It is deeply ironic that President Bush will address the Republican National Convention on Labor Day, as devastating as his policies have been for working families. Since President Bush took office, we have lost more than three million good manufacturing jobs. Poverty has increased 25 percent. Forty-seven million of us are without health insurance. The price of gasoline has risen from $1.50 to $4 a gallon. Meanwhile, corporations are making record profits and CEO salaries are out of sight. But when working people try to win better wages and more control over their lives by coming together in unions, corporate America declares all-out war – with the active support of the Bush Administration.

If ever working families needed change we can believe in, it is now. We’re watching our nation sell out America's middle class and we’re deeply worried about our children’s futures.

This year, there’s historic energy and enthusiasm around this election because America’s voters are faced with a fundamental choice: to continue down the road we've taken and end up in a swamp of inequality where corporations and the wealthy always get more – or to turn around America and ensure health care for all, fair trade, the freedom to improve our lives through unions, and a fair share of the wealth that working people create.

Sen. Barack Obama has a record of putting communities—not corporations—first and helping average people get our fair share. He is committed to creating good, middle-class jobs and affordable health care for all, and he wants to end tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas. Obama understands that the single most powerful way to transform our economy and our nation is to make sure every worker who wants to form a union can do so, by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sen. John McCain plans to continue the Bush record of putting corporate profit over working families’ needs. McCain is a self-proclaimed free trader, wants to tax our employer-provided health care benefits and continues to support tax breaks for Big Oil.

This Labor Day, from coast to coast, working people are ready to turn out in droves to work for candidates who are ready to turn around our economy and turn around America.

Contact: Rachele Huennekens (202) 637-5018