IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MARCH 17, 2008
WHICH CANDIDATES ARE GETTING THE UNION VOTE?
WASHINGTON—See who America's Unions are endorsing in the presidential race.
CITING HIS ENERGY STANDS, UTILITY WORKERS ENDORSE OBAMA
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Citing his energy stands, and particularly his willingness to investigate alternatives to foreign oil, the Utility Workers voted Feb. 25 to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The endorsement is particularly valuable in two key upcoming primary states, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the union has many members in northern Ohio and urban Pennsylvania energy firms.
Of the union’s 70,000 active and retired members, more than one-quarter (18,000) are in those two states combined, union President Michael Langford said. Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island vote March 4 and Pennsylvania votes April 22.
The Utility Workers are also yet another “blue-collar” union backing the Illinoisan, who supposedly trails his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) among blue-collar union workers. But in recent days, besides the Utility Workers, Obama gained the Teamsters and the Boilermakers. Other “blue-collar” unions backed him before his recent winning streak in primaries.
“Obama understands our issues, supports our goals and will do what is right for utility workers, our families, our communities and our country," Langford said after the vote. "We join him in his fight for change in America that will put working people first."
Obama, accepting the endorsement, said the Utility Workers “are supporting our movement for change. They have stood up for the rights of their workers and as president I will stand with them to pass universal health care, cut taxes for the middle class, and create jobs.
“Every working American should be able to know that in this country we value their work and will reward it with a few basic guarantees--wages that can raise a family, a retirement that's secure and dignified, and working conditions that are safe. That's the kind of leadership I intend to offer as president,” he declared.
Langford said Obama all the other Democratic hopefuls--whom he did not name--agreed on rebuilding crumbling infrastructure, passing the Employee Free Choice Act, raising wages, creating fair trade and protecting pensions. But because of his energy proposals, Obama “is the candidate most likely to lead our country to true energy independence,” the Utility Workers statement added.
“He’s the only candidate that has not shut the door on a variety of energy sources. An energy policy that seeks to drastically reduce our dependence on foreign oil and help clean our environment must include a number of existing sources combined with new technologies,” Langford explained.
AFL-CIO COUNCIL MEETING: POLITICS ON
AGENDA, BUT PROBABLY NO ENDORSEMENT
SAN DIEGO (PAI)--As might be expected in an election year, politics will be a big item on the AFL-CIO Executive Council agenda at its meeting in San Diego, March 4-6.
But even though the session coincides with key presidential primaries in Ohio and Texas on March 4, that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be an endorsement of an Oval Office hopeful from the leaders of the nation’s largest union federation.
That’s because, absent a cataclysm on the Democratic side, there aren’t enough votes, under the federation rules, to issue such a judgment.
The two big primaries, along with voting in Rhode Island and Vermont, pit Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). And while Obama has racked up 11 primary and caucus wins in a row since “Tsunami Tuesday” in February, he still trails in the number and size of unions backing him for the party nod.
Clinton leads in both categories, but she does not have enough support to get the required votes of unions representing 67% of the federation’s 10 million members.
Of the AFL-CIO’s biggest unions, AFSCME and the Teachers endorsed Clinton. So have at least 10 other unions or sectors, including the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Letter Carriers, the Machinists and their Transportation Communications Union sector. Another big union, the Communications Workers, left the decision to its locals. The Auto Workers made no decision.
The Steel Workers, Mine Workers and Transport Workers endorsed former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who has since dropped out. The Fire Fighters backed Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), who is also out. Now, all four can make a new decision.
The Utility Workers are the latest construction union, joining the Boilermakers, for Obama. The Sheet Metal Workers/SMART and the Painters back Clinton.
With such splits, the union leaders will spend much of their time discussing political plans below the presidential level. AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman has forecast the federation will get involved in at least 528 races--everything from referendums and local city councils to governorships and U.S. Senate seats.
And the federation plans to make universal, affordable health care--type unspecified--its #1 domestic political issue this fall. But there may be a split, there, too.
That’s because a panel of union presidents is working on what type of health
care plan the federation would back next year, with a lot of its thought taking into account the plans offered by the two Democratic hopefuls.
Both Obama and Clinton want to build on the present combined private-public system while extending coverage, but with cost controls and measures to help the poor pay for health insurance. Obama wants to cover all kids first, while cutting costs for adults to make insurance available to everyone. Clinton would mandate everyone buy insurance. That’s a key difference between them.
But USW President Leo Gerard, a panel member, is a strong advocate of government-run single-payer health insurance--basically extending Medicare to all. So is Rose Ann DeMoro of the California Nurses Association. The sole presidential hope-ful who pushed single-payer, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), is also out of the race.
Increasing numbers of AFL-CIO unions back single-payer, its advocates report. The latest are the Office and Professional Employees, the Masters, Mates & Pilots, the International Longshore Association--agreeing, on this issue, with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union--and the Professional and Technical Employees.
CHANGE TO WIN ENDORSES OBAMA
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Saying his position on trade makes a difference, and that it’s time for the Democratic presidential nomination race to end, the 7-union 6-million-member Change to Win federation on Feb. 21 endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
In a telephone press conference, CTW Chair Anna Burger frankly said the federation acted now, and will mobilize its members--especially in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and, if necessary, Pennsylvania--to push Obama to wins in those four states’ primaries and to push Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) out of the race.
“One reason we endorsed now is because we think we can make a difference,” Burger said. “It’s time to bring this process to a close. There’s a movement building here and the winds of change are blowing and for Barack Obama and it could possibly be time for her to recognize they’re blowing for him. We’re hoping to get to that point sooner rather than later,” Burger added.
Obama’s stands on trade, on achieving the American Dream and on the war in Iraq--he was against it even while in the Illinois state senate before entering the U.S. Senate--“really resonated with our members,” Burger said.
“NAFTA passed when Bill Clinton”--Sen. Clinton’s husband--“was president,” Burger said, referring to the controversial U.S.-Canada-Mexico “free trade” treaty labor fought, arguing it would cost thousands of jobs. “We have seen and lived through the impact of bad trade policies on working families in this country,” Burger explained.
Obama has told union audiences repeatedly that if elected, he would tell the Mexican president and the Canadian prime minister NAFTA must be renegotiated to stop the job losses. Sen. Clinton has not disavowed NAFTA.
The immediate practical effect of the CTW endorsement is to have four of the seven CTW unions--SEIU, UFCW, the Teamsters and UNITE HERE--join forces to mobilize their members in phone-calling, leafleting, door-knocking and other campaign activities in the four upcoming primary states. The Laborers and Carpenters have yet to finish their internal canvassing of members, while the seventh CTW union, the Farm Workers, endorsed Clinton. “But they’re comfortable with our decision,” Burger said.
Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas vote March 4. Pennsylvania votes April 22. The big impact could be in Ohio, where Burger said CTW already has staffers on the ground and where different unions are mobilizing all CTW members in different cities. CTW unions have 175,000 Ohio members. Burger said the goal is to get 110,000 of them to vote. CTW unions also have 60,000 in Texas and 20,000 in Rhode Island.
TEAMSTERS ENDORSE OBAMA
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Citing his electability as determined by polling their members, the enthusiasm he generates on the campaign trail and his promise to renegotiate NAFTA, the Teamsters board voted unanimously Feb. 20 to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In a telephone press conference that day, union President James Hoffa said the deciding factors that led his board to choose Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) were Obama’s electability and the controversial U.S.-Mexico-Canada “free trade” treaty.
The treaty--a sore point with the union--cost thousands of U.S. jobs and was jammed through the then-Democratic Congress by then-President Bill Clinton (D), Sen. Clinton’s husband.
Obama has promised that if elected, he would call the president of Mexico and the Canadian prime minister and tell them he wants to renegotiate the pact “because we’ve lost 3 million jobs” since its enactment, Hoffa explained. Labor, predicting the job losses, fought hard against NAFTA, and against Bill Clinton’s push for it.
Obama’s stances on NAFTA, health care and other issues “resonate with our members,” Hoffa said. As for that controversial U.S.-Canada-Mexico pact, Hoffa said Obama “is the first candidate since Ralph Nader” in 2000 “to say it’s not fair.”
The Teamsters’ decision, which came within the last week and a half, was also prompted by the poll of its members, Hoffa said. The union has 1.4 million members, but Hoffa declined to say how many the survey contacted or what the breakdown was.
But this poll, the first matching Obama and Clinton alone, not only gave Obama a majority but also showed Teamsters felt that in a match-up with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumed GOP nominee, “he (Obama) would do better” than Clinton would, Hoffa said. Prior polls had a 3-way race among the Democrats, with Clinton, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who drew substantial support.
The Teamsters’ decision led to Change to Win, the smaller of the nation’s two labor federations, endorsing Obama the next day. CTW’s three largest unions--the Service Employees (1.9 million), the Teamsters (1.4 million) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (1.3 million)--endorsed Obama within the last week.
Another CTW union, UNITE HERE, endorsed Obama earlier. The Laborers have yet to decide. The Carpenters endorsed Edwards, who has since dropped out, and the Farm Workers--CTW’s smallest union--endorsed Clinton. ###
Press Associates, Inc. (PAI) -- 2/22/2008
BOILERMAKERS BACK OBAMA
KANSAS CITY, Kansas (PAI)--By unanimous vote of its executive board, the 65,000-member Boilermakers endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “with great enthusiasm and great honor” on Feb. 21 for the Democratic presidential nomination, union President Newton Jones announced.
The Boilermakers thus become another building trades union to back the Illinoisan, whose appeal to blue-collar workers has been in doubt even as he has racked up 11 wins in a row in Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses.
The Democratic hopeful still in the race presumed to appeal to blue-collar workers is Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), especially after former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) withdrew following his loss in the South Carolina primary. Jones’ announcement also praised Edwards, and mentioned Clinton only in passing, grouping her with other Democratic hopefuls who have dropped out of the race.
“Barack Obama represents our nation’s best opportunity to begin rebuilding our leadership standing in the world community and to regain our economic footing here at home,” Jones declared.
Though Obama gained the endorsement of the Change to Win federation and four of its member unions, Clinton still leads in overall union endorsements, with approximately a dozen, including sectors.
“Sen. Obama, like our good friend Sen. Edwards, stands with those who are the heart and soul of our great country...those who clock in early and often work late, those who build and maintain our industries and our infrastructure, those who make America great through their simple daily contribution to our economy and our way of life...among them, Boilermaker members,” Jones said.
“Obama is the best answer to America’s need for a leader who can unite our nation,” he added. The other candidates--Clinton included--contributed to the debate, he said, but “one stands out now.
“In our view, Barack Obama is the best answer to America’s need for a leader who can unite our nation and who can truly inspire us again with a message of hope and promise for fundamental change in our government’s policies and the working relations of our two political parties. Throughout this campaign, we have seen Barack Obama touch an electorate like no other has in decades...We, too, are simply inspired and full of hope in what we have seen and heard from Obama. It is time to join the movement.”
SEIU ENDORSES OBAMA
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--By an overwhelming, but not unanimous, vote, the Service Employees’ board voted Feb. 15 to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination, SEIU President Andrew Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger announced. They particularly cited his community organizing.
Though both Obama and fellow Democratic hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) have strong pro-worker voting records, Stern said the key for his union’s 1.9 million members and their leaders was the rising enthusiasm Obama generated nationally and the view he could take the country in a new direction.
“It’s not about the specific positions, but about having the right person at the right time,” pulling in new generations, young voters and energizing SEIU members, Stern said. SEIU’s nod required votes from unions representing 60% of its members.
SEIU’s endorsement, after the pro-Obama decision on Feb. 14 by the 1.3-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers, increases the likelihood the 7-union 6-million-member Change to Win federation could back Obama. Burger, Change to Win chair, said its presidents will hold a conference call next week “to see where we’re at.”
A key to the Obama endorsement was that strong supporters within SEIU of the third leading Democratic hopeful, former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) shifted to Obama after Edwards dropped out following his defeat in the South Carolina primary. Two of SEIU’s largest--and pro-Edwards--affiliates, its state federations in Washington and California, went from Edwards to Obama, Stern said.
Burger said another key came in the Feb. 12 “Potomac Primary” in Maryland, Virginia and D.C., where SEIU local affiliates backed Obama--and also enthusiastically backed the successful challenge of progressive attorney Donna Edwards against Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) in Maryland’s majority African-American 4th congressional district. Edwards beat the longtime incumbent by almost 20 percentage points.
“Facts matter. The change in John Edwards’ status mattered. Last Tuesday mattered and we think we can make a different in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and Texas,” Stern said. Meanwhile, SEIU’s New York affiliate “stayed neutral through this whole process.” It “will have a difficult decision to make” now that the international union backs Obama, Stern said. Those states vote in coming weeks.
“The outcome of this election will decide whether we have quality, affordable health care, when we can bring our children home from the war in Iraq and whether there will be a real chance for workers to join a union,” Burger added.
UFCW ENDORSES OBAMA
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Calling him “the best candidate to build a movement to unite our country that will deliver the type of change that is needed – for good jobs, affordable health care, retirement security and worker safety,” the 1.3-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers became the largest union in the nation--so far--to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The union’s 72-member board “overwhelmingly” voted for the Illinoisan, union spokeswoman Jill Cashen said, making it the second union in the 6-million-member Change to Win coalition, along with UNITE HERE, to back Obama.
“The board was representing its local unions, who in turn were following their members,” Cashen said of the process UFCW went through to endorse Obama.
UFCW President Joe Hansen particularly cited Obama’s talk of the future for unionists, their children and their grandchildren. He noted 40% of his union’s members --meat cutters, grocery workers, poultry plant workers, checkout clerks, and their colleagues--are under the age of 30. Though he did not say so, hundreds of thousands of his members are African-American or Hispanic.
The UFCW announcement also puts to an end misinformation from the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), the other Democratic contender. For months, Clinton trumpeted an endorsement from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), a New York City-headquartered key sector of UFCW, over the protests of RWDSU President Stuart Applebaum.
“I don’t think we’ve made a final decision yet,” said RWDSU spokesman Levi Nayman. Appelbaum was on his way to Israel and could not be reached.
Though Hansen praised Clinton’s support of workers, he said Obama offers that and much more.
“Sen. Obama understands the needs of working people. As a community organizer, he understands America must restore the balance between working America and corporate America. He will fight to level the playing field on behalf of workers across our country. He will fight to regain the rights and protections workers have lost after too many years of the Bush administration,” Hansen said.
“We are talking about the dreams of meatpackers and food processors working long hours to ensure that the dreams of their sons and daughters for college and a better life become a reality. We are talking about giving life to the dreams of cashiers and clerks in retail and grocery stores,” Hansen continued. “That is what this election is about. It is about the dreams of hard-working people across this country--men and women who deserve to have their elected officials work as hard as they do. Sen. Obama is best positioned, and has the best policies, to make these dreams a reality.”
The timing of UFCW’s announcement may be important: Hansen said it has tens of thousands of members in Ohio, which holds a key primary on March 5.
With the UFCW decision, and SEIU’s Obama endorsement the next day, three Change to Win unions have lined up behind Obama. One--the Carpenters--backed former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who has since dropped out and one, the Farm Workers, backs Clinton. The Laborers and Teamsters have yet to decide.
TWO MORE ENDORSEMENTS: TWU
FOR EDWARDS, UFW FOR CLINTON
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
NEW YORK (PAI)--Add another industrial union, the Transport Workers, to those backing former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) for the Democratic presidential nomination. And add a Change to Win union, the Farm Workers, to those backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
Edwards, who trailed Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the early primaries and caucuses, now has four unions--TWU, the Steel Workers, the Mine Workers and the Carpenters--in his corner to Clinton’s 11 (plus two sectors) and Obama’s one. The remaining Democratic hopeful, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who had no international union endorsements, withdrew from the race on Jan. 24.
The TWU endorsement is especially important in New York, which holds its primary as part of “Tsunami Tuesday” when half the nation votes, on Feb. 5. New York elects 70% of its delegates by congressional district, giving Edwards opportunities. The 200,000-member TWU’s largest local, and its headquarters, are both in New York City.
The union is very politically active, and TWU President James Little said its activists and officers, after “extensive discussion,” picked Edwards as the most-electable Democratic hopeful this fall.
“Some candidates seem to be figuring out how to best triangulate on campaign issues,” Little said in a veiled swipe at Clinton and her husband and prime surrogate, former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
“Edwards takes on subjects such as job security, health care, retirement and the growing gap in wealth between the rich and the middle class in a straightforward way that the country and working families desperately need,” Little said.
Workers need the Democrat with the best chance to win the White House as the party’s nominee “to provide America with a president who will reverse the failure of leadership of the past seven years,” Little added. “We feel Edwards best amplifies the issues that most concern our members, including security against terrorism on our transportation systems, as well as safety for workers and passengers on our highways, railroads, mass transportation networks and airlines."
California-based UFW’s Clinton endorsement means four of that federation’s unions have gone in four different directions in presidential politics. That makes it more difficult for CTW to amass unions representing two-thirds of its six million members for a
federation-wide endorsement, as it requires, according to CTW Chair Anna Burger. CTW’s other unions have taken no positions yet.
Before the UFW endorsement, the Service Employees--Change to Win’s largest union, which claims 1.9 million members--decided to endorse nobody nationally, leaving the decisions up to its locals. It asked them to endorse jointly statewide, when backing anyone. The Carpenters backed Edwards, and UNITE HERE backed Obama. UNITE HERE’s influence was thought to be especially great in the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses. UNITE HERE has a 60,000-member local in Las Vegas, but Clinton won Nevada.
"After meeting with and talking to the candidates, the UFW board believes Clinton to be the strongest, most experienced candidate for president,” said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the 27,000-member union. “She will be able to tackle our nation's toughest problems--health care, improving the economy for working people and repairing our country's standing in the world.”
UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta also backs Clinton. Maria Elena Durazo, head of the large L.A. County Federation of Labor, backs Obama. California votes Feb. 5. “Clinton has stood with farm workers and immigrants--fighting for comprehensive immigration reform, sponsoring the UFW- sponsored AgJOBS bill and helping 1,800 farm workers sign a union contract with D'Arrigo after 30 years," Rodriguez added.
Rodriguez did not mention, however, that Clinton got into hot water during a Democratic hopefuls’ debate earlier this year when she waffled on the issue of drivers licenses for undocumented workers, first coming out for them, then against them.
Kucinich, who dropped out, was the only Democratic hopeful to vote against anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush’s Iraq War demand in 2002. Obama opposed the war, but was not then in the U.S. Senate. Kucinich will concentrate on his re-election bid in his Cleveland-based congressional district. Its primary, too, is Feb. 5.
Kucinich was also the only hopeful, in either party, who campaigned for Medicare-like government-run single-payer universal health care, abolishing the insurance companies, their co-pays, cuts in coverage, high premiums, high deductibles and 18,000 yearly deaths of policyholders denied care.
Ironically, Kucinich left the race just as the California AFL-CIO became the 32nd state fed to endorse the single-payer bill, HR 676, that he and veteran Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) are pushing. The California state fed includes union affiliates with 2.1 million members. The single-payer resolution there was pushed by Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association, the AFL-CIO’s newest affiliate. CNA has pushed state-level single-payer bills for years. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) has vetoed them, twice.
Press Associates, Inc. (PAI) -- 1/11/2008
UNITE HERE, PLUMBERS ENDORSE OBAMA;
AFSCME VPS PROTEST ‘INDEPENDENT’ ADS
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
NEW YORK (PAI)--In an action that could influence the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses--the next event on the Democratic Party’s nominating calendar--UNITE HERE, including its 60,000-member Local 226 in Las Vegas, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the party nomination. The United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters also backed the Illinoisan. The nods came on Jan. 9-10.
Meanwhile, 7 AFSCME vice presidents protested an “independent expenditure” ad campaign, criticizing Obama, which ran before the Iowa caucuses. The $770,000 campaign was assembled, they told union President Gerry McEntee, by two staffers, without his knowledge. But it violated understandings that when AFSCME endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), there would be no negative attacks on other contenders.
The Obama endorsements are notable: UNITE HERE’s is important because Las Vegas is one of the most-unionized cities in the U.S., and Local 226 is its largest local. The 340,000-member Plumbers is the first AFL-CIO union for Obama. Clinton has 10 and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has 2. UNITE HERE is part of Change to Win.
UNITE HERE cited Obama’s career in community organizing in Chicago and his continuing ties with the union, including his marching on its picket line in front of Chicago’s Congress Hotel--which forced its Local 1 members to strike several years ago. He also backed Local 226’s latest contract campaign. UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor, a New Yorker, said the union “supported him (Obama) from the start.” The union has a combined 1 million active and retired members.
“Obama is not a fair-weather friend to working Americans, he has been there when the going gets rough, on the picket line with hotel workers again and again and there when we need him,” added UNITE HERE President/Hospitality Industries John Wilhelm. “Even among this impressive field of candidates, we are proud to offer him our support in this election, and eager to help him win.”
Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said Obama “has shown us he understands our members' struggles and dreams. He stood with our union in every step of our recent contract negotiations and showed us he too understands that organizing and bringing people together is how we move forward. We want to make the American dream we have established in Las Vegas a reality for the entire country and we think Obama will take us there."
Four years ago, UNITE HERE backed Edwards, who is now the party’s #3
contender, behind Obama and Clinton. This time, union spokeswoman Amanda Cooper added, the choice was “tough” but “there were 3 strong candidates, especially 2 with strong organizing and labor backgrounds.”
Plumbers President William Hite said his union’s board chose Obama “because he has always fought for working people throughout his career and will do the best job of bringing badly needed change to Washington. Obama will help us keep existing jobs and work to develop new higher-paying jobs here in America, reform our health care system, fix our ailing schools and make sure pensions of our retirees are safe.”
Obama, accepting UNITE HERE’s backing, said “what we have to make real is the idea that…we value the labor of every American. We must respect that labor and reward it with a few basic guarantees: Wages that can raise a family, health care if we get sick, a retirement that's dignified, working conditions that are safe. That vision is what I’ve been fighting for two decades...and it’s what I’ll fight for as president.”
Meanwhile, over at AFSCME--whose board voted 3-to-1 for Clinton--brouhaha has arisen over the independent expenditure campaign, and specifically over its negative ads criticizing Obama’s health care plan.
“The argument for endorsing Clinton was not that her positions were better than those of the other candidates or that she would be the better president for working families, but rather that she was the clear frontrunner, the most likely primary victor, and the strongest general election candidate,” the 7 vice presidents wrote McEntee.
Given that, the union board agreed AFSCME would have to spend political money--which does not come from dues--backing Clinton. And the board was informed “there would be procedures for independent expenditures,” which by law can advocate a candidate but which cannot be coordinated with any candidate’s campaign. But “there was never any discussion of how those expenditures would be made,” they said.
That’s why the negative ads against Obama--and only Obama--“shocked and appalled” the vice presidents. They called the ads “dishonest and misleading” about the senator’s health care plan asked McEntee “to take whatever action within your legal purview” to end them. But McEntee denied power over the ads.
“While I am not, by law, allowed to participate in any way in the activities of AFSCME’s political action committee in this area, about this I am clear: AFSCME’s ‘independent expenditure’ effort is not a negative campaign. Rather, it has contrasted differences between the candidates on the issues,” focusing on Clinton and Obama, he said. AFSCME’s ads point out Obama’s health care plan--a key issue for the union--doesn’t cover everybody. “AFSCME’s campaign has been fair and has stuck to the issues,” he stated.
Bricklayers Endorse Clinton; SEIU Endorses Nobody
Continuing the cavalcade of union endorsements of Democratic presidential hopefuls, the Bricklayers endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). But in a larger development, the Service Employees broke with the pattern by deciding to endorse nobody at all. It will leave endorsements up to its locals.
The board of the 100,000-member Bricklayers said it unanimously voted for Clinton after a statistically valid poll of its members. "After years of an administration that turned its back on working families, we need a president whose priorities are our priorities," said Bricklayers President John Flynn.
The Bricklayers join the Machinists and the Letter Carriers in backing Clinton, along with the smaller United Transportation Union. Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has the Steel Workers, the Carpenters and Mine Workers.
Flynn said his union also seeks someone to "work with us to grow the economy and address issues facing workers and their families, a president whose commitment, experience and strong leadership will help put America's middle class back on its feet, a president who will govern through strength, not fear." Clinton again pledged that "in my administration, working families will again have a partner in the White House."
But the bigger news came from the bigger union, the 1.8-million-member SEIU, which is known for its political activism and which came to no decision at all.
SEIU's board and activists, meeting in Washington in late August and in Chicago in September, had winnowed the 8-person Democratic presidential field down to three: Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Edwards.
All three, along with the other five, had spent a day on the job earlier this year with rank-and-file SEIU members and answered detailed questions from the board, the activists and workers they toiled with. In the end, SEIU officials said, there were too many too good candidates to choose from.
"This election will decide whether we finally achieve comprehensive, affordable health care for everyone, whether we bring economic security and fairness to working people, whether we bring our sons and daughters home from a civil war in Iraq, and whether working people finally have the freedom to form unions without intimidation," said SEIU President Andy Stern.
"Given the importance of this election, we are encouraging members and leaders to act on their passion for the candidates and get involved on a statewide basis," he added. SEIU locals may start making their own endorsements, including commitments of members' campaign time, on Oct. 15.
UNITED TRANSPORTATION UNION ENDORSES CLINTON
CLEVELAND (PAI)—In keeping with a long history of supporting both Clintons, the United Transportation Union became the first union to issue a presidential primary endorsement, backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), on August 28.
UTU, which has 125,000 members and retirees combined, will merge on January 1 into the larger Sheet Metal Workers International Association, but that union is staying neutral in the presidential race for now, SMWIA President Michael Sullivan said.
"It is a high honor and distinct privilege to be the first labor union in making this endorsement," said UTU President Paul Thompson, who is retiring at the end of this year. "The UTU has a long history of picking winners early. Hillary will be a president America's working families can count on. Time and again as a senator, she has stood with us." Incoming UTU President Mike Futhey agreed with the decision.
"It's time America's workers had an advocate in the White House," Hillary Clinton told Thompson in a phone call after the endorsement.
UTU has supported both Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton (D), starting when Bill Clinton first sought the Arkansas governorship in 1978. Futhey served on his presidential campaign finance committee.
Thompson and UTU Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer said Hillary Clinton's history with UTU and commitments she made in a letter to the union, along with her advocacy of infrastructure projects at the AFL-CIO-sponsored presidential candidates' debate in Chicago on August 7, clinched the union's decision.
In her letter, Clinton said she believes "Amtrak, commuter rail and public transportation should be well-funded and have recently laid out a plan to do just that." UTU represents workers on railroads, commuter rail lines and some buses.
Clinton also said "there should be a fair way of keeping a Commercial Drivers License" that union members--including UTU members and Teamsters--need, and promised to strengthen labor protections in several federal agencies. "All UTU members should be trained in safety and security and it is important UTU members should not be abandoned on trains at the conclusion of the Hours of Service Act or be required to work fatigued," she added.
And Clinton promised that if as president, she created a Presidential Emergency Board to decide on a new contract between rail labor and management, after the two sides failed to reach agreement, the board "would be balanced and fair and not ignore the needs of UTU members." Anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush is known for creating emergency boards, in rail and airline struggles, tilted against workers.
FIRE FIGHTERS ENDORSE DODD
WASHINGTON (PAI)—Calling him the right leader for the U.S. in terms of safety and national security, the executive board of the Fire Fighters unanimously endorsed veteran Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The August 29 endorsement from the 281,000-member union, which is plurality Republican, is especially important because IAFF provided the on-the-ground forces for Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry's win in the key leadoff Iowa caucuses almost four years ago, and it plans to do the same thing for Dodd.
Kerry's win in Iowa came at a time when he--like Dodd now-trailed badly in national polls. It propelled the Massachusetts lawmaker to the 2004 nomination.
And IAFF members have credibility with their neighbors, as local first responders, as community members heavily involved in such activities as Little League, and from the fact that 343 of them, plus their priest, died in the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York.
"In a time of war, when the middle class was getting smaller, Wall Street was going after our pensions and health care taking our paychecks, we met the challenge and took the risk" for Kerry, union President Harold Schaitberger explained. He said similar conditions--including the war, the decline of the middle class and health care ills --exist today. That helps explain the Dodd endorsement, he added.
"Our country has been without experienced leadership for far too long. This time around, experience matters," he added in praising Dodd. And without someone who can stand up for safety and security, the union chief noted, everything else is irrelevant.
Dodd entered Congress in the mid-1970s and has been a senator for more than 20 years. He is known for his foreign policy expertise, his pro-worker voting record and for writing laws important to Fire Fighters and writing the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Though he voted for anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, Dodd has since apologized, and called his vote a mistake. He said at the press conference with Schaitberger that he is leaning against Bush's latest request for $50 billion to continue the war. Dodd would vote for funds to begin withdrawing U.S. troops. His Iraq stands drew cheers and applause from the packed room of Fire Fighters.
Recalling Kerry's come-from-behind win with IAFF aid, Dodd also said "polls don't mean spit" and are more of a function of name recognition and fundraising. He trails leaders Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) badly in both areas. Clinton was endorsed August 28 by the smaller United Transportation Union and August 30 by the Machinists.
"We've been working a lot of phones" in Iowa and in New Hampshire, the first primary state, Dodd added. "The calls show voters are--despite the notoriety of other contenders--still very undecided."
That gives Dodd and his Fire Fighter allies, including Schaitberger, who headed out on the campaign trail with Dodd in the weekend before Labor Day, time to convince voters the Connecticut veteran is the right choice. As he campaigns, Dodd said, he will refute expected Republican attacks, including lies, and emphasize a positive campaign and message instead. Voters, Dodd said, "are fed up" with attack politics.
Fire Fighter board member Pete Carozza of Connecticut, who has already been out campaigning for Dodd--and who has known him for 30 years--said the same thing. "I think a lot of people around the country are tired of that," he said of the GOP's tactics.
Carozza, president of the state's Fire Fighters, also reported that when Dodd spoke to small groups in Iowa, he was intensively questioned by individual voters, gave detailed answers, "and got a lot of nodding of heads" to his replies on issues.
Board member Roy Colbrunn, President of IAFF Local F88 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, said the registered Republicans in the IAFF--including himself--decided to go with Dodd because they "don't care what letter is at the end of a politician's name, 'D' or 'R,' as long as they support Fire Fighters."
IAFF also helped its members by having 11 presidential hopefuls, from both parties, address its legislative conference earlier this year, Colbrunn pointed out. The delegates filled out detailed evaluation forms covering each person's remarks.
"At Wright-Patterson, we were encouraged by interviewing Republicans, as well as the Democrats, at the legislative conference. You could hear these men on a lot of issues people felt strongly about," Colbrunn noted. "We had a number of candidates we felt we could support, but Chris was on top," he said.
At that conference, the GOP hopefuls stuck almost totally to supporting Bush on the war and mentioned few other issues. None discussed worker rights. Democrats advocated various strategies for ending the war, and backed worker rights. The IAFF's endorsement may not be the end of the story, however, Colbrunn pointed out. That's because the union allows each local to make its own endorsement. In the 2004 election, several backed Bush. But 63% of IAFF members voted for Kerry.
MACHINISTS ISSUE DUAL ENDORSEMENT: DEMOCRAT CLINTON, REPUBLICAN HUCKABEE
ORLANDO, Fla. (PAI)—In a decision reflecting that their union is 33%-35% Republican, the Machinists on August 30 issued a dual presidential primary endorsement of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.). They backed Huckabee though one report of his appearance said he opposed the Employee Free Choice Act, the bill to level the playing field for unions in organizing.
IAM's endorsement came at the end of its 700-member National Staff Conference in Orlando. It was influenced by hour-long 1-on-1 interviews each hopeful underwent in Orlando with the crowd listening, and by an online poll conducted by IAM, which has 700,000 members and retirees combined.
"I was at your Day of Action" in Washington in May "and there's no better slogan right now--'Enough is Enough'," said Clinton. "We need to make a change now so we can ensure every single American has a good job, quality health care, pension security and we need to get back to the point where workers can freely form a union."
IAM President Thomas Buffenbarger said the union backed Clinton for several reasons, including her detailed plan to revive U.S. manufacturing, a key IAM cause.
"Clinton earned the IAM's endorsement by focusing on jobs, health care, education and trade--the bread-and-butter issues of the middle class. She is the only candidate of either party to come forward with a comprehensive manufacturing policy and the only candidate to connect with millions of Americans who feel invisible to the current administration," Buffenbarger explained.
Huckabee, he added, was the only GOPer "with the guts to meet with our members and the only one willing to figure out where and how we might work together. He is entitled to serious consideration from our members voting in the upcoming Republican primaries." Five Republicans were invited. The other four were no-shows.
Huckabee told the crowd that "in order for this country to be free there are three things we must do: Feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves. That means we need to be manufacturing our own means of defense and making it a national security issue." IAM has been making that manufacturing=security argument for years.
A blog posted about Huckabee's speech said "he let the union workers know his father worked as a firefighter and mechanic and that blue collar workers are what made this country great." And Huckabee added: "If I asked how many of you had confidence that your children and your grandchildren would be living an even better life than you, my fear is that no one's hand would go up. We can and must change that.")
Huckabee "talked about Wal-Mart and how its managers opposed a union for their employees. He also told them that he refused to support a bill that would make it easier for unions to organize workers," the blogger noted. Huckabee also blasted China for "sending over cheap, unregulated goods, which makes it harder for U.S. manufacturers to compete." The Arkansan concluded that "something isn't quite right in what's now becoming a very unbalanced relationship with China."
MORE ENDORSEMENTS: STEEL WORKERS, MINE WORKERS, CARPENTERS BACK EDWARDS
PITTSBURGH (PAI)—With the presidential primary campaign heating up in earnest, the Steel Workers and the Mine Workers chose its "traditional" start, Labor Day, to back former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) for the Democratic nomination.
USW President Leo Gerard and UMW President Cecil Roberts used the platform of Pittsburgh's Labor Day parade to announce their unions' decisions. Carpenters President Douglas McCarron said separately his union also backs Edwards.
The Steel Workers and Mine Workers endorsements of Edwards--who is tied for the lead in opinion polls in the key first caucus state, Iowa, but runs third nationally--are important for two reasons.
One is that USW, with 1.2 million members and retirees, has a large and politically active corps of members who can hit the hustings quickly and effectively in the industrial states of the Northeast and Midwest, and elsewhere. The other is UMW has thousands of members and retirees in the coal-mining areas of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio and southern Illinois and Indiana.
"All the Democratic candidates in the field share our values, and any one of them would be a major improvement over the current administration," said Gerard, whose union has thousands of members in battleground states such as Ohio.
"But none of them is a more forceful advocate for those values than John Edwards. Edwards is committed, as he has been throughout his life, to going to bat for everyday Americans and to changing a broken political system that leaves millions of Americans without a voice in their government," Gerard added.
The USW and UMW decisions increase the likelihood the AFL-CIO will