Monday
Apr142008
Hoyer, other representatives urge union leaders to vote Democratic
Monday, April 14, 2008 at 4:35PM
The Building and Construction Trades Department held the first of its three-day 100th annual Legislative Conference with over 3,000 union leaders from around the country. President Mark Ayers addressed the crowd and introduced guest speakers, urging the audience to support whichever Democratic candidate becomes the presidential nominee and ignore the “shameless distortions, falsehoods, and fear-mongering” of the “conservative political playbook.” He claimed that “the America we know and love, the America we have and will defend, deserves better than John McCain.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called on unions to organize for the benefit of the American middle class, citing that union membership is at its lowest since the Great Depression. He advocated inclusion of prevailing wage provisions in the Davis Bacon Act, and emphasized his approval for Congress’s recent $168 billion economic stimulus package but said he would push for more action if it proved inadequate. He also asked the crowd to stand up if they felt they were better off than they were seven years ago, and no one stood. On this note, he urged the crowd to work together to elect a candidate who would work for change.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) also addressed the crowd, and claimed that “this administration has screwed American laborers” and said that she voted against the economic stimulus package because she did not believe it was an adequate solution. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) spoke to the crowd about the need to cross party lines in order to support unions and laborers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called on unions to organize for the benefit of the American middle class, citing that union membership is at its lowest since the Great Depression. He advocated inclusion of prevailing wage provisions in the Davis Bacon Act, and emphasized his approval for Congress’s recent $168 billion economic stimulus package but said he would push for more action if it proved inadequate. He also asked the crowd to stand up if they felt they were better off than they were seven years ago, and no one stood. On this note, he urged the crowd to work together to elect a candidate who would work for change.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) also addressed the crowd, and claimed that “this administration has screwed American laborers” and said that she voted against the economic stimulus package because she did not believe it was an adequate solution. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) spoke to the crowd about the need to cross party lines in order to support unions and laborers.
The middle class can expect big retirement troubles
According to Tom Neubig, who represented Ernst and Young, 6 of ten new retirees will not be able to maintain their current standard of living when drawing from available retirement resources, and many will be forced to cut their spending during retirement by about one third. He went on to say that those retiring with a guaranteed source of income like a structured payment package will fare much better than others.
Larry Mitchell, director of legislative affairs for the American Corn Growers Association, added that many who work in farming are forced to take on additional jobs to earn income due to financial worries. Most of these jobs offer little or no retirement benefits. As such, farm workers across the nation are having an increasingly difficult time earning adequate retirement benefits, and with the release of this new study the situation appears only to be getting worse.