Vice President Joe Biden reportedly met privately with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Thursday, the latest sign that the veteran politician is thinking seriously about entering the 2016 presidential election. Trumka leads the nation’s largest organized labor federation, which represents an estimated 12 million workers.
The AFL-CIO’s backing is crucial to any Democrat who hopes to win in the general election and an early endorsement would be a major boost in the party primary. The federation has yet to make an endorsement for 2016 despite its executive council having met privately with all declared Democratic candidates and Republican contender Mike Huckabee last month.
Biden would be a serious contender for the endorsement. As a senator from Delaware he had a lifetime rating of 85 percent according to the AFL-CIO’s congressional vote rankings and was known as advocate for them on several issues. That would be a serious problem for Hillary Clinton, who has had a difficult relationship with organized labor.
“Biden has real ties to labor,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, a nonprofit activist group with close ties to labor. “He’s got that in his blood and its authentic. If he chose to run, it would certainly give industrial and construction trades a reason to stay neutral for a while longer, waiting to see how Hillary fares. The public employee unions would be more likely to stay with Clinton.”
That doesn’t mean that Biden would be a cinch to grab labor’s support if he does run, Borosage added. “I don’t see a flood of support going to Joe if he gets in. He’ll be seen as a fallback — if Hillary keeps sinking, Joe is there. Progressives will stay with (Vermont Sen. Bernie) Sanders. Hillary will keep most of the money, unless she sinks a great deal.”
A spokesman for the AFL-CIO did not respond to a request for comment. The meeting was reported by CNN based on an anonymous Democratic official.
Clinton’s problems with labor date back to her husband’s presidency. Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, a deal that many in labor argue cost American jobs. Both Clintons have close ties to Wall Street as well and Hillary has refused to take a clear position regarding President Obama’s international trade agenda, which many in labor staunchly oppose. She was pressed on the issue during her private meeting with the AFL-CIO’s executive council on July 30, but still refused.
Later that same day, Trumka issued a statement indicating that the AFL-CIO would not be making an endorsement anytime in the foreseeable future. “[We] look forward to ongoing discussions with the candidates and the further unfolding of the presidential campaign,” he said.
Clinton has nevertheless received the endorsements of some individual unions, most notably the American Federation of Teachers. The union’s president, Randi Weingarten, is a personal friend of Clinton’s.
Biden has at least one potential problem in getting labor’s support — he has been President Obama’s point man in trying to sell the trade agenda to Congress. He has pressed his former colleagues to back Trade Promotion Authority legislation, aka “Fast Track,” which would prevent lawmakers from amending trade deals, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal. Fast Track passed Congress in June. The trade deal has yet to be brought up.
