Obama praises unions, workers’ rights at White House Summit

“While folks at the top did very well, ordinary workers were seeing their wages and their incomes flat-lining”, he said.

The Worker Voice Summit, attended by Nancy Pelosi and several other members of Congress including Senator Al Franken, Congressman Gregory Meeks, and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, was called by the White House to ensure that working Americans benefit from greater broad-based economic growth, and that workers can make their voices heard in ways that are good for both workers and businesses. Paul global Airport who is leading the fight to improve conditions for workers employed by Delta sub-contractors.

The White House says Obama signed the bill into law Wednesday.

President Obama on Wednesday called on USA business, labor and political leaders to “refashion the social compact” and strengthen union powers across the country, arguing that the troubling trend of declining middle-class wages can be turned around by redefining the basic principles of workers’ rights.

“We’ve got to make sure… working Americans don’t get lost in the shuffle”, he said.

We worry that major corporations like the one I work for can manipulate the rules in their favor. Moving forward, he said, “There needs to be a lot of education and talking to people about what unions are, what the benefits of unions are”. We see how CEOs demand that their employees work more and accept less, which has knocked the entire country off balance.

Obama and union leaders have recently been at odds, with the president advocating for a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership that labor groups fear could destroy U.S.jobs.

Vice President Biden delivered the Summit’s closing remarks, heavily promoting organized labor as a way to increase worker protections and quality of life.

Ultimately, traditional unions weren’t disappointed by how the White House summit turned out.

“Everybody knows and everybody agrees that collective bargaining is necessary if workers are going to start sharing in the economy”, Trumka said.

Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, a union of 43,000 public and non-profit workers throughout Minnesota, will participate on a panel about how the voice of workers is making a difference in Minnesota.

Obama noted that the flattening of wages began as early as the 1970s, and that union membership has also fallen in that time. They’ve also helped organize fast-food workers in the region and pushed for new worker protections now being considered in Minneapolis.

In total, the two days of summits probably composed the most intense conversation that Washington has had in years about the state of the American worker.