obama to serve as commander in chief and by playing sleazy racial politics with the Geraldine Ferraro comments. Look, I know the AFL-CIO has to stay neutral because its member unions differ on the candidates. And I know that in AFSCME, AFT, the Machinists and a few others, some of your affiliates are backing Hillary. I'm not asking you to endorse Obama. What I'm asking you to do is to do your level best to defeat McCain. That effort must start now, not only by exposing his anti-working family record, but by stopping one of the two remaining Democratic presidential contenders from doing his dirty work for him. Please weigh in on this now!
We have to find a way to get around the national news media to get the true information to the American citizens, which do not use the internet for their information on news coverage.
Just who would you believe if you have been used to hearing fox "news??" and the other major news media which is the right hand of Bush, the republican and the wealthy corporations,,, that have painted a picture of the democrats,, as liberal hippies and the left wing anti-Americans which support the terrorist;; or would you believe the religious , corporate flag waving republicans which have hided every corrupted and criminal crimes which they committed and then keep replaying their song of Clinton's lie about sex.
Unless we can cut into this propaganda , lies and BS that the republicans are pounding into the head of their supporters,, and get the message to the Bush lovers in a way which they can see and understand what Bush and the republicans (lets not leave out the republican-democrats) have done and are doing to this country and it's citizens we have a lost cause on them and that would be a shame.
Even if the democrats take control of this country in 2008, we know d... well there will have to be tax increases and a lot of dirty work to straighten out the destrution of Bush's administration,, which has been worst destruction to this country then just about all the past wars combined...
They will be pitching a fit when they see what repairs has to be done to correct Bush's s....