AFL-CIO, major labor unions rush to embrace Harris

Major labor unions that had been staunch President Biden backers are jumping to declare their support for Vice President Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, representing about 12.5 million members, announced they are endorsing Harris on Monday night.

“From day one, Vice President Harris has been a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history,” said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler in a statement, adding that with Harris in office, “together we’ll continue to build on the powerful legacy of the Biden-Harris administration.”

The United Steelworkers with about 850,000 workers in metals, mining and other industries, also endorsed Harris, saying she is a “crucial part of the most pro-labor administration of our lifetimes,” United Steelworkers International President David McCall said in a statement.

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Labor experts say Harris is a natural pick for organized labor to rally behind, because as vice president, she played a key role overseeing relations with labor groups during an administration considered the most pro-union since the New Deal.

“Union activists and elected leaders realize that beating Trump is essential,” said Larry Cohen, former president of the Communications Workers of America union, which endorsed Harris, and a Democratic operative working on voter turnout. “Support for Harris should be automatic given what’s at stake.”

Harris endorsements also flowed in early this week from the American Federation of Teachers, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, among others.

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“We are all-in for Kamala Harris,” said Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, with more than 1 million public sector workers, in a written statement Monday afternoon. “Vice President Harris is exactly the right person to meet the moment.”

Several other large organizations that had previously endorsed Biden, including the North America’s Building Trades Unions, the United Auto Workers, and the Association of Flight Attendants, are still weighing their decisions.

UAW sources said its board “will meet in the coming days to decide our next steps,” calling Harris “an ally and a champion for the UAW and the whole working class.”

Labor’s support is expected to be critical for the Democratic Party to beat former president Donald Trump, particularly because of high union density in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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Labor unions are among the top financial backers to the Democratic Party, and they have been among the top contributors to the Biden campaign.

Union leaders endorsing Harris pointed to her record in the White House of co-chairing a task force on worker empowerment with former labor secretary Marty Walsh that included nearly 70 recommendations for making it easier for workers to unionize and collectively bargain. They also pointed to her frequent meetings with union leaders and members, as well as her decision to refuse to cross a picket line during a Los Angeles hotel strike last year.

Some of Harris’ most fervent support in the labor movement, so far, comes from health care unions in California, her home state.

Just hours after Biden officially dropped out of the race Sunday, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the country’s largest private sector union, announced that its executive board had voted to endorse Harris.

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April Verrett, president of SEIU, with about 2 million members in health care and other sectors, in an interview with The Washington Post on Monday praised Harris’ record on “being a champion for care work and care givers,” a top priority of the union, which represents nurses, doctors, home-care and nursing-home workers. Verrett cited Harris’ role as vice president in enacting new safe staffing standards in nursing homes and making home care and child care more affordable.

“We know her really well. We know her work,” said Verrett, who says she has known Harris for years because of their work in California. “It’s no surprise to anyone that we enthusiastically endorsed her for president.”

Sal Rosselli, president emeritus of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), which represents about 19,000 health care workers in California, said his union called the union’s endorsement of Harris “a no-brainer.”

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The union had already voted weeks before to endorse her if Biden dropped out when signs appeared that his candidacy was in peril, Rosselli said. So it was able to move quickly on Sunday.

“When Harris was district attorney in San Francisco, she ensured first-time offenders got job opportunities in health care,” Rosselli said.

For months, both Biden and Trump have been jockeying to position themselves as allies of the working class, though nearly every major union had pledged their support for Biden leading up to his dropping out from the race.

Last week, the president of the Teamsters, a powerful union with about 1.3 million mostly transportation workers, took the extraordinary step of speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, drawing ire from White House staffers and some labor leaders.

The union has not yet endorsed in the race and has said its members’ votes “will not be taken for granted.”

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