I will admit to feeling a profound sense of sadness when President Biden announced he would end his re-election campaign. I had the privilege of working with Biden in two administrations. Everything I saw confirmed that he is a good man. He could be tough, but always with the purpose of accomplishing an important goal. After administering a tongue-lashing to me in an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act implementation meeting with my deputy-secretary peers, Biden walked over to me and offered an encouraging word and a “we need to get this done” command. I have a picture of that encounter hanging in my home office.
Joe Biden overcame two unfathomable personal tragedies and numerous high-profile professional setbacks to continue his service to working-class and middle-class families like those with whom he grew up in Claymont, Delaware and Scranton, Pennsylvania. He has been a model of epic resilience. And that’s how he sees working people: resilient, hard-working, and committed to their families and communities. “All they need is a little breathing room,” he told us numerous times.
Union members and their local and national leaders know him. They worked with him. They socialized with him. After 50 years, he built an unequalled trust with the labor movement and a record that justified that trust. Late AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka called him “the most pro-union president in history.” Biden loved that title and repeats it like a military veteran might wear a Bronze Star.
With President Biden announcing the end of his re-election campaign on Sunday, July 21, the Democratic convention will be open. Delegates, including those pledged to Biden, will be able to vote for any candidate whose name is properly placed in nomination and seconded. So far, Vice-President Kamala Harris -- whom Biden endorsed shortly after ending his reelection campaign -- is the only candidate with a genuine chance to win the nomination. It is looking increasingly likely that she will be the nominee.
How will organized labor react? A larger number of unions, and the AFL-CIO, endorsed Biden earlier in this election cycle than any previous endorsement of a presidential candidate. I fully expect all the unions that endorsed President Biden, including the AFL-CIO, will also endorse Vice-President Harris. As of this writing, a quickly increasing number of unions -- beginning with political powerhouses SEIU and AFT -- have done so. Others are working through their internal processes, which may take a few days or a couple of weeks. Each union has an established procedure for making these kinds of decisions, perhaps requiring an executive board vote or a poll of their membership. My expectation is they will endeavor to act quickly to leave as little doubt as possible.
Harris does not have the same long history with organized labor as Biden. Most national leaders and local or regional leaders outside California met her for the first time during the 2020 campaign or after she swore the oath as vice-president. Nonetheless, they have worked with her on a host of issues since then. Biden asked Harris to chair the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. That’s where she and I worked together most closely. When the President asks you to lead a policy task force focused on one of his top priority constituencies, you know you have his trust and his full confidence you can do the job. Harris did.
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Harris delivered meaningful regulatory and administrative changes, including the changes that helped the federal employee unions to increase union density in the federal sector. Harris also worked with unions on democracy, the care economy, health care, immigration, racial justice, and other issues.
Harris has also been a regular presence at union conventions and other union meetings. During the last two months, she spoke to the national conventions of UNITE HERE and SEIU. She also has had too-many-to-count private individual meetings and phone calls with national leaders since 2020. Perhaps most important, she has made it a regular practice to spend time with local and regional labor leaders and rank-and-file union members when she travels. Like Biden, she wants to hear from the people who are living the experiences that underlie the policies, not merely the policy advisors who are advancing those policies. These kinds of activities build trust and a common language and demonstrate the kind of empathy that has been a hallmark of Biden's personal and governing styles. They lend comfort to the leaders and members whose votes will help decide whether the Vice-President gets to move into the Oval Office.
The most critical fact is that Harris is the most likely person to implement and expand President Biden’s pro-worker, pro-union agenda. Unions correctly view her as his partner in crafting and implementing that agenda. They want it to continue. In fact, they need it to continue. Unions have grown since 2021 and there is likely more growth to come in 2024. Federal policy is not the only factor in that growth -- workers should get the bulk of the credit -- but federal policy is certainly one important factor. Also, you cannot advance and implement an agenda if you lose. Harris is perceived to be the Democrat who is most likely to defeat former President Donald Trump, and the public polling seems to confirm that perception. Unions need an allied candidate to win this election.
None of this suggests Harris will have an easy path forward with rank-and-file union members. They need to get to know her better. For example, they may not associate her with the administration's pro-union record, like his transformative appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, and other accomplishments like the job-producing bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act, or the CHIPS and Science Act. She will need to introduce herself to a diverse audience of union members and union supporters in a short period of time.
Fairness demands we acknowledge that, while many union members will be thrilled to support the first-ever woman of color to be a major party nominee for President, others will devalue her because of her race and sex. Unions are diverse and far from politically, culturally, and socially homogeneous. Union membership does not make you immune to racism and sexism. Are there union members who would have voted for Joe Biden, but would not vote for Kamala Harris? We don't know. I am skeptical that their numbers are large. But this will be a close election and every vote will be critical, particularly in union-favorable jurisdictions like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin where Harris must win.
This is where unions’ endorsements become most critical. Most members trust the advice of their unions, including with respect to political endorsements. Members generally view their unions as committed to their best interests and accept union political education as credible and worthy of consideration. So, full-throated and quick endorsements from a sizable number of unions early in this phase of the campaign, followed by aggressive member education, could matter a great deal to Harris's prospects.
Union leaders understand this dynamic. That's why their efforts to move through their endorsement processes quickly during the next few days bear watching.
Special note: Power At Work has distributed its Q3 2024 Quarterly Labor Issues Survey. The survey largely focuses on the 2024 elections. If you were invited to participate, please fill out the survey immediately and submit it to us. The deadline is 11:59PM on July 29th. Respond today!
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