From the fall 2008 issue of the IBEW Journal

Barack Obama: Fighting for Working Families

“Politics didn’t lead me to working folks; working folks led me to politics.”
 –Sen. Barack Obama, AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department Conference, April 2008.

There aren’t many politicians who understand the challenges faced by working families firsthand. But Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is one of them. Born 47 years ago in Hawaii, the Democratic presidential nominee was raised by a single working mother and his grandparents, who taught him at an early age the importance of hard work.

After graduating from Columbia University in1983, he decided to become a community organizer, working in Chicago neighborhoods devastated by plant shutdowns and poverty.

For three years, he organized unions and churches to give “job training to the jobless and hope to the hopeless,” he said. “Block by block, we helped turn those neighborhoods around. And it was the best education I ever received – because it taught me that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.”

Obama went on to Harvard Law School, where his high grades won him the editorship of the Harvard Law Journal, where he was the first African-American to hold the position.

Obama had plenty of offers from some of the nation’s top law firms. The money would have come in handy as both he and his wife, Michelle, had taken out students loans to pay their way through school.

But he went back to Chicago to head up an effort to register new voters, and joined a law firm that specialized in civil and workers’ rights cases.

Elected as an Illinois state senator in 1997, Obama championed health care, workers’ rights and quality education. In his first two years in the legislature, he introduced or was the chief co-sponsor of more than 50 bills, most directly affecting working people.

He helped expand child-care benefits for workers, blocked overtime restrictions mandated by President Bush and helped extend the Earned Income Tax Credit to the working poor.

“Here in Illinois, we have known for many years that Barack Obama is a true friend to working families,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan, who is former business manager of Decatur Local 146.

In 2004, with strong support from unions throughout the state, he ran a grassroots campaign that took him to the U.S. Senate. 

“Like our members, Obama had to work hard every day to get where he is,” said International President Edwin D. Hill. “His political experience and commitment to working people will help him lead this country in the right direction for working families and the IBEW.”

Obama on Health Care

Obama knows the challenges many families face when it comes to paying for health care costs. His mother, who died after a battle with ovarian cancer in 1995, spent her final months "more worried about paying her medical bills than getting well," he said.

“I remember just being heartbroken, seeing her struggle through the paperwork and the medical bills and the insurance forms. So, I have seen what it's like when somebody you love is suffering because of a broken health care system. And it's wrong. It's not who we are as a people."

It’s an experience that has led Obama to make universal and affordable access to health care one of his top priorities.

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user jurvetson.

He sponsored groundbreaking legislation in Illinois that extended medical coverage to thousands and set up a bipartisan commission to combat out-of-control health care prices.

As a U.S. senator, Obama voted for the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for five years, providing an additional $35.2 billion to provide insurance for millions of uninsured children.

Obama on Workers’ Rights

“The problem isn’t just that this administration hasn’t been fighting for you; it’s that they’ve actually tried to stop you from fighting for yourselves. This is the most anti-labor administration in our memory … well, we’ve got news for them – it’s not the Department of Management, it’s the Department of Labor, and we’re going to take it back.” –Sen. Barack Obama, United Steelworkers of America, July 2008

Obama has been a committed supporter of the organized labor movement since he first became an organizer.

In the Illinois legislature he voted to support majority sign-up for public employees and backed a bill that prohibits the use of replacement workers during a strike. 

In the Senate, he was a sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, and has vowed to sign it when he becomes president. Obama is also co-sponsor of legislation to overturn the National Labor Relations Board's "Kentucky River" decisions classifying hundreds of thousands of nurses, construction, and professional workers as supervisors who are not protected by federal labor laws.

Obama on Jobs and the Economy

“We are not standing on the brink of recession because of forces beyond our control. It was a failure of leadership in Washington – a Washington where George Bush hands out billions of tax cuts to the wealthiest few for eight long years, and John McCain promises to make those same tax cuts permanent, embracing the central principal of the Bush economic program.” –Barack Obama (Associated Press)

As a state senator, Obama voted for an increase in the minimum wage, while pushing for stronger prevailing wage enforcements.

As a U.S. senator, Obama voted to extend unemployment insurance benefits. He voted against Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy twice, while blocking nearly $40 billion in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and student aid.

Obama has also been one of the Senate’s strongest supporters of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws.

Obama on Energy

One of Sen. Barack Obama’s top priorities is to lead the United States in combating global warming and achieving energy independence through investment in green jobs, nuclear power and clean coal.

Obama supports an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, using revenue generating by the program to invest in the development of clean energy technology. Cap-and-trade programs provide economic incentives to companies to reduce their carbon emissions. Companies that exceed their allotted carbon dioxide emission level have to pay a penalty while those that voluntarily reduce their levels receive a financial credit.

An Obama administration would invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in solar, wind, bio-fuels and clean coal technology that could help reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent. “Obama also understands the important role coal plays in our economy and the need to invest in technology to reduce its carbon footprint,” Hill said.

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user roxannejomitchell.

“A green, renewable energy economy is not some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future,” Obama said. “It is now. It is creating jobs, now. It is providing cheap alternatives to $140-a-barrel oil, now. And it can create millions of new jobs and entire new industries if we act now.”

Obama also supports increasing federal funding for workplace training to educate a new generation of green collar workers that would make the United States a leader in new energy technology. Under his plan, good-paying jobs installing solar panels, wind turbines and wiring bio-diesel plants could replace low-wage service sector positions as the country’s fastest growing occupations.

Obama on Nuclear Power

One candidate has a clear record of action when it comes to making sure nuclear power remains a key part of reducing America’s dependence on foreign sources of oil – Sen. Barack Obama.  

Obama’s home state of Illinois is home to six nuclear plants and 11 reactors –
the largest number in the United States – and he has worked closely with the industry and IBEW utility locals that represent workers in those plants since he was in the state senate, so he knows the importance of nuclear power to the United States’ energy future.

Both Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, voted for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which helped kick off the renaissance of nuclear energy. Sen. John McCain voted against the bill. “That bill was a make-or-break one for nuclear power, so IBEW members who are thinking about their jobs should vote based on who stood up for the industry in Congress when it counted,” said International President Edwin D. Hill.

Obama is also committed to keeping the industry staffed with best trained and qualified American workers and making sure no shortcuts are taken when it comes to safety. His record in office also indicates that he understands that making our nuclear plants the most productive and safest in the world means making sure they are operated by well paid union workers.  

“We have a candidate in Obama who knows meaningful and serious climate change action requires nuclear power,” Hill said. “He is also serious about keeping it safe to consumers, opening up a discussion in the U.S. Senate about finding ways to recycle nuclear fuel instead of just sending it to Yucca Mountain.”

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user No. Nein.

Obama on Trade

“When I’m president, I’ll take away the tax breaks that Washington gives to companies who ship our jobs overseas, and give them to companies who create jobs of the future right here in America.” –Sen. Barack Obama, Greenville, S.C., January 2007.

In South Chicago, Obama saw firsthand the damage unfettered free trade can wreak on communities. He worked in the Illinois legislature to close gaps in the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act by expanding the notification process when companies enacted layoffs.  As a U.S. senator he voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement because it lacked basic environmental and labor standards.

Obama on Guns, Hunting and Conservation

“As a sportsman it’s important to me that our next president respect our way of life … and care about preserving it. That’s why I support Barack Obama. Barack understands what’s important to sportsmen. He believes in our constitutional right to own guns and that America’s wildlife belongs to us, the people.” –Jim Posewit, Montana Hunters and Anglers Association.

Hunting and fishing is a passion for many IBEW members. And Sen. Barack Obama has made clear that as president, he is committed to upholding the rights and traditions of sportsmen across the country. He believes in the Second Amendment and respects the right of Americans to bear arms. 

“(Obama) understands the importance of the Second Amendment,” said Kendall Van Dyk, a member of the Montana House of Representatives and chair of its Sportsman’s Caucus.  

Obama has also established a strong record as a conservationist, supporting the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the National Fish Habitat Plan.

He also supports expanding access for areas to hunt and fish, backing legislation that provides incentives to farmers and ranchers to open their land to hunting and fishing. (Obama for America).