Rate this article:
Average rating:
Total votes: 5
With unemployment higher than in 2007, a reawakening labor movement, a raging debate over immigration reform and all the dislocations of a globalizing economy, American workers have lots to think about when they vote in the 2008 presidential primaries.
With that in mind, we present snapshots of the employment policies of the top two contenders for the major party nominations, as determined by delegate counts as of January 30, 2008. Quotes are from the candidates’ own Web sites, unless otherwise indicated. The candidates appear in alphabetical order, by party and then by candidate.
The Democrats
Hillary Clinton
As president, to help create more high-paying jobs, Hillary Clinton would aim to double the budget for basic science and applied research at federal agencies. She believes alternative energy and biomedicine are particularly promising.
Clinton takes a pro-labor stance: “When I’m president, we’re going to stand up for unions,” she told the Take Back America 2007 conference. “We’re going to make sure they can organize for fair wages and good working conditions. And we’re going to appoint people to the Department of Labor who are actually pro-labor for a change.”
On immigration, the New York senator opposes a recent proposal for a guest-worker program, but she authored a bill to support immigrants’ growing need for English-language and job-skills courses.
Barack Obama
“I’m in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard-working Americans who deserve it,” says Barack Obama.
Obama supports collective bargaining rights for public safety employees. To lessen workers’ tax burden, Obama proposes a Making Work Pay tax credit of up to $500 per individual, or $1,000 per working family.
The Illinois senator plans to double federal funding for basic research to help create high-paying science jobs. He would also increase funding for workforce training, especially in the green technology field.
Obama supports an expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover employees at more small businesses and workers dealing with elder care and domestic violence.
The Republicans
John McCain
John McCain has mixed feelings on the labor movement. “Unions have played a very important role in this country to improve the plight and conditions of laboring Americans,” he commented at a Republican debate. “Like many other monopolies, in some cases unions have serious excesses. Any American has the right and privilege to join a union but should never be forced to do so.”
The Arizona senator proposes to overhaul unemployment insurance to make it into a worker retraining program. McCain believes that although painful dislocations in the labor economy cannot be avoided, the government must help displaced workers with education and training.
McCain has supported a tax credit for businesses that offer child care to their employees.
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney believes that our educational system should emphasize science and math to give future American workers the skills they’ll need to compete in the 21st-century global economy. Federal worker training programs should be reformed and streamlined toward the same end, according to Romney.
The former Massachusetts governor holds that unions can be a positive force when they collaborate with employers to improve efficiency and the bottom line. He says that some unions ultimately hurt their own members by ignoring employers’ business goals.
On the need for immigration reform, Romney says: “The current system puts up a concrete wall to the best and brightest, yet those without skill or education are able to walk across the border.”
Other Contenders
To learn more about the other contenders’ policies on jobs and growth, we invite you to visit their Web sites. This list is per CNN.com as of January 23, 2008.
Democrats
Republicans