Unions Go Slow in Backing a Democrat

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Tuesday, Aug. 07, 2007
Unions Go Slow in Backing a Democrat
By Jay Newton-Small / Washington

In a campaign season that has started earlier than ever, one powerful group trying not to get swept up in the heat of the moment is organized labor. As members of the largest U.S. umbrella union, the AFL-CIO, gather in Chicago for the launch of their presidential endorsement process, no immediate endorsements are expected. And that is causing particular angst for the Democratic candidate who has worked hardest for the union vote: John Edwards.

Since Edwards's run for the Vice Presidency in 2004, he has gone to more than 200 organizing events for more than 20 unions. "There has been no presidential candidate in history that has done more for working people over the last three years than John Edwards," said David Bonior, Edwards's campaign manager and a former union-friendly Congressman himself. He cited a number of the former Senator's labor-friendly initiatives: a universal health care plan, his comprehensive proposal to fight poverty, a call to raise to minimum wage to $9.50 and a plan, introduced Monday, to overhaul U.S. trade agreements to include labor and environmental standards.

Yet for all his actions, and his rhetoric, unions are not going gaga for Edwards the way they did in 2004 for former House Speaker Dick Gephardt or former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. "Dick Gephardt for 30 years carried the water for working people in this country," said Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the 500,000-member Laborer's International Union of North America. "In 2008 we have a second-term Senator, a one-term Senator and a first-term Senator as the top-tier candidates. We don't have any top-tier candidates that have been around like that for 30 years." What's more, 2004 may have served as a lesson. With LIUNA and other unions supporting Gephardt, while others, like the 1.3 million-member Service Employees International Union, endorsed Dean, labor watched in dismay as John Kerry pulled out a surprise win in the Iowa caucus.

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Labor sources say it is unlikely that any of the top candidates will succeed in drawing the two-thirds support of the AFL-CIO's 10 million members needed to win an endorsement before the primary season, a feat accomplished only twice in the organization's history: for former Vice President Al Gore in 2000 and Walter Mondale in 1984. "We're really pleased it's a really strong field this year," said Karen Ackerman, the AFL-CIO's political director. "All of the candidates have been actively involved with many of our members."

After hearing from the eight Democratic candidates at Tuesday's forum, the AFL-CIO's executive committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to decide if and when they will hold an endorsement meeting this fall. All the organization's member unions are asked to hold off picking candidates until the AFL-CIO's executive board makes its decision. If it fails to muster a two-thirds majority for any one candidate, then it will release its member unions to back whomever they wish.

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