> When's the last time Obama even spoke the word "union," aside from "State of the Union"?
^^^^^^^ CB: I don't know if it was the last time O used the word, but he used it on _Labor_ Day in Detroit. I heard him say it in person. He also said "Central Labor Council" and " AFL-CIO". Not only that he also called "Right-to-work" laws "Right-to-Work-FOR-LESS" laws, a phraesology used by only the most sophisticated pro-union people ( like Communists).
With respect to the bailout of GM and Chrysler, Romney's specific criticism of Obama's role was that Obama reversed the normal priority in bankruptcy, giving the union members' pension priority over Wall Street creditors. That's pro-union action , more than words.
I count six uses of "union" below and references to "the labor movement".
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/05/remarks-president-detroit-labor-day-event
Obama: I also want to talk about the work you’ve been doing for decades: Work to make sure that folks get an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. (Applause.) Work to make sure that families get a fair shake. The work you've done that helped build the greatest middle class the world has ever known. (Applause.) I’m talking about the work that got us a 40-hour workweek and weekends, and paid leave and pensions, and the minimum wage and health insurance, and Social Security and Medicare -- (applause) -- the cornerstones of middle-class security. That's because of your work. (Applause.)
If you want to know who helped lay these cornerstones of an American middle class you just have to look for the union label. (Applause.)
Obama: And America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class and without a strong labor movement. (Applause.)
Now, let me say a word about labor in particular. Now, I know this is not going to be an easy time. I know it’s not easy when there's some folks who have their sights trained on you. After all that unions have done to build and protect the middle class, you’ve got people trying to claim that you’re responsible for the problems middle-class folks are facing.
Now, the fact is, our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits. (Applause.) Our economy is stronger when we've got broad-based growth and broad-based prosperity.
That’s what unions have always been about -- shared prosperity.
Obama: So when I hear some of these folks trying to take collective bargaining rights away, trying to pass so-called “right to work” laws for private sector workers --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: -- that really mean the right to work for less and less and less -- when I hear some of this talk I know this is not about economics. This is about politics.
Obama: But what unions also know is that the values at the core of the union movement, those don’t change. Those are the values that have made this country great. (Applause.) That’s what the folks trying to undermine your rights don’t understand. When union workers agree to pay freezes and pay cuts -- they’re not doing it just to keep their jobs. They’re doing it so that their fellow workers -– their fellow Americans -- can keep their jobs. (Applause.)
Obama: "The union movement is going to be at the center of it. And if all of you are committed to making sure that the person standing next to you, and their kids and their grandkids -- that everybody in this city and everybody in this country can unleash his or her potential, if you work hard and play by the rules, you will get a fair shake and get a fair shot. That’s the country I want for my kids. (Applause.) That’s the country you want for your kids. That’s the country we’re going to build together. (Applause.)"