Edwards calls for changes to labor laws
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-04-21-edwards-iowa_N.htm?csp=34=c
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By Joe Winn, Indianola Record-Herald
INDIANOLA, Iowa — Federal legislation mandating reforms in labor laws is needed to guarantee fairness in the workplace, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told Iowa voters Saturday in Indianola.
“We need to change the labor laws in this country, it’s become clear the labor laws have become stranded in the favor of employers, and all we want is fairness for employees, not an advantage for workers over their employers.” Edwards said to roughly 200 people filling the back deck at the home of Ray and Joanne Walton.
Edwards, who asserted himself as a strong union supporter, said repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and strengthening negotiation rights for employees on strike will benefit American workers. He also noted that implementing “card check neutrality” would ease the process of employees joining a union by only requiring them to sign a certified union card.
These steps would ensure workers’ ability to collectively bargain for a fair deal and stop the bleeding of American jobs overseas, said the former U.S. senator from North Carolina.
Edwards, who has led most polls of Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, was in the middle of a three-day tour to the state that launches to 2008 nominating season. He was also scheduled to visit Muscatine Saturday and planned events today in Mason City, Waterloo and Fort Dodge.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Iowa | Edwards | North American Free Trade Agreement | By Charlie Neibergall, AP | Adel | INDIANOLA
In his quest to eliminate poverty and strengthen the middle class, Edwards said organized labor is the most important movement for workers’ rights in American history.
“What a lot of Americans have seemed to forgotten is these great manufacturing jobs weren’t great jobs before the union,” Edwards said.
“America needs a president that acknowledges this and isn¹t afraid to say it.” Chris Nelson, an officer with United Auto Workers Local 270 in Des Moines, said he agreed with Edwards on his labor issues, though he wanted the candidate to be more detailed.
“I would have like to have heard more about his position on the Employee Free Choice Act,” Nelson said. “I thought what I got was more of a stock answer that sounded generic.” The first issue introduced by the crowd was gun control, and Edwards said that while he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms, gun registration codes should be more strictly enforced, as well as the need to renew the expired ban on owning assault rifles.
“I don’t think we should be taking guns away from hunters and sportsmen and people who use guns for recreation,” Edwards said.