People Before Profit blog

Happy Birthday, Cesar Chavez

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:22:00 +0000

Millions celebrated the life of Cesar Chavez nationwide on his birthday, March 31. Chavez, a Mexican American son of migrant workers, founded the National Farmworkers Association (United Farm Workers) in 1962. The union led the nation’s first industry-wide farm labor contracts. Chavez is remembered as a labor and civil rights leader. “We are sons and daughters of the farm workers’ revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking bread and justice,” he said. Chavez died in 1993.

Labor launches McCain Revealed campaign

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 06:05:00 +0000

Everywhere Republican presidential candidate John McCain goes these days he is finding union activists confronting him on economic issues and demanding that he speak to working families’ concerns. Since March 1, union members have held actions at McCain events in Ohio, Missouri and New Hampshire.

On March 12, the AFL-CIO officially launched a campaign to expose McCain’s anti-worker economic record and his plans to continue the failed programs of the Bush administration. The “McCain Revealed” campaign, as it is called, will reach more than 13 million voters in 23 battleground states, the federation’s political director, Karen Ackerman, said.

The campaign is a major component of the AFL-CIO’s $53.4 million 2008 election mobilization, its largest in history.

“Our economy is in crisis after years of failed Bush administration policies that Sen. McCain supports and has adopted as his own,” Ackerman said. “Sen. McCain’s record shows he’s in lockstep with President Bush on economic issues. He’s voted repeatedly for trade deals that ship our jobs overseas, he’s voted against protecting overtime pay, he’s voted against health insurance for children, and he supports the Bush Social Security privatization plan. McCain is Bush No. 3.”

“It’s clear that John McCain hopes to conduct this campaign without ever having to explain his economic priorities to working people,” Ackerman said. “Public opinion polls show the economy is the top concern of voters, yet Sen. McCain has said very little about his economic positions and, as a result, working families know very little about where he stands on pocketbook concerns. That all changes today.”

A look at the main elements of labor’s “McCain Revealed” push shows that the unions are dead serious about all this.

Following McCain around the country is actually only a small part of a much bigger drive.

The unions plan an immediate campaign to reach 6.7 million voters in what they call five “top-tier priority states” — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. Between now and March 31, more than 100,000 worksite leaflets on the McCain record will be distributed to union members in those states. By the end of April, that number will be 425,000 leaflets handed to people on the job.

On May 17, the AFL-CIO will hold a national canvass in which union members will knock on 400,000 union voters’ doors in one day, with information on McCain’s economic record.

The union effort will also employ sophisticated voter communication strategies including microtargeting to ensure that all union households receive information. The goal is that every union member in the country will be contacted. Plans are to contact members not just at the workplace but at home, by phone, online and through direct mail.

The federation has also launched a website, www.mccainrevealed.org, which publicizes the McCain record and demands that he change his positions to favor workers.

“The AFL-CIO intends to lead the way in the coming months to turn our country in a new direction,” Ackerman said.

jwojcik@pww.org

McCain flip flops on Social Security

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:08:00 +0000

Vows to revive privatization

Angry retirees descended on Social Security Administration offices in downtown Phoenix Mar. 7 holding placards that read, “Tell McCain ‘hands off Social Security.’”

They were protesting Republican Sen. John McCain’s recent statements that he would revive President Bush’s scheme to privatize Social Security. The plan was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the people when Bush attempted to push it through in his first term.

Doug Hart, president of the Arizona Alliance of Retired Americans, told the crowd that his group interviewed McCain before he announced his presidential candidacy. Hart said, “At that time, McCain said he opposed privatizing Social Security and said the idea was ‘dead in the water.’ Now, McCain has changed his position to cater to Wall Street investment firms who would stand to gain from the proposal.”

Hart added, “It’s no wonder George W. Bush endorsed John McCain … Under the Bush-McCain scheme, our Social Security benefits would be thrown to the whims of the stock market. We get all the risk but Wall Street gets all the reward.”

The crowd booed loudly.

Hart told the World in a phone interview, “McCain changed his position to increase campaign contributions from wealthy people. We were quite dismayed by his switch. He calls his campaign bus ‘The Straight Talk Express.’ His flip on Social Security hardly qualifies as straight talk.”

Under the Bush scheme to shift to private retirement accounts, Hart added, retirees would lose their guaranteed monthly Social Security pension in exchange for private accounts that fluctuate with the stock market.

“People would be forced to figure out how to invest their money themselves,” Hart said. “We pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to ‘experts’ to figure out how to invest our IRA accounts.” And even these experts are watching helplessly these days as their clients’ Individual Retirement Accounts lose, collectively, billions of dollars in the plunging market.

McCain’s flip-flop touched off a chorus of denunciations in Washington. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), a Social Security expert on the House Ways and Means Committee, said, “It is highly unfortunate that Sen. McCain is advocating President Bush’s disastrous approach to Social Security built on private accounts instead of the guaranteed benefits of Social Security. Privatization would not strengthen Social Security. Quite the contrary, it would lead to its destruction.”

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), House chief deputy whip, pointed out that Bush’s own Social Security Commission “found that privatization would reduce benefits and cost at least $1 trillion, money that would either have to be taken from the Social Security Trust Fund or added to the national debt.”

Two-thirds of retirees rely on Social Security’s guaranteed, inflation- adjusted monthly benefits for half or more of their income, she continued. For one in five recipients, a Social Security check is their sole income.

Schakowsky said, “Imagine what it would mean for older Americans — many of them women — to know that their financial security would be tied to the stock market. To know that if the market drops — as it has for the last four months — their ability to pay for housing, and food and health care decreases as well.”

McCain revealed his support for privatizing Social Security in a wide-ranging interview in the March 4 edition of The Wall Street Journal. He disowned statements on his campaign web site in which he claimed to oppose Social Security privatization. He told the interviewer he would correct the web site.

“I’m totally in favor of personal savings accounts,” McCain told the Journal. “As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are part of it — along the lines that President Bush proposed.”

McCain’s chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, told the Journal McCain switched his position because a 2000 budget surplus vanished in a recession, and because Bush tax cuts and the “cost of responding to Sept. 11” ate up revenues needed to bolster Social Security.

Among options McCain supports are “extending the retirement age to 68” and “reducing cost-of-living adjustments,” the aide said. “You can’t keep promises made to retirees,” he concluded.

The Democratic presidential candidates differ in their approaches.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has been an outspoken opponent of privatizing Social Security. He has proposed raising the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax to erase any long-term shortfall in its trust fund, a measure long advocated by organized labor and others.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton proposes personal investment accounts on top of existing Social Security.

greenerpastures21212@yahoo.com

Central American solidarity activists dispute DOJ order

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:08:00 +0000

WASHINGTON-- The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), illegally targeted in the 1980’s by the largest FBI Internal Security investigation of the Reagan era, has in recent months again received threatening communications from the U.S. Department of Justice. Citing the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, a letter sent to CISPES in January questions the organization’s relationship with the leftist Salvadoran political party known as the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, or FMLN. CISPES received similar inquiries in the 1980s which eventually led to an illegal FBI investigation into its activities.

The letter cites the organization’s website and an article published in the Washington Post – which does not mention CISPES – following the December 2007 visit of the FMLN’s presidential candidate Mauricio Funes. It states that, “it has come to our attention… that the FMLN, and/or possibly its candidate for El Salvador’s 2009 presidential election, Mauricio Funes, hired your organization for the purposes of conducting a public relations media campaign to include political fundraising…” The Department of Justice gave no other evidence to back up the claim.

According to CISPES Executive Director Burke Stansbury, “CISPES has never had a contractual agreement with the FMLN or Mr. Funes, nor have we taken orders from the party to do publicity work in the U.S. Rather, we have a solidarity relationship based on shared political values that goes back to the struggle for democracy and economic justice that the people of El Salvador fought against a brutal U.S.-backed military regime in the 1980s.” CISPES was founded in 1980 at the height of the civil war between the US-backed Salvadoran government and the FMLN, at that time an internationally recognized guerrilla force.

“That the Department of Justice would wrongly evoke the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to target this organization at this particular moment demonstrates the Administration's fear of progressive change sweeping Latin America. It is an effort to intimidate and stifle solidarity groups in the U.S. who oppose the Government's efforts to install puppet regimes against the will of the people of Latin America,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer from the Partnership for Civil Justice who is part of the team of attorneys assisting CISPES in this matter.

The Salvadoran FMLN and its candidate Funes have gained broad support 12 months ahead of the 2009 election, in large part due to the failure of U.S.-supported neoliberal policies like the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

“This shows that the Bush Administration is terrified of another Latin American country electing a Left party,” said Stansbury. “People in the region want fair and transparent elections, free of outside intervention, and such actions by the Bush Administration show a dangerous tendency towards once again disrupting the electoral process of a sovereign country.” In 2004, the last time the FMLN had a chance to win the presidency, U.S. government officials issued statements showing clear support for the right-wing ARENA party and threatening to cut off money sent from Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families should the FMLN win.

In 1981 FBI investigated CISPES for allegedly acting as a foreign agent of the FMLN. When that claim proved baseless, the Department of Justice launched a full-scale investigation based on the claim that CISPES was a front for the “terrorist” FMLN. The FBI campaign of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation of CISPES lasted until 1987 and ultimately became a major embarrassment for the Bureau when CISPES and the Center for Constitutional Rights forced the release of FBI files under the Freedom of Information Act. Subsequent Congressional hearings showed the FBI to have conducted numerous illegal operations, led to an internal inquiry by the Bureau, and curtailed the scope of domestic surveillance activities which were later expanded again under the USA Patriot Act.

“In the 1980s the Department of Justice set out to intimidate and repress the powerful Central America solidarity movement,” said Angela Sanbrano, CISPES Executive Director during the FBI investigation of the1980s. “That infamous witch hunt was a complete failure, and yet the Bush Administration has the nerve to return to the original tactics of using an ambiguous law – FARA – to threaten CISPES again.”

CISPES has continued its work of supporting real democracy and human rights in El Salvador by taking delegations of elections observers to El Salvador; touring prominent Salvadoran labor leaders and human rights advocates in the U.S.; and working to prevent a repeat of past U.S. political intervention. CISPES has opposed the opening of the U.S.-sponsored International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), claiming that it has served to export repressive U.S. policing tactics – including harassment of political activists from opposition groups – to Latin America.

“It’s no coincidence that the Bush administration is targeting CISPES now for our solidarity with movements in El Salvador,” said Sha Grogan-Brown, CISPES’s development director. “As more and more progressive forces take power in Latin America, the State Department is looking for ways to bolster its few remaining allies and to thwart the rise of parties like the FMLN. But their dirty tactics of harassment and intimidation will not stop our solidarity work, as we refuse to submit to their pressure.”

- Go - Go - Go on the history of FBI harassment targeting CISPES in the 1980s

McCain flip flops on Social Security

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:22:00 +0000

Gloria Freedman, 92

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:40:00 +0000

Union activist, housing organizer, loving mother, stalwart supporter of the People’s Weekly World newspaper and lifelong communist Gloria Freedman passed away Feb. 16 in New York City at the age of 92. Born Gloria Silver in 1915 as the second of eight children, Freedman was the only one of the family who took interest in her father’s business, a local candy store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Freedman loved music, poetry and all aspects of working-class culture. She also loved Scrabble and often played with friends and family. She had a flair for life and an infectious sense of hope and humor.

In high school she excelled in sports, particularly in running. She won many prizes for her athletic accomplishments. Her older sister, Bernice, introduced her to the movement. She distributed the Daily Worker in her neighborhood and developed a talent for public speaking. She joined the Young Communist League and soon after, the Communist Party.

Freedman served as a “WAC” (Women’s Army Corps) in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Philippines and Borneo. She often told stories about giving political speeches in the barracks while standing on a footlocker.

After the war she attended Columbia University on the “GI Bill” and received a degree in social work. She worked in the Welfare Department and had a passion for serving the people of New York City. She always taught her clients to fight for their rights within the welfare system. She was an active member of local 371, affiliated with AFSCME DC 37.

She married and had two sons, Kenny and Dean. Early in the boys’ lives she lost her husband and became a single mother, working full time, deeply engaged in political struggles, and raising two young boys all at the same time.

She moved to Stuyvesant Town housing development on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and once again became active in the tenants movement. With retirement, Freedman moved to Penn South housing complex in Chelsea, where she became an institution at street fairs and street tabling — petitioning for peace and doing voter registration and other grassroots work — in the neighborhood. She also became a leader of the retirees association of her union, eventually becoming vice president of the AFSCME DC 37 Retirees Association.

She was a dedicated member of the Communist Party her entire life and was a consistent recruiter and fundraiser who always put the Party first. She was a generous donor to the People’s Weekly World and activist in the CPUSA’s Chelsea Club.

“Gloria’s focus was always on the future, and she had a deep confidence and trust in the working class. Late in life, she aimed to recruit and train new members to carry on her work,” said Libero Della Piana, New York CP chair.

Active right until the end, Freedman many times said, “It’s the Party that keeps me going.”

“Gloria was a fearless organizer and mass leader, a stalwart communist, a dedicated mother and friend. She spent her life committed to the struggles for a better world, for justice, jobs, equality, peace and socialism. She will be missed by friends, family and comrades,” Della Piana said.

Contributions in Gloria Freedman’s name to the People’s Weekly World newspaper are welcome. Add your name to a PWW ad honoring Gloria by contacting New York Friends of the PWW at 646-437-5355 or nyfriends@pww.org.

Colombias incursion into Ecuador: Who gains?

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:25:00 +0000

In the last few years a political sea-change has swept away most of the U.S.-sponsored, repressive military dictatorships in South America. Democratically elected and in some cases explicitly socialist-oriented governments predominate from Venezuela and Ecuador to Chile and Argentina. The tide of change is even starting to touch Paraguay, long a poster child of absolutist rule and abysmal poverty.

Continent-wide economic and social cooperation is growing to overcome the grievous legacy left by U.S. corporate domination.

Cracks were even growing in the long standoff between the U.S.-backed Uribe regime and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), with the recent release of half a dozen FARC-held hostages brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba.

Enter the Colombian military’s brazen incursion into Ecuador to murder FARC leader Raul Reyes and 19 other insurgents. Colombia claimed hot pursuit. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa countered with survivors’ accounts and Ecuadorian military reports showing the insurgents were bombed from the air, and Colombian troops then arrived to shoot survivors and take away Reyes’ body.

Now both Ecuador and Venezuela have recalled their ambassadors from Bogota and mobilized troops on their borders with Colombia. Governments throughout Latin America and around the world are protesting the incursion.

Speculation is widespread about the involvement of U.S. intelligence services in the strike.

Scandals plaguing President Alvaro Uribe’s administration undoubtedly played a significant role in the attack. In the last year criticisms have mounted over Uribe’s and his administration’s links to extreme right paramilitaries and to drug traffickers. It’s not unusual for a government in domestic trouble to engineer a military distraction.

But it doesn’t take much probing to see whose interests are served by fomenting a situation in which Latin American energies become focused on a conflict within the continent.

Especially when that conflict could aggravate the struggles between increasingly displaced elites and long-suppressed indigenous and popular forces in countries seeking to take a progressive direction, and to take attention away from efforts to unite the continent around positive economic and social development.

Colombia's incursion into Ecuador criticized

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:46:00 +0000

COLOMBIAN INCURSION INTO ECUADOR KILLS 20, SPURS STRONG RESPONSE BY REGION

Last weekend, the Colombian government led a military attack on the FARC in Ecuadorean territory, killing more than 20 persons including a key FARC negotiator involved in recent hostage releases. Since then, most news coverage has focused on the reactions of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and to a lesser extent Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, excluding the actions of the Colombian military and its president.

Colombia's raid in Ecuador killed Raul Reyes, the FARC's second-in-command and a historical actor in efforts for peace. He had been working toward a humanitarian accord brokered by President Chavez and was in the process of negotiating the release of 12 more hostages -- including ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt -- with the French government. His death comes shortly after hostage negotiations brokered by Chavez yielded the release of a total of 6 Colombian citizens. Many anaylsts suggest that this most recent action by the Colombian government was meant to bring an abrupt halt to future bids for peace.

Following the bombing, Ecuador and Venezuela both recalled their diplomats from Colombia and stationed troops along their borders. Considering that Venezuela has been accused of harboring the FARC by the U.S. and Colombia, it seemed a justifiable preventative move. To date, Venezuela has moved 10 batallions to the border, totalling about 9,000 troops. To hear more on this debate you can listen to or watch the Jim Lehrer News Hour special on this on our website at: www.veninfo.org

After the aerial attack, 60 Colombian ground troops further violated Ecuador's sovereignty and raided the rebel camp, according to President Correa in Ecuador. He called this 'unacceptable aggression.' President Uribe then alleged that evidence was found at the site -- on still intact computers -- indicating payment by Chavez to the FARC. To date, no verifiable proof has been released. The Miami Herald recognized today that 'There was no independent verification of the documents.' The AP also reported that 'the Colombian military provided no proof of payment.' Yet, the press has proceeded to report this news as though it is fact. The Venezuelan government has consistently denied the accusations, calling them 'laughable.'

Tensions were brought to an all time high early this week when Colombian President Alvaro Uribe accused President Chavez of supporting 'genocide,' citing the alleged funding to the FARC that still remains to be proven. The Colombian president now plans to bring Chavez before the International Criminal Court. While this move makes for great headlines, it does not accurately depict what has been occurring in Colombia and the region in the last few decades, nor the actors that have been involved.

OAS, REGIONAL LEADERS & HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS QUESTION COLOMBIA'S ACTIONS

Yesterday, at a special session of the OAS, Ecuador asked countries to condemn the Colombian raid on its territory and demand an investigation. Those who questioned the Colombian incursion include Italy, France, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela. France's foreign minister said, 'It is not good news that Reyes, the man to whom we talked and we had contact, has been killed.' On the other hand, in the U.S., President Bush said he supports Colombia unconditionally and used the opportunity to push the US-Colombia free trade agreement.

U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, sent a letter calling on the OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and Permanent Council Chairman Cornelius Smith to send a high-level delegation to the Andean region to negotiate a reduction in tensions between Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. The letter ? signed by a bipartisan group of 14 House members ? also calls on the OAS to put in place a better process of crisis communication between the three governments. The letter fails to condemn the Colombian government for their violation of international treaties.

According to the Latin American Association for Human Rights (ALDHU), an international NGO based in Ecuador that works with over 20 nations, the attacks were 'at odds with the most elemental principles of International Humanitarian Law.' Juan de Dios Parra, the general secretary of ALDHU, called the events an 'invasion' and a 'massacre' which 'violated all the international norms regulating the respect for borders.' Colombian human rights groups also opposed the actions of the Uribe government and said it should be held accountable for what Human Rights Watch has called 'one of the worst human rights records in the world.'

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Contact your Congressional Representatives in the House and Senate and ask them to:

- Condemn the illegal actions of the Colombian government in Ecuador, which endangers the entire Andean Region.

- Demand that Colombia take a politically negotiated path toward peace in the region. No more U.S. military funding for Colombia.

To find out who represents you in Congress, please type your address in at: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/index.html

- Write to your local news outlets to set the record straight on the current situation in the Andean Region.

- Join tomorrow's actions for 'Peace in Colombia and the Andean Region' by participating in local actions across the U.S. For more information go to: http://soaw.org/article.php?id=1664

Are Green PC's available?

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:15:00 +0000

EARTH TALK From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: As an online gamer, I spend a lot of time in front of my computer. What’s the environmental impact? And are “greener” PCs available? -- Bob Grant, Burlington, VT

Online gamers and other heavy computer users are definitely leaving an environmental mark. Depending on when it was made and how it was designed, a standard desktop PC can use anywhere from 60-300 watts when in use, while an inefficient gaming PC with powerful graphics card, multiple hard drives and optical drives, flash memory reader and a 30-inch LCD might consume as much as 750 watts, or about as much as a typical refrigerator. Until July of 2007, government Energy Star requirements only measured a computer’s energy use while in standby mode, which allowed the majority of brands to carry the label.

New stricter efficiency requirements have brought greener models. You’ll find the largest selection from companies like Dell and Hewlett Packard. Many businesses use the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) to assist in the purchase of greener computing systems, and the evaluations can be useful to consumers, too. EPEAT evaluates and rates computing equipment on 28 efficiency and sustainability criteria, awarding them bronze, silver or gold for overall performance.

Technology company VIA is well regarded as an industry leader in low-wattage processors (central processing units or CPUs), with some barely sipping only a dozen or so watts from the power supply. Some typical VIA designs can outperform competitors using only 23 watts, or less than half the power called for by Energy Star specifications. Of course graphics cards used by PC gamers are serious energy hogs. Your top-end ATI or nVidia card will render great graphics, but use 300 watts or more. Newer cards are better, but much depends on their use. The best advice is to buy only the graphics power you need.

One of the easiest ways to save on computer power is to use technology that automatically rests when you do, and to shut your computer down when you’re not using it. Windows XP allows users to configure power management settings, and Vista Ultimate lets you configure power-saving options in even more ways. Vista can actually throttle its power consumption for some tasks and power down at other times. If you’re just typing a Microsoft Word document, performance will back down, whereas if you are editing video in a powerful program like Adobe Premier Pro, Vista will use all the processing power available.

Bear in mind that screen savers are not energy savers. In fact, power-down features may not work if you have a screen saver activated. Happily, LCD color monitors do not need screen savers. In terms of shutting down, while PCs use a small amount of energy when they start up, it’s considerably less than the energy used when they are on for long periods of time. Consider turning off the monitor if you aren’t going to use your PC for more than 20 minutes, and both the CPU and monitor if you’re not going to use your PC for more than two hours.

If you’re concerned about the “wear and tear” of turning PCs on and off, don’t be. Most PCs reach the end of their “useful” life due to advances in technology long before the effects of being switched on and off multiple times can have a negative impact on their service life.

CONTACTS: Energy Star, www.energystar.gov; EPEAT, http://epeat.net; Recycling an old monitor, www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/ecycling/donate.htm; VIA, www.via.com.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

2008 vote on AFL-CIO agenda

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:32:00 +0000

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (PAI) – Politics will be a big item on the AFL-CIO executive council agenda at its meeting in San Diego, March 4 – 6.

The likelihood of an endorsement is slim because there aren’t enough votes available from member unions, under federation rules, to issue one. To be endorsed a candidate must have the backing of unions representing 67 percent of the 10 million members who belong to AFL-CIO unions. Neither Senator Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton have yet gained enough support.

Of the AFL-CIO’s biggest unions, AFSCME and the Teachers endorsed Clinton. So have at least 10 other unions or sectors, including the Letter Carriers, and the Machinists. Another big union, the Communication Workers, left the decision to its locals. The Auto Workers made no decision.

Other unions are free now to make a new decision because their previously endorsed candidate has dropped out. This includes the Steel Workers and Mine Workers who had endorsed former Senator John Edwards and the Fire Fighters who had backed Senator Christopher Dodd.

The Utility Workers are the latest construction union, joining the Boilermakers, for Obama. The Sheet Metal Workers and the Painters back Clinton.

Much is happening below the level of presidential politics, however. AFL-CIO political committee director, Karen Ackerman, says the federation will be involved in 528 races – everything from referendums and local city councils to governorships and U.S. Senate seats.

The federation plans to make universal health care its number one domestic political issue this fall.

Taking into account plans backed by the two Democratic rivals, a panel of union presidents is working on what type of health care plan the federation will back next year.

Both Obama and Clinton want to build on the present combined private-public system while extending coverage, but with cost controls and measures to help the poor pay for health insurance. Obama wants to cover all kids first, while cutting costs for adults to make insurance available to everyone. Clinton would mandate everyone buy insurance.

United Steel Workers president Leo Gerard, a panel member, is a strong advocate of government run single payer health insurance – basically extending Medicare to all. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who is out of the race, was the only presidential hopeful who supported this approach.

Increasing numbers of unions are backing single payer insurance. Among them are the California Nurses Association, the California Federation of Teachers, the IFPTE, the OPEIU, the ILA, the Steelworkers, the UAW, the Plumbers, the Musicians, the Letter Carriers, the Machinists, the Electrical Workers, and the Sheet Metal Workers.