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AFL-CIO Leaders to Meet with Sen. Obama
Burrus Update #06-08, June 16, 2008
As a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, I have been invited by President John Sweeney to attend a special meeting on June 18 with Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president. This will be Sen. Obama’s first opportunity to address union leaders and share his vision for the future of organized labor since he clinched the nomination. (The invitation restricts attendance at the meeting to the 45 members of the Executive Council, including 39 presidents of international unions.)
An endorsement vote will not be taken at the meeting, but I am optimistic that soon thereafter the AFL-CIO Executive Council will vote to support Sen. Obama’s bid for the presidency.
The presidential election is central to the future of working people, and the choices are clear. A vote for Sen. John McCain will be a vote to continue the Bush policies: Waging an unjust war; continuing the high cost of gasoline caused by politicized energy policies; the exportation of 3 million good-paying middle-class jobs; high unemployment; failed healthcare and education policies, and a mortgage crisis that diminishes the value of personal property.
A vote for Barack Obama will be a vote to reject the domination-by-lobbyists model of government; it will be a vote to end the war in Iraq; to reduce our dependency on foreign oil; to reward businesses that keep jobs in the United States; to reform our healthcare and educational systems; to end predatory lending; and to restore trust in government.
The APWU National Executive Board endorsed Sen. Obama in April and we offered our support for his candidacy in the later months of the Democratic Party primary process. The delegates to the APWU National Convention are expected to make an endorsement on behalf of the APWU membership at our meeting in Las Vegas in August.
Sen. Obama has been invited to appear at our convention, but his staff has informed us that because of the fluidity of scheduling, no firm commitment can be made until just a few weeks prior to the event.
William Burrus
President
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