Edwards Campaign Press Release - Edwards Visits South Carolina To Kick-Off "American Heroes Week," Commits To Standing Up For Working Americans

Highlights workers affected by mill closing and his agenda to enact smart trade and economic policies that bring good jobs to the hard-hit towns of South Carolina

Lancaster, South Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards kicked off his "American Heroes Week" in his native state of South Carolina by highlighting the workers affected by mill closings and his commitment to being the president who stands up for America's workers again. While visiting the Palmetto State, Edwards will outline his agenda to enact smart trade and economic policies that bring good jobs that support families in the hard-hit rural communities of South Carolina and across America.

To highlight his commitment to working Americans, Edwards will hold a town hall meeting in Cheraw and tour a community center in the Blackmon Road community near Rock Hill, accompanied by actor, activist and Edwards supporter Danny Glover. He will also visit with former employees of the Springs textile mill in Lancaster.

Last year, Springs Industries merged with a Brazilian textile manufacturer and began relocating all of its remaining U.S. bedding manufacturing to South America. At its peak, Springs employed 18,000 American workers and was once South Carolina's largest employer, but today less than 700 people in the state work for the company, none in manufacturing. This summer – after 120 years in business– the last Springs textile factory in South Carolina closed its doors.

"I grew up in Carolina mill towns, and I understand the devastating impact trade can have on workers and communities," said Edwards. "South Carolina has averaged over 200 mass layoffs a year and lost nearly one in five manufacturing jobs since 2001. It's no coincidence that ordinary Americans are getting left in the dust when Washington is rigged by powerful multinational corporations and their lobbyists. As president, I will stand up to the powerful interests and fight for our real heroes, the men and women whose hard work makes our country great, but who have no voice in Washington."

Throughout the day in South Carolina, Edwards will discuss his plans to ensure that trade deals work for America's workers and communities – not just for multinational corporations. He will also highlight his proposals for helping workers and communities affected by trade get back on their feet, strengthening the middle class and renewing the basic bargain where hard work is rewarded and families have the opportunity to build better lives for themselves and their children.

"American Heroes Week," which lasts from Thursday, November 1st through Wednesday, November 7th, coincides with the launch of Edwards' first major television ad, a 60-second piece entitled "Heroes" that begins airing yesterday. In the ad, Edwards reaffirms his commitment to honoring and fighting for America's true heroes – the working men and women of our country. To view the ad, visit: www.johnedwards.com/heroes.

"If you're looking for heroes, don't look to me," Edwards says in the ad. "Don't look to Elizabeth. We have support. We have health care. We have the American people behind us. Look to them. They are the ones who we speak for. They are the ones that we stand up for. ...It is time for our party, the Democratic Party, to show a little backbone, to have a little guts. To stand up for working men and women. If we are not their voice, they will never have a voice."

For more information, please see Edwards' policy proposal for "America's Workers, America's Heroes: Good Jobs for South Carolina and Across America" included below.

America's Workers, America's Heroes:

Good Jobs for South Carolina and across America

"Millions of hard-working people wake up every morning, work hard and do the right thing to build a better life for themselves and their families, but they are barely squeaking by. As president, I will build One America where good jobs support a strong middle class again." – John Edwards

With Washington dominated by powerful special interests, it is no coincidence that the benefits of economic growth are enjoyed by increasingly few individuals and large corporations. Nationally, income inequality is at its worst since 1928 and the average family is earning less than it was in 2000 after inflation. South Carolina has averaged over 200 mass layoffs a year and lost nearly one in five manufacturing jobs since 2001. [Saez, 2007; N.Y. Times, 8/21/07; BLS, 2007; MNI, 2007]

Today, John Edwards outlined his agenda to enact smart trade and economic policies that bring good jobs that support families in the hard-hit towns of South Carolina and across America.

Smart Trade and Economic Policies

John Edwards opposes trade deals that will not help regular families, such as the trade agreement with Peru that is now before Congress and would expand the NAFTA model. To make trade work for America's workers and communities – not just for multinational corporations – Edwards will:

Enact Smarter Trade Policies

After growing up in Carolina mill towns, John Edwards understands the devastating impact trade can have on workers and communities. Presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements like NAFTA promising that they will create jobs, but instead we have lost more than 1 million jobs—including 15,000 in South Carolina—seen wages stagnate, and run up larger and larger trade deficits. Meanwhile, Washington insiders have looked at every trade deal and asked only if it is good for corporate profits. Edwards believes that trade deals need to make sense for American workers, not just corporations, and will only sign trade deals that – after considering their impact on jobs, wages, and prices – make most families better off. He will insist on strong labor and environmental standards and clear language on currency manipulation. And he will vigorously enforce workers' rights in trade agreements. [EPI, 2007]

Help Communities Recover from Mass Layoffs

When communities lose a major employer, there is a predictable downward spiral: retailers lose customers, home foreclosures depress property values, and falling tax receipts force cuts in public services. The federal government stands by, even though it's predictable which communities will struggle under new trade deals. Edwards will require the independent U.S. International Trade Commission to study which communities will face stiffer competition under new trade deals. When a plant closing appears imminent, Edwards will immediately deploy economic recovery specialists to work with affected employers, unions and local officials just as the government does for areas facing a military base closing. New resources will be available for shoring up the local tax base, attracting new businesses with family-sustaining jobs, and helping local businesses expand.

Eliminate Tax Incentives to Move Offshore

The U.S. tax code encourages multinational corporations to invest overseas by allowing them to indefinitely defer taxation on their foreign profits. In practice, this means that multinational companies pay little or no tax on their foreign profits. Edwards will eliminate the benefit of deferral in low-tax countries, ensuring that American companies' profits are taxed when earned at either the U.S. rate or a comparable foreign rate, to eliminate any incentive to move overseas.

Offer Training for Good Jobs

American workers today are more likely to lose their jobs, take longer to find a new one, and then take a significant pay cut. Edwards' Training Works program will be an aggressive effort to invest in the American worker with training that improves skills needed in high-quality jobs that actually exist. It will support entrepreneurship and training during unemployment and create new career ladder programs that help low-wage workers gain skills and move up into well-paying jobs. To get jobless workers back to work quickly in new fields, Edwards will offer support for responsible businesses that agree to hire and provide on-the-job, customized training for previously jobless workers.

Strengthen the Safety Net for Workers Who Lose Their Jobs

Our unemployment insurance program has not been improved in over 70 years. Americans today are more likely to lose their jobs and less likely to receive unemployment benefits. Trade Adjustment Assistance excludes millions of service workers facing trade-related competition. Edwards will help states provide UI coverage to 500,000 more workers a year, particularly low-wage and part-time workers. He will help the long-term unemployed by creating a standard 26-week extended benefit and expanding options for benefits during job training. He will also offer TAA's extended unemployment insurance and training benefit to all workers dislocated by globalization, regardless of their industry, making an estimated 600,000 workers a year eligible. Edwards' universal health care plan will ensure that workers who lose their jobs will not lose their health insurance. [EPI, 2003; CBPP and EPI, 2002; Rosen, 2007; NELP, 2006]

Investing in Good Jobs

For decades, middle-class wages have been stagnant while costs of health care, child care, and college have gone up. To create the good jobs that will make our middle class strong again, Edwards will:

Create the New Energy Economy in South Carolina

Renewable sources of energy – including ethanol, biodiesel, wind, and solar – can make the U.S. independent of foreign oil, cut global warming pollution, and create new industries and tens of thousands of jobs in South Carolina. Edwards will establish the New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart renewable energies with start-up capital. To get the skilled workers we need and share economic gains widely, he will create a Green Collar Jobs program to train 150,000 workers a year. [Apollo Alliance, 2005]

Invest in Local Small Businesses

Cultivating small businesses is a promising economic development strategy, but only 1 percent of state economic development funds now support local entrepreneurs. Edwards will create the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund to bring management expertise to small-town America. The REACH Fund will connect investors with rural entrepreneurs, organize businesses into networks to help them succeed together, and ensure that investment capital reaches rural areas. [RUPRI, 2007]

Help Low-Income Families Find Work and Join the Middle Class

At least 626,000 South Carolina citizens live in poverty. Edwards has set a national goal of eliminating poverty within 30 years. He will cut taxes on low-income workers and create 1 million Stepping Stone jobs to help people struggling to find jobs gain skills and work experience. He will also expand affordable housing near good jobs, rather than concentrating it in high-poverty neighborhoods far from opportunity. [Census, 2007]

Rewarding Work

To renew the basic bargain where everyone's hard work is rewarded and families can build a better life, Edwards will:

Offer True Universal Health Care

Nationally, 2.3 million Americans have lost job-based insurance since 2000, and 665,000 South Carolina citizens are uninsured. Edwards has a true universal health care plan that offers every American the option of a public plan and will save the average family $2,000 to 2,500 a year. Employers will have to help cover their employees, the government will make insurance affordable with new reforms and subsidies, and all Americans will buy insurance. [EPI, 2007; KFF, 2007]

Guarantee Retirement Security

Nearly half of workers don't have a retirement account, and even profitable businesses are cutting back their pension benefits promised to workers. Edwards will require employers to offer a new universal retirement account, similar to a 401(k), that workers can take from job to job. The federal government will match up to $500 in workers' savings a year and encourage businesses to offer their own match. Edwards will also force companies to honor their pension promises in bankruptcy and reorganization, giving workers a bankruptcy claim for lost pensions and ending unfair special treatment for executives. [Aspen, 2007; PRC, 2007]

Raise the Minimum Wage to $9.50 an Hour

In South Carolina, 179,000 workers are paid less than $7.25 an hour, the level the federal minimum wage will reach in 2009. Edwards will set a national goal of a minimum wage that equals half the average wage. He will raise the minimum wage by 75 cents a year until it reaches $9.50 in 2012 and then set it to rise automatically with average wages, ensuring that all workers share in America's growth. [EPI, 2007]

Strengthen Workers' Right to Organize

Union families earn up to 30 percent more than non-union families, but union density in South Carolina has declined by almost half in the last twenty years. The right to choose a union is poorly enforced, full of loopholes, and routinely violated by employers. Edwards will enact the Employee Free Choice Act, vigorously enforce labor laws and ban the use of permanent replacements for striking workers. [BLS, 2007; Census Bureau, 2007]