After commenting that it was good “to be back in the house of labor,” President Barack Obama told those gathered at the AFL-CIO convention downtown that he was there to fight for the middle class. Mr. Obama says the nation has been built by the success of the middle class and he praised unions for fighting for those values and then thanked leaders for their continued fight. He noted a Kaiser Family Foundation study released today that found family health care premiums rose 3-times faster than inflation in the last 10 years and then remarked that is why unions can’t get wage increases in their new contracts. He says, “The whole negotiation is about trying to keep the benefits you already have. That’s not just the fault of the employer. Its the fault of a broken health care system that sucking up all money. When are we going to stop it?” He says, “We have talked this issue to death” and “health care can’t wait.” The president also says he will fight for the middle class by providing education opportunities and shrinking the income gap between workers and CEO’s. He says as recently as 2008 incomes for the top one percent of Americans was on the climb while wages for the working classes were stagnant and he says when the economic slowdown is over he will not go back to those days.
Mr. Obama riled up the crowed when he hit on the conventions second favorite topic saying he will “stand behind” employee free choice legislation.
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