Labor watching to see if candidates live up to promises

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/OPINION02/805310301

Patrick Hughes • Guest Opinion • May 31, 2008

At our May 15 delegates meeting, the Iowa City Federation of Labor, representing 1,800 labor union members, voted to endorse all four candidates for Johnson County supervisor in Tuesday's Democratic Party primary. We realize that only three of these candidates can win the primary, but our decision to endorse incumbents Rod Sullivan, Terrence Neuzil and Pat Harney, along with challenger Terry Dahms, was based on their written answers to questionnaires and further discussion among the delegates at the meeting.

Because of our unusual endorsement, I would like to share the candidates' answers to several parts of our questionnaire.

• All the candidates are opposed to the contracting out and privatization of public services;

• All support funding health care benefits for all full- and part-time employees;

• All support public daycare centers for public employees;

• All support legislation that would deny government incentives aiding any company that does not pay decent wages for their employees;

• All support the federal "employee free choice act," which would ensure a more level playing field between labor and management when workers try to organize a union; and

• All support using a Project Labor Agreement on the next large county-funded project.

We are lucky to have four candidates for supervisor who identify themselves as pro-labor.

We encourage our members and all friends of labor to vote for the three they feel most strongly about. We also encourage all labor union members to watch the actions of those who win the primary and are elected Johnson County supervisor in the November general election to see if they follow through on their pro-labor positions.

Patrick Hughes is president of the Iowa City Federation of Labor.

[Fresh_Start]

1. prepare to be disappointed

we need a labour party like the UK has.
Because both the democrats and the republicans have become entirely too cozy with big business