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dsc

(52,130 posts)
Tue Aug 18, 2015, 07:11 PM Aug 2015

An honest question in regards to union endorsements

What, in the minds of those who oppose the AFT and the machinists union's endorsements of Hillary should a union do before it endorses? In both cases, these unions polled members, interviewed the candidates, looked at records, and decided who to endorse with their executive committees.

The nursing union which endorsed Bernie did the following, according to their press release:

The NNU Executive Council voted to endorse Sanders. Factors for NNU backing, said DeMoro, included:

Sanders’ long history of support for NNU, nurses and patients,
A 100 percent scorecard on a questionnaire NNU sent to all the Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates,
Overwhelming support for Sanders among NNU members in an internal poll, and
Sanders’ response to issues before the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/nurses-endorse-sen.-bernie-sanders-for-president/

Here is what the AFT said they did when they endorsed Hillary

The AFT's endorsement comes a month after Clinton attended an executive council meeting in Washington, D.C. At that meeting, she said, "It is just dead wrong to make teachers the scapegoats for all of society's problems. Where I come from, teachers are the solution. And I strongly believe that unions are part of the solution, too."

Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley also spoke with the executive council at that meeting. All potential and announced candidates were invited to complete a questionnaire, and those who returned the questionnaire were invited to meet with the council. No Republican candidates responded to the invitation.

The AFT has conducted a long, deliberative process to assess which candidate would best champion the issues of importance to our members, their families and communities. Members have been engaged online, through the "You Decide" website, through several telephone town halls, and through multiple surveys—reaching more than 1 million members.

Additionally, over the past few weeks, the AFT has conducted a scientific poll of our membership on the candidates and key issues. The top issues members raised were jobs and the economy and public education. Seventy-nine percent of our members who vote in Democratic primaries said we should endorse a candidate. And by more than a 3-to-1 margin, these members said the AFT should endorse Clinton.

- See more at: http://www.aft.org/press-release/american-federation-teachers-endorses-hillary-clinton-president#sthash.Zp73ihLg.dpuf

Now to be honest, I see no difference, none at all in what these two unions did before they chose to endorse. The Machinists did pretty much the same thing as the other two. I will leave it to others to find links for that one.

But this returns to my original question. Just what should a union do before it makes an endorsement? Should it have to conduct an entire election with all of its members? What percent should the endorsed candidate have to win by? Do we care just how much money this would cost unions? I would like an honest, principled answer here. If you have a honest, principled reason that the AFT and Machinists did the wrong thing for using their procedure of endorsement but the nurses who did the same thing didn't then give it. If you think all three endorsements are problematic then what should unions have to do before they can endorse?

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An honest question in regards to union endorsements (Original Post) dsc Aug 2015 OP
I have no problem murielm99 Aug 2015 #1
The difference is the supporters of each candidate. SonderWoman Aug 2015 #2

murielm99

(30,656 posts)
1. I have no problem
Tue Aug 18, 2015, 07:31 PM
Aug 2015

with the way either of these endorsements were deliberated and finalized. I have a feeling that both candidates feel the same way.

The only people I hear making a stink about it are the Bernie supporters. Anyone who does not support their candidate is criticized in the harshest terms. And the criticism does not end. It continues with running, whiny commentary.

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