Obama addresses AFL-CIO on Labor Day

September 6, 2009 8:00 PM

The entire eight years former president George W. Bush was in office, unions were systematically shut out of the White House and corporate interests took the reigns of the Department of Labor. In President Barack Obama's first few months, he has not only invited union heads into face-to-face meetings within the White House, but he has also made a point to address labor's concerns head-on.

At Labor Day celebrations this year, Obama addressed 10,000 AFL-CIO members in Cincinnati and credited the labor movement for minimum wage, paid leave, and Social Security.

The first piece of legislation Obama signed into law, he told the crowd, was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which guarantees equal pay for equal work. He said he will continue to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act "to level the playing field so it's easier for employees who want a union to form a union."

Obama also addressed an issue in the forefront minds of both labor and the Democratic party: health care reform in the United States. "We've been fighting for quality, affordable health care for every American for nearly a century," he told a roaring crowd. "The Congress and the country have been engaged in a vigorous debate and debate is good, because we have to get this right.

"And because we're so close to real reform, the special interests are doing what they always do trying to scare the American people and preserve the status quo." But with the help of the labor movement, he told workers, he will be able to make a health insurance system that "works as well for the American people as it does for the insurance industry."

To watch the video of his speech, click here. This site may require registration.