Labor’s Civil War over Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton

There is a growing divide between union leadership and the rank and file over whether Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton best represents labor's interests. | Photo: AFP
Published 18 February 2016


http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Labors-Civil-War-over-Bernie-Sanders-and-Hillary-Clinton-20160218-0021.html

By: Ari Paul

For unionists who feel betrayed by the Democratic Party’s drift to the right, supporting Sanders is about organized labor reasserting itself in the party.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union has been fighting a Sisyphean campaign to organize workers at Wal-Mart, and yet it endorsed one of the anti-union company’s former directors, Hillary Clinton, for president. The sole national demand of the Service Employees International Union is a $15/hr. minimum wage, and yet the union endorsed the only Democratic candidate to oppose this, Hillary Clinton.

Making this all the more perplexing is the fact that the former Secretary of State faces a challenge from her left, Senator Bernie Sanders, who has campaigned directly on raising the hourly wage floor to $15. The self-described democratic socialist’s dedication to addressing America’s yawning economic equality has earned him the endorsements of the American Postal Workers Union, National Nurses United and the Communication Workers of America, as well as local affiliate unions. 
And Sanders supporters are claiming victory after the AFL-CIO declined to make an endorsement before the Nevada caucuses, even though it had hinted at making an early endorsement last fall."

The split goes even deeper than the national organizations. SEIU might have tapped Clinton, but New Hampshire’s large state workers SEIU local affiliate endorsed Sanders. Various news outlets have reported that while many unions have endorsed Clinton, there’s little rank-and-file energy for door-knocking and phone-banking for her campaign as compared to workers volunteering for Sanders.

The choice of Las Vegas casino workers union, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, to forgo an endorsement in the state’s caucuses exposed the eroding confidence in Clinton in a key state, although the union angrily accused Sanders campaigners of pretending to be union organizers to get access to members at casinos.

FULL story at link. OS