Edwards Statement On House Passage Of Card Check Neutrality

Chapel Hill, North Carolina — Senator John Edwards released the following statement today, applauding the passage of card check neutrality legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Today is a victory for working men and women across the country. Speaker Pelosi and 241 members of the House did the right thing by standing up for working Americans and passing this bill.

"Organized labor has been the most important anti-poverty movement in American history — strengthening the middle class and providing good-paying jobs for millions of Americans. We need to make it easier for workers to organize themselves into unions. If a Republican can join the Republican Party by signing their name to a card, any worker in America ought to be able to join a union by doing exactly the same thing.

"By protecting a worker's right to join a union, we give more Americans the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and into the middle class, which is why I have been all over this country the past few years, working with over 20 national unions to organize thousands of workers, walking picket lines and speaking out in support of workers' rights.

"I encourage the Senate to pass this legislation and hope this is just the beginning of a renewed effort in our country to protect working Americans and strengthen organized labor."