Obama Poised to Get AFSCME Endorsement (American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Obama poised to get AFSCME endorsement

By JESSE J. HOLLAND – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama is poised to pick up the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a political powerhouse union that was a strong backer of his former Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The union's leadership will meet later Thursday, and an afternoon announcement is expected. AFSCME is the largest union for workers in the public service sector with 1.4 million members nationwide.
Obama reached out to union presidents and leaders Thursday in hopes of quickly unifying the nation's labor movement behind his candidacy after a grueling primary contest with Clinton. The New York senator and former first lady ceded the nomination to him earlier this month.

AFSCME's president, Gerald McEntee, was one of Clinton's most outspoken supporters throughout the primary, and his union was one of the biggest to jump aboard her campaign early in the primary.
McEntee also is chair of the Political Education Committee for the AFL-CIO — the nation's largest labor organization — which did not endorse in the Democratic primary.
But McEntee on Wednesday praised Obama as a "sure-footed friend of labor" after he and other AFL-CIO leaders met with the Illinois senator at AFL-CIO headquarters, which is a block from the White House. Union leaders said after that meeting that an AFL-CIO endorsement could come within weeks once its international leadership has a chance for a formal vote.

AFSCME represents government and private workers including nurses, bus drivers, child care providers, custodians and librarians.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSuT9bgYn5P374g-BDsz...

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[MessiahRp]

1. They're coming to the table rather late aren't they?

They backed Clinton and she's been out for a couple weeks now. Why wait so long?

Rp