Our new US recruiter-in-chief: President Obama

06 Aug 2010, By Owen Tudor

President Obama spoke to the AFLCIO Executive Council (the equivalent of the TUC General Council) this week, and he gave a ringing endorsement of union membership, starting off by quoting his predecessor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He said:

“So FDR I think said—he was asked once what he thought about unions.  He said, “If I was a worker in a factory and I wanted to improve my life, I would join a union.”  Well, I tell you what.  I think that’s true for workers generally.  I think if I was a coal miner, I’d want a union representing me to make sure that I was safe and you did not have some of the tragedies that we’ve been seeing in the coal industry.  If I was a teacher, I’d want a union to make sure that the teachers’ perspective was represented as we think about shaping an education system for our future.”

So now we know. “Join a union… Barack Obama says so!”