Democrat Edwards gets fresh union backing

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards won labor union backing on Monday from steelworkers and mineworkers, putting him ahead of rivals in declared union support, his campaign said.

The former senator from North Carolina, endorsed by the carpenters' union on Thursday, now has the support of unions representing more than 1.8 million members and retirees, more than any other candidate in the November 2008 White House race, the campaign said.

Edwards picked up the backing of the United Steelworkers, which calls itself the largest U.S. private-sector industrial union with 1.2 million members and retirees, and the United Mine Workers of America, which represents 105,000 active and retired coal miners.

While campaigning in Des Moines on the Labor Day holiday, which honors American workers, he said that as president he would oppose strikebreakers.

"If the union, in order to show its strength and courage has to go out on strike and walk the picket line, when I'm president of the United States ... nobody ... will be able to walk through that picket line and take your job away from you," he said.

Edwards was Democrat John Kerry's vice presidential running mate in 2004.

He credited the labor movement with building the country's middle class and he said it was time for government to take steps to protect union workers.

"We have such important work to do in this country to create opportunity and 'One America' so that everybody actually has a chance in this country -- not just a few rich people, but every single working man and woman," Edwards said.

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