Big Union Leaders Betray Sanders and Workers
Published on
Friday, April 08, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Big Union Leaders Betray Sanders and Workers
by
Ralph Nader
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders waves as he marches
with supporters in the Labor Day parade. (Photo: AP/Jim Cole)
Around a conference table inside the large Washington headquarters of the
AFL-CIO, a furious exchange occurred between labor union presidents. It was
late February and up for decision by the Executive Council was whether the
country's principal labor federation was going to make a primary season
endorsement of Hillary Clinton as favored by the leaders of the largest
unions.
According to insiders, tempers flared when smaller unions challenged the
Hillary-endorsing big unions such as AFSCME (public employees), the American
Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the Service
Employees (SEIU) and the Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). These large
unions came out for Clinton in late 2015 and early 2016 before they sensed
the growing rank and file workers' preference for the lifetime advocate for
workers and union backer, Bernie Sanders.
"Time is of the essence. When will workers again have such a scandal-free,
consistent labor champion as Bernie Sanders seriously going for the
Presidency inside the Democratic Party?"
Listening to the nurses union head speak out for Sanders' strong pro-labor
history, Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, interrupted her, exclaiming: "I
will not allow you to do a commercial for Sanders." She retorted, "You mean
for the only candidate who has a 100% labor record?"
A union leader of postal workers charged the unions backing Hillary as being
"completely out of touch with their workers." AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka then cut off their microphones.
All over the country, the observation by the postal workers' leader rings
true. Even as Lee Saunders read the names of the Democratic presidential
contenders at a large Washington state AFSCME membership meeting last
October, "only Sanders' name brought loud, sustained applause," according to
Bloomberg News.
Few union leaders allow a worker referendum to make the endorsement
decisions. The 700,000-member Communications Workers of America (CWA) does,
and the result was a "decisive endorsement of Sanders," reported Rafael
Navar, the union's political director. Whether it is the level of
enthusiasm, campaigning to get out the vote or talking up their candidate's
record on such issues as minimum wage increases, abolition of public
university and college tuition, full Medicare for all (single payer system)
and credibility in standing up to Wall Street, Hillary's votes and
statements do not come close to respecting the working families of America
compared to Bernie's consistent 30-year record.
Based entirely on her lawless record as a pro-war Senator (Iraq), as a
war-making Secretary of State (Libya), and her $5,000-a-minute speeches
before closed-door, big-business gatherings (in addition to millions in
big-money campaign contributions), Clinton will continue to be the sponsor
of War and Wall Street.
The volunteer Labor for Bernie grassroots drive is not just growing rapidly
but cutting across all union categories and gaining support with non-union
workers. There is a potentially massive pool of American workers supporting
Senator Sanders as he wins primary after primary, leading up to the April
19th contest in New York - the adopted state base for the Clintons, who are
backed by all their monied interests.
This unaffiliated labor awakening bears watching, especially by the
long-entrenched, affluent big union leaders. First, Labor for Bernie is
fomenting defections by local unions defying their Hillary-endorsing
national organizations. So far, over 80 of these union locals have endorsed
Bernie Sanders.
"The volunteer Labor for Bernie grassroots drive is not just growing rapidly
but cutting across all union categories and gaining support with non-union
workers."
Typical of this exodus is Northern California Food and Commercial Workers
Local 5, whose executive board voted 30 to 2 for Sanders, reflecting the
views of most of its 28,000 members. Local 5's Mike Henneberry said "For us
it was not a very difficult decision. Compare an individual who's been
supporting workers since he was mayor of Burlington [Vermont] with someone
who's been on the Board of Walmart."
The Service Employees Local 1984 (SEIU), New Hampshire's largest public
sector union, disagreed with its national union and came out for Sanders in
November.
The big union leaders don't smell revolt yet, but they must be worried. If
the Clintons continue to play dirty tricks, with the big unions, as was
suspected in Iowa and Nevada against the Sanders campaign, the seeds of
challenges within the ranks of these unions will be planted. Should Hillary
become president and come out for anti-worker trade treaties, return to her
former coolness on a living wage and other labor issues and cater to Wall
Street, the insurrection could congeal against the big unions who will have
taken credit, of course, for her victory, without having delivered a mandate
for a labor agenda.
It is the AFL-CIO's practice of endorsing Democrats without demanding before
and insisting after the election that candidates champion 'card check',
revision of trade treaties, repeal of anti-union labor laws and stronger job
safety regulation. The Democratic Party treats the mostly shrinking labor
unions as having nowhere else to go. And most union leaders meekly oblige by
their chronic submissiveness.
The man to watch is strategist and former labor union insider Larry Cohen.
He was for many years the president of the Communications Workers of America
(CWA) that has endorsed Sanders. He's going all over the country helping the
Sanders campaign, urging major labor unions, still undecided, like the
Steel, Auto, Firefighters and Electrical Workers (IBEW) to come out for
Bernie.
But Mr. Cohen is looking beyond the elections to take the energy from the
Sanders campaign and politically mobilize tens of millions of non-unionized
workers behind a new Congress furthering a new economy as if workers
mattered.
Time is of the essence. When will workers again have such a scandal-free,
consistent labor champion as Bernie Sanders seriously going for the
Presidency inside the Democratic Party? Had Sanders had two more months
without this big union opposition, his current momentum could have allowed
him to overtake Clinton by now.
Facing a possible four or eight years of the corporatist and militarist
Clinton, coupled with U.S. multinational corporations exporting whole
industries, not to mention accelerating labor-replacing automation, the
hurdles for Americans believing in democracy, justice and peace becomes far,
far greater.
So the time for preventive civic and worker engagement with all electoral
contests is now!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
Ralph Nader
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Big Union Leaders Betray Sanders and Workers
Published on
Friday, April 08, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Big Union Leaders Betray Sanders and Workers
by
Ralph Nader
. 16 Comments
.
. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders waves as he
marches with supporters in the Labor Day parade. (Photo: AP/Jim Cole)
. Around a conference table inside the large Washington headquarters
of the AFL-CIO, a furious exchange occurred between labor union presidents.
It was late February and up for decision by the Executive Council was
whether the country's principal labor federation was going to make a primary
season endorsement of Hillary Clinton as favored by the leaders of the
largest unions.
. According to insiders, tempers flared when smaller unions challenged
the Hillary-endorsing big unions such as AFSCME (public employees), the
American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the
Service Employees (SEIU) and the Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). These
large unions came out for Clinton in late 2015 and early 2016 before they
sensed the growing rank and file workers' preference for the lifetime
advocate for workers and union backer, Bernie Sanders.
. "Time is of the essence. When will workers again have such a
scandal-free, consistent labor champion as Bernie Sanders seriously going
for the Presidency inside the Democratic Party?"
. Listening to the nurses union head speak out for Sanders' strong
pro-labor history, Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, interrupted her,
exclaiming: "I will not allow you to do a commercial for Sanders." She
retorted, "You mean for the only candidate who has a 100% labor record?"
A union leader of postal workers charged the unions backing Hillary as being
"completely out of touch with their workers." AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka then cut off their microphones.
All over the country, the observation by the postal workers' leader rings
true. Even as Lee Saunders read the names of the Democratic presidential
contenders at a large Washington state AFSCME membership meeting last
October, "only Sanders' name brought loud, sustained applause," according to
Bloomberg News.
Few union leaders allow a worker referendum to make the endorsement
decisions. The 700,000-member Communications Workers of America (CWA) does,
and the result was a "decisive endorsement of Sanders," reported Rafael
Navar, the union's political director. Whether it is the level of
enthusiasm, campaigning to get out the vote or talking up their candidate's
record on such issues as minimum wage increases, abolition of public
university and college tuition, full Medicare for all (single payer system)
and credibility in standing up to Wall Street, Hillary's votes and
statements do not come close to respecting the working families of America
compared to Bernie's consistent 30-year record.
Based entirely on her lawless record as a pro-war Senator (Iraq), as a
war-making Secretary of State (Libya), and her $5,000-a-minute speeches
before closed-door, big-business gatherings (in addition to millions in
big-money campaign contributions), Clinton will continue to be the sponsor
of War and Wall Street.
The volunteer Labor for Bernie grassroots drive is not just growing rapidly
but cutting across all union categories and gaining support with non-union
workers. There is a potentially massive pool of American workers supporting
Senator Sanders as he wins primary after primary, leading up to the April
19th contest in New York - the adopted state base for the Clintons, who are
backed by all their monied interests.
This unaffiliated labor awakening bears watching, especially by the
long-entrenched, affluent big union leaders. First, Labor for Bernie is
fomenting defections by local unions defying their Hillary-endorsing
national organizations. So far, over 80 of these union locals have endorsed
Bernie Sanders.
"The volunteer Labor for Bernie grassroots drive is not just growing rapidly
but cutting across all union categories and gaining support with non-union
workers."
Typical of this exodus is Northern California Food and Commercial Workers
Local 5, whose executive board voted 30 to 2 for Sanders, reflecting the
views of most of its 28,000 members. Local 5's Mike Henneberry said "For us
it was not a very difficult decision. Compare an individual who's been
supporting workers since he was mayor of Burlington [Vermont] with someone
who's been on the Board of Walmart."
The Service Employees Local 1984 (SEIU), New Hampshire's largest public
sector union, disagreed with its national union and came out for Sanders in
November.
The big union leaders don't smell revolt yet, but they must be worried. If
the Clintons continue to play dirty tricks, with the big unions, as was
suspected in Iowa and Nevada against the Sanders campaign, the seeds of
challenges within the ranks of these unions will be planted. Should Hillary
become president and come out for anti-worker trade treaties, return to her
former coolness on a living wage and other labor issues and cater to Wall
Street, the insurrection could congeal against the big unions who will have
taken credit, of course, for her victory, without having delivered a mandate
for a labor agenda.
It is the AFL-CIO's practice of endorsing Democrats without demanding before
and insisting after the election that candidates champion 'card check',
revision of trade treaties, repeal of anti-union labor laws and stronger job
safety regulation. The Democratic Party treats the mostly shrinking labor
unions as having nowhere else to go. And most union leaders meekly oblige by
their chronic submissiveness.
The man to watch is strategist and former labor union insider Larry Cohen.
He was for many years the president of the Communications Workers of America
(CWA) that has endorsed Sanders. He's going all over the country helping the
Sanders campaign, urging major labor unions, still undecided, like the
Steel, Auto, Firefighters and Electrical Workers (IBEW) to come out for
Bernie.
But Mr. Cohen is looking beyond the elections to take the energy from the
Sanders campaign and politically mobilize tens of millions of non-unionized
workers behind a new Congress furthering a new economy as if workers
mattered.
Time is of the essence. When will workers again have such a scandal-free,
consistent labor champion as Bernie Sanders seriously going for the
Presidency inside the Democratic Party? Had Sanders had two more months
without this big union opposition, his current momentum could have allowed
him to overtake Clinton by now.
Facing a possible four or eight years of the corporatist and militarist
Clinton, coupled with U.S. multinational corporations exporting whole
industries, not to mention accelerating labor-replacing automation, the
hurdles for Americans believing in democracy, justice and peace becomes far,
far greater.
So the time for preventive civic and worker engagement with all electoral
contests is now!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
