Florida: Biden asks for union help
The AFL-CIO hopes to put working people at the forefront of the 2008 presidential campaign.
By BETH REINHARD
May 17, 2007
Joe Biden picked a pipe fitters union hall in Opa-locka to show his solidarity with the AFL-CIO, which is hosting Democratic presidential candidates around the country.
But he warned that his Florida campaign strategy would be hampered a ''great deal'' if the national party penalizes the state for violating primary calendar rules by scheduling one of the nation's earliest contests on Jan. 29.
''The last thing the Democrats need is a fight about process when we have so much going for us on issues,'' Biden said after Wednesday's event. ``Florida has a chance to be a kingmaker here. I just hope they work it out.''
The senator from Delaware came to South Florida to make his pitch for an endorsement from the AFL-CIO, known for putting ''boots'' on the ground to get the vote out. Most of the Democratic contenders have received high marks for supporting labor's agenda, including a higher minimum wage and protections for Social Security.
UNION EMPHASIS
Biden attracted half as many people as his semi-celebrity rival, Barack Obama, drew two days ago to a similar AFL-CIO event in New Jersey. But the six-term senator told about 300 union members that if he is elected president, he would be the best friend to labor since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
''I think the next president of the United States has to be able to utter a word you don't hear anymore,'' he said. ``The word is union. Union. Union.''
Though union membership has been declining nationwide, labor typically comes out in force on Election Day. The AFL-CIO says it plans to beat the $46 million spending record it set in the last presidential race.
In Florida, the AFL-CIO counts nearly half a million members. Its top priority: the Employee Fair Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions.
The bill would ban employers from requiring secret ballots. Employers would have to recognize unions once a majority of workers sign pledge cards.
It was this issue that provoked a hunger strike by janitors and protests by students last year at the University of Miami. The janitors won the opportunity to vote with pledge cards and unionized.
Business groups say unions could bully workers to sign pro-union cards.
''If the most cherished right a country can give a citizen is the ability to vote . . . all you got to do is walk in and sign your name and be registered to vote . . . Why should it be any different to organize a union?'' Biden asked.
ROOTS
Biden comes from a working-class family, and unlike many of his Senate colleagues, has earned little money outside of his government salary for more than three decades. He joked about his kids attending expensive colleges but choosing low-paid jobs in the public sector.
He pointed to the plumbers, teachers, electricians, seaport workers and nurses in the audience and said that America has a middle class because of ``you.''
Biden serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and first ran for president in 1988.
New national party rules allow only four smaller states to hold presidential primaries before Feb. 5.
States that break the rule lose half of their delegates to the nominating convention. Worse, Democratic candidates who stump in scofflaw states can't earn a single delegate, even if they win the most votes.
The Florida Democratic Party may stage a post-Feb. 5 caucus to pick delegates instead, rendering the traditional primary as binding as a show of hands.
Biden's campaign manager is the party's former executive director, Luis Navarro.
''I think the party should figure out a way in which candidates can campaign in Florida and be able to win the delegates at the same time, and the caucus clearly is a way to do that,'' Navarro said.
Union members at the event said they were eager to play an influential role in picking the next president.
''We really wish the election was this year,'' said Judy Willoughby, a 51-year-old letter carrier.
``2008 is too far away. It's time for a change.''