(PAI) – Top union leaders, headed by AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Change To Win Chair Anna Burger, discussed health care and the Employee Free Choice Act in a 45-minute closed-door meeting with Democratic President Barack Obama on July 13.

And while Obama reiterated his support for the Employee Free Choice Act, labor’s top legislative priority, he did not give specific promises on what he would do to help push it past the planned GOP filibuster in the Senate, aides to one of the union leaders, CWA President Larry Cohen, said.

Obama, did, however, say “he would do everything he could” on both issues, the CWA aide added.
The White House called the meeting “a productive conversation about shared priorities like creating jobs, health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.” And that’s all it said.

The unionists, members of the National Labor Coordinating Committee – a group of leaders established April 7 as a first step towards fostering labor movement unity – were more expansive. So was Cohen, the AFL-CIO Legislative Committee Chair, in a statement on his union’s website and in a verbal duel with Chamber of Commerce vice president for labor affairs Randel Johnson on The Newshour With Jim Lehrer.

“We spoke with a unified voice today to the president as we discussed progress on issues that are so important to working families, including the 16 million working Americans in our unions,” the group said after the meeting. Health care topped the chart. Another participant, AFT President Randi Weingarten, said later the overall economy and pensions also came up. She referred questioners to the joint statement.

“We are working hard with Congress and the president to win health care for every American. We support a robust quality public plan option that will lower costs and ensure that Americans without coverage can get it. We believe all employers should participate in a universal plan,” the unionists’ statement continued.

“We also believe we can create universal coverage without taxing the benefits of workers. The last thing working people can stand as they struggle with health costs is new taxes on their benefits – especially during these times of economic hardship.

“We also talked about the Employee Free Choice Act, which will restore the middle class by giving workers the choice to bargain, not borrow, their way to a better life. We look forward to its passage, giving workers a proven path to fairer wages, benefits, and a secure retirement,” they declared.

After praising the $787 billion economic stimulus law – and telling Obama it “should be substantially reinforced with more stimulus, creating millions of good jobs that cannot be outsourced,” the unionists added they agree with Obama “that unions are a key part of the solution to fixing this economic mess.”

Obama, however, is cool to a second stimulus, as are many congressional Democrats. He says the first one needs time to work and show its results.

“Obama was elected because Americans want an economy that works for every-one again. We look forward to working with him to make that happen,” the group said.

Cohen added some details. “”In every other industrial democracy, working people have the full right to voice and a seat at the table. Restoring that right to American workers through the Employee Free Choice Act will help rebuild the middle class and move our economy forward. In the same way, real health care reform that addresses our current flawed system will boost our economy,” he said. “All unions of the National Labor Coordinating Committee are united on these critical issues.”
In the TV debate with Johnson, Cohen also said unions “support a process” for workplace recognition “where they (workers) could be deciding on the” union election authorization “card, or they could even mail it in.”
“The workers themselves get the choice” between majority signup and an NLRB-run election, Cohen said on the program. After reiterating his seat-at-the-table point, Cohen said doing that means “labor and management can get together to get the economy back on track” – a statement the hostile Johnson did not even reply to.

Asked why business was so violently against majority signup – the key “card check” provision – Johnson admitted majority signup would work. “It makes it much easier to organize, and that’s what the employees want,” he said.

Besides Obama, Sweeney, Burger, Cohen and Weingarten, other participants were Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, United Food and Commercial Workers President Joe Hansen, Laborers President Terry O’Sullivan, Teamsters President James Hoffa, Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, IBEW President Ed Hill, American Rights at Work Chair David Bonior, AFSCME President Gerry McEntee, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and SEIU President Andy Stern.