It’s been an interesting development to watch: John Edwards has decided that his potential path to the White House can be paved by embracing the notion that workers deserve and need unions–unlike most of the other possible contenders out there who look at union organizing as almost a permanent affliction that needs to be tolerated and managed to please a certain constituency.

Edwards, you may remember, was campaigning in 2004 on the theme of “Two Americas,” one rich and one poor. But, at some point in the campaign, the Kerry campaign team–you know, that vaunted Democratic consultant machine that blew another election–marginalized Edwards, or certainly made sure his rich vs. poor message disappeared.

But, Edwards, as he has explored whether to get into the 2008 race (I’d guess, like others, that this is just a question of whether his wife is healthy enough from her battle with breast cancer), has taken up the call for unionization. Specifically, he has been out front as a spokesperson for the UNITEHERE hotel national organizing campaign (which I worked on last year).

What made me think about this today is The New York Times article by Steve Greenhouse on the growing injuries suffered by hotel workers because of the luxury rooms being developed by hotels:

It is a competition in which the nation’s premier hotels are trying to have their accommodations resemble royal bedrooms. Superthick mattresses, plush duvets and decorative bed skirts have been added, and five pillows rather than the pedestrian three now rest on a king-size bed. Hilton markets these rooms as Suite Dreams, while Westin boasts of its Heavenly Beds.

The beds may mean sweet dreams to hotel guests, but they mean pain to many of the nation’s 350,000 hotel housekeepers. Several new studies have found that thousands of housekeepers are suffering arm, shoulder and lower-back injuries.

“It’s gotten harder,” said Dolores Reyes, a 55-year-old housekeeper responsible for 16 rooms a day at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. “I’ve been trying to get my body used to it, but instead I’m feeling more pain. I’ve had to go to the doctor about my shoulders. That’s what’s killing me right now.”

The problem, housekeepers say, is not just a heavier mattress, but having to rush because they are assigned the same number of rooms as before while being required to deal with far more per room: more pillows, more sheets, more amenities like bathrobes to hang up and coffeepots to wash.

Here we have another example of the Edwards Two Americas theme that runs throughout our country–except, while usually it’s a question of the rich getting more of the resources while the poor struggle to survive, in this example it’s a much rawer and up-close and personal story. The comfort of the rich being paid for by the breaking of the bodies of the working poor.

Read the rest of the article here.