Presidential hopeful Edwards courts unions on Seattle trip

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards stopped in Seattle Tuesday to make an early pitch for an endorsement from the AFL-CIO.

But before he got to matters of labor law, outsourcing and international trade, Edwards had a few things to say about the Iraq funding bill that President Bush vetoed later Tuesday.

At the Boeing Machinists Hall in South Seattle, Edwards said Congress should "stand its ground on this" and keep sending funding bills to the president until he signs one with a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

Edwards told hundreds of union members that last November's election showed voters want a change in the direction of the war. Later, he told reporters that Congress should pass similar bills, "as many times as it takes."

"The president's counting on the Congress backing down," he said. "If the troops don't get the money that they're entitled to, it's the president of the United States who's stopping it."

Luke Esser, the state GOP chairman, accused Edwards of playing politics with the war.

"Last week Edwards admitted that he doesn't believe the war on terror even exists," Esser said in an interview Tuesday. "John Edwards' views are simply dangerous. We didn't start the war on terror, and pretending it doesn't exist won't protect our country from future attacks."

Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina and a trial attorney, was questioned Tuesday by members of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions as part of the labor group's endorsement process.

Democratic presidential candidates chose the city where they would appear for the first round of questioning. Edwards selected Seattle.

When he ran for the Democratic nomination in 2004, Edwards paid little attention to Washington and finished fourth in the Democratic caucus. Now the campaign sees a natural base here, said campaign adviser Joe Trippi.

"There's no question that if you look at where John Edwards is on everything from poverty to putting an end to the Iraq war, that in Washington state, and Seattle in particular, it's clear our message is resonating there," Trippi said.

At Tuesday's union gathering, Edwards said he would tighten labor and environmental standards in trade agreements, ban permanent hiring of replacement workers, end tax breaks that encourage foreign outsourcing and stop privatization of government jobs.

"It is absolutely crucial that we make it easier, not harder, to organize workers in the workplace," he said.

In one of his biggest applause lines, Edwards said, "I think if someone 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 signing a card."

A member of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) asked Edwards about visas that allow companies to bring in foreign high-tech workers. The union member said the visas were hurting "hard-working SPEEA workers and other technical workers."

Edwards said he wanted to make sure American workers were educated and trained for those jobs. "What we can't do is use those visas as an excuse for not allowing American workers to do jobs that American workers are capable of doing," he said.

Microsoft and other local tech companies have lobbied for more high-tech guest-worker visas to fill jobs for which they say there aren't enough trained American workers.

In talking to reporters later, Edwards said he supports the continued use of visas for high-tech workers.

"If it's necessary to fill these jobs to make sure that our businesses can produce and be productive, yes, of course, we need to do that," he said.

David Postman: 360-236-8267 or dpostman@seattletimes.com