Sen. Bernie Sanders is drumming up increasing support from the rank and file of the labor movement — and that is causing turmoil for top union leaders who fear the 73-year-old avowed socialist is a bad bet for the general election.
But front-running candidate Hillary Clinton’s refusal to take more explicitly pro-union positions, especially on trade, have made it difficult for the leaders to keep a lid on the grassroots discontent.
A top source at one of the coalitions inside the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, who did not want to be identified, said Sanders, I-Vt., was by far generating the most excitement among his group’s rank and file. The members are excited by both his rhetoric and the fact that he has a long history of supporting union causes, a record Clinton cannot match.
Sanders’ support was so strong that when the AFL-CIO executive council met last week in the hopes of making an early presidential endorsement, its political subcommittee declined to make a recommendation, the source said. That increased the importance of a series of meetings the executive council had with the candidates this week in Silver Spring, Md., just outside of Washington. The thinking, the source said just prior to the meetings, is that they would see if a candidate can sway them.
On Thursday afternoon, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka indicated that no endorsement would be coming anytime soon. “We spoke at length with each candidate about the Raising Wages agenda and were encouraged by our discussions. We will continue to make the case for Raising Wages, and look forward to ongoing discussions with the candidates and the further unfolding of the presidential campaign,” he said.
That came immediately after Clinton appeared before the executive council to appeal for its backing. Her meeting followed one the council had with Sanders Wednesday. The group also met with former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and the lone Republican candidate to appeal for its backing, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The meetings have been closed to the public.
Clinton is the choice of many of the top leaders. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, a personal friend of Clinton’s — she revealed on Twitter in March that she knew about the secret personal email address Clinton used as secretary of state — got her own organization to endorse Clinton earlier this month. On Wednesday, she told reporters she doubted Sanders could win the White House.
“This is someone who has spent 25 years fighting to change the balance, just like we have fought to change the balance,” Weingarten said. “But what we need to do is win in changing that balance, not just fight. And so our union believes that Hillary Clinton is the one who is going to be able to do that.”
After the Vermont and South Carolina chapters of the AFL-CIO passed resolutions backing Sanders in May and June, respectively, Trumka sent them a memo that the federation’s bylaws don’t allow them to make such endorsements. Even “personal statements” supporting a candidate were out of the question, according to the memo, which was leaked to Politico.
Other leaders have called for the movement to get behind Sanders. Larry Cohen, who recently stepped down as president of the Communications Workers of America, wrote a July 1 op-ed for the Huffington Post, arguing, “Bernie has been there with us every time… Most recently Bernie was a key Senate voice against fast-tracking secret trade deals that are likely to cost us millions of jobs and depress our wages.”
It was a sharp elbow to Clinton, who has refused to make a clear, unambiguous stance on the White House’s pro-trade agenda even after Trumka publicly urged her to do so.
Sanders stressed his pro-union record when he spoke to reporters Wednesday after his meeting with the executive council.
“I have been in the House and Senate for 25 years. I am not aware that there is anybody in the House and Senate who has a stronger voting record for the AFL-CIO during that period — 98 percent,” he said, adding, “As I recall, I have been right on the other 2 percent.”
The AFL-CIO’s endorsement process requires broad supermajority support among its constituent unions, so it could be a long time before it does make an official endorsement. That is what happened in 2008, when support split among President Obama, Clinton and former South Carolina Sen. John Edwards. The AFL-CIO eventually endorsed Obama, but not until June of that year, well after he had already secured the nomination.
A late endorsement would be a problem for Clinton, who has tried hard to create a sense of inevitability for her campaign and to remain above political disputes. Not getting the backing of one of the Democratic Party’s key allies would puncture that image. Some unions are looking for “very specific” promises from candidates, the source said, and Clinton hasn’t given them.
The source noted that while one part of Obama trade agenda, so-called “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority, recently passed Congress, an even bigger item, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, is coming. The labor movement is adamantly opposed to the pact, and the vote will give Sanders a chance to lead the opposition. Clinton is going to have come out against the White House if she doesn’t want to bleed more support to Sanders, the source said.
