United Mine Workers of America Endorses Barack Obama. So Much For The Spoken Garbage About Obama Not Appealing To "Hard Working Whites".
Here is the release from the union, (courtesy of the Arena):
"We are extremely proud to make this endorsement today. Sen. Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families."
"Most of all, Sen. Obama will implement the clear change in direction UMWA members - indeed, all American working people - must have if they are to once again move forward and have a true opportunity to realize the American dream. After eight years of being pushed aside by an administration which neither respects nor values the contributions American working families make to our society, we are looking forward with great anticipation to a new era in our nation starting with the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
"We looked at the positions of both Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) when considering this endorsement. On issue after issue, it is clear that Sen. Obama will be on our side while Sen. McCain will not.
"For example, Sen. McCain would impose a tax on the health care benefits our members and retirees receive that we have negotiated in our contracts. UMWA members are at risk of receiving serious injuries or contracting occupational diseases every day. Many of our retirees suffer from debilitating injuries or black lung. They have paid for those health care benefits with their blood. To impose a tax on them because they receive those benefits is not only unjust, it's immoral.
"We also have many thousands of retirees and widows of retirees who depend on Social Security. Sen. McCain wants to privatize Social Security and put those retirees' benefits at risk in the stock market. We cannot stand by and allow that to happen.
"Sen. Obama will fight to preserve American jobs, not ship them overseas in greater and greater numbers. Sen. Obama will make sure that the nation's mine safety and health enforcement agency actually enforces the law, instead of coddling mine operators who repeatedly and willfully violate the law.
"And Sen. Obama will work to ensure the future of American coal and the jobs that go with it by moving aggressively to develop and implement carbon capture and sequestration technology. Sen. McCain has advanced proposal after proposal that would cut jobs in the coal industry, especially in the eastern part of the country.
"Sen. Obama is from a coal state. He understands that coal will remain a primary source for electricity generation in this country for many decades to come and he will join with the UMWA as we work to ensure that it will be used for that purpose in an environmentally responsible way.
"We will be making these points with our members over the coming months as we move forward to the election in November. It doesn't matter whether it's our members' jobs, their safety, their health care, their pensions, their children's education, their union, their standard of living, or their very rights as American citizens - John McCain will do harm to all of them by continuing the failed Bush administration policies."
"We are extremely proud to make this endorsement today. Sen. Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families."
"Most of all, Sen. Obama will implement the clear change in direction UMWA members - indeed, all American working people - must have if they are to once again move forward and have a true opportunity to realize the American dream. After eight years of being pushed aside by an administration which neither respects nor values the contributions American working families make to our society, we are looking forward with great anticipation to a new era in our nation starting with the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
"We looked at the positions of both Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) when considering this endorsement. On issue after issue, it is clear that Sen. Obama will be on our side while Sen. McCain will not.
"For example, Sen. McCain would impose a tax on the health care benefits our members and retirees receive that we have negotiated in our contracts. UMWA members are at risk of receiving serious injuries or contracting occupational diseases every day. Many of our retirees suffer from debilitating injuries or black lung. They have paid for those health care benefits with their blood. To impose a tax on them because they receive those benefits is not only unjust, it's immoral.
"We also have many thousands of retirees and widows of retirees who depend on Social Security. Sen. McCain wants to privatize Social Security and put those retirees' benefits at risk in the stock market. We cannot stand by and allow that to happen.
"Sen. Obama will fight to preserve American jobs, not ship them overseas in greater and greater numbers. Sen. Obama will make sure that the nation's mine safety and health enforcement agency actually enforces the law, instead of coddling mine operators who repeatedly and willfully violate the law.
"And Sen. Obama will work to ensure the future of American coal and the jobs that go with it by moving aggressively to develop and implement carbon capture and sequestration technology. Sen. McCain has advanced proposal after proposal that would cut jobs in the coal industry, especially in the eastern part of the country.
"Sen. Obama is from a coal state. He understands that coal will remain a primary source for electricity generation in this country for many decades to come and he will join with the UMWA as we work to ensure that it will be used for that purpose in an environmentally responsible way.
"We will be making these points with our members over the coming months as we move forward to the election in November. It doesn't matter whether it's our members' jobs, their safety, their health care, their pensions, their children's education, their union, their standard of living, or their very rights as American citizens - John McCain will do harm to all of them by continuing the failed Bush administration policies."
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 12:30 PM
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