Michigan unions take risks by delaying endorsement pick
WASHINGTON – A once-large field of Democrats running for president might have been an argument for organized labor to help members decide who to back among them, but most major unions appear to be forgoing endorsements before Michigan’s Tuesday primary.
It may be a risky move.
By not coalescing behind one candidate, it potentially increases the likelihood that the overall union vote will be split. That could help Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won Michigan in 2016, secure the nomination, though some are skeptical of his plan to create government health care and end benefit plans bargained for by unions.
And there are lingering questions whether Sanders, a democratic socialist, offers the best chance to defeat President Donald Trump, especially among working-class and union households that shifted toward Trump and his populist, anti-trade deal message in the last election.
Four years ago, Trump got more support from union households nationally than Mitt Romney did in 2012, eating into Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s base. In Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the states that sealed Trump’s victory, Clinton saw support as much as 15 percentage points lower than it had been for President Barack Obama four years earlier.
Trump’s support, meanwhile, was up everywhere. Nationally, his support among union households hit 42%, according to polls, compared with Romney’s 39% in 2012.
Trump is going to go after the bloc even more this year, arguing that renegotiated trade deals are good for labor – with some leaders in agreement. But many say other moves – such as installing conservative judges who have ruled against unions collecting fees from nonmembers and passing tax cuts more favorable to corporations and wealthy people – provide a chance to bring union voters back into the Democratic fold.
While that might argue for an early intervention by organized labor this year, it hasn’t materialized.
Of all the candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden is the only one to have received substantial endorsements from labor, with the backing of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Amalgamated Transit Union and some others.
Sanders has won endorsements from more locally based unions, such as the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, representing about 1,000 workers, including those in Michigan.