This story originally appeared in In These Times on July 21, 2024. It is shared here with permission.
President Joe Biden, who has often touted himself as the most pro-union president in U.S. history, dropped out of the race for a second term in office on Sunday, less than a month before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and less than four months before November’s general election.
Biden also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to run against former President Donald Trump, and within hours several major unions echoed that endorsement.
They include, among others, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation’s largest private sector union; United Farm Workers, the nation’s largest and most enduring farm workers’ union (chiefly organizing in California); the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second largest teachers’ union.
“SEIU is proud to endorse VP @KamalaHarris as our nominee for President. As a woman of color & the child of immigrant parents, VP Harris is not only a historic choice to lead the ticket – she is prepared,” read a Tweet from SEIU President April Verrett. “She brings decades of public service fighting for workers across industries.”
Sunday’s news came after Biden’s performance during last month’s debate raised doubts about his fitness for office and ability to beat Trump. But it also comes on the heels of an Uncommitted movement that galvanized a meaningful portion of the electorate and sustained protests criticizing the ways Biden has helped fund, fuel and enable the genocide in Gaza.
“I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted on social media, urging Democrats to come together and back Harris as the nominee.
“I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.”—President Joe Biden
The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), representing 19,000 workers in California and Hawai’i, was also one of the first voices out of the gate with an endorsement for Harris, highlighting her strong advocacy for reproductive justice.
“Kamala Harris’ strong advocacy for reproductive freedom and other vital health care services, for workers’ rights to join a union and have a voice on the job, and for economic and social justice for all U.S. residents have earned our endorsement,” said NUHW President Sophia Mendoza.
Some of the first cracks in Biden’s coalition emerged in the fall in response to his administration’s support for Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians, not only with the Uncommitted movement but also with an unprecedented surge in demands from the U.S. labor movement to call for a cease-fire that started soon after the Israeli assault on Gaza began, and which intensified over time.
In the past week, labor’s loyalty to Biden has frayed and reports started trickling out of labor leaders sounding the alarm of whether the incumbent president is the best person to take on Trump in November.
“There’s not a person in the labor movement who isn’t worried,” one labor leader said. “Unions,” they said, “are looking at the same thing that everybody else is looking at.”
Three labor leaders with members in the Midwest spoke to ABC News on condition of anonymity July 20 to share widespread concerns among the ranks of the labor movement.
“There’s not a person in the labor movement who isn’t worried,” one labor leader said, pointing to Biden’s losing his train of thought during his debate performance and his prospects to defeat Trump.
“Unions,” they said, “are looking at the same thing that everybody else is looking at.”
Meanwhile, some labor leaders and political supporters remained staunch supporters, at least publicly, including progressive stalwarts Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). In an email seeking donations Sunday night, Ocasio-Cortez also endorsed Harris.
Last week, on Thursday, July 18, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000, representing 50,000 workers in retail, grocery and other sectors in the Pacific Northwest, urged Washington state’s congressional delegation to call on Biden to bow out of the race.
“If President Biden continues to demonstrate that he is unable to effectively campaign, and subsequently loses in November, the advances workers have made will be at immediate risk in a second Trump administration,” Local 3000 President Faye Guenther and Secretary-Treasurer Joe Mizrahi wrote in that letter to the congressional delegation.
The union had also backed the Uncommitted movement during the February Democratic primary, highlighting the impact of Israel’s assault on Palestinians and demanding “Biden push for a lasting cease-fire and ending U.S. funding toward this reckless war.”
Shortly after Israel’s assault on Gaza began and intensified, Local 3000 was also one of the lead signatories on what came to be a different, critical letter in support of a cease-fire that over the months garnered support from more than 200 unions. On Sunday night, Local 3000 also endorsed Harris.
“We feel Vice President Harris has the ability and the support to win the White House,” said J’nee DeLancey, a UFCW Local 3000 elected executive board member who is a grocery store worker at Town & Country Market. “As a union that is majority women, that has a diverse membership of many people of color, and of immigrants, we are very excited to have such a community-rooted and worker-driven candidate to support.”
Last week, in what appeared to be a sign underscoring conflicts between Local 3000, the reform upstart within the retail and grocery union, and its existing leadership, UFCW’s international president, Marc Perrone, said in a statement to the New York Times: “President Biden is the nominee of the Democratic Party and the only pro-labor candidate in this race, and we strongly support his candidacy over former President Trump.”
Harris must still win the nomination. For that to happen, she’ll need to win over a wide swath of the 4,600 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which is made up of party officials, lawmakers, local activists and volunteers. She’s a favorite to win in part because she lined up the support of several big donors within hours of Biden’s withdrawal, and also because in addition to several major labor unions, Harris immediately earned other key endorsements from the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and others. Before the Chicago convention August 19, party officials will hold a virtual vote to choose a nominee — deadlines to qualify for a ballot in California and Washington state fall in late August, according to the New York Times.
Since late June, Biden has come under intensified pressure from a roster of prominent Democratic politicians, donors and progressive organizing coalitions. These calls for him to step down from the likes of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others, strengthened the case for him to bow out of the presidential race.
Despite Biden’s claim of being the most pro-union President in U.S. history, his actions surrounding a major labor dispute involving railroad workers two years into his first term drew ire from many workers around the country.
In 2022, Biden and Congress intervened to block a national railroad strike. Many workers felt betrayed by a president who had cast himself as such a close friend of labor. Ultimately, rail workers won sick days in 2023 after pressure from the Biden administration, and many labor leaders still hold Biden up as one of the most pro-union presidents of their lifetime.
In 2022, Biden and Congress intervened to block a national railroad strike. Many workers felt betrayed by a president who had cast himself as such a close friend of labor.
“President @JoeBiden will go down in history as the most pro-union president in American history,” the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers posted on social media Sunday. The International Association of Fire Fighters also heaped high praise on Biden, likely fueled in part because the president came out in support of them after Boeing locked members out in Washington state in May.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson had also signed the cease-fire letter. It was major news when the UAW came out in support of a cease-fire, and their announcement also appeared to clear the path for other major unions and labor leaders to follow suit.
Both Fain and Nelson shared concerns over Biden’s candidacy but came short of calling him to withdraw from the race.
Following Biden’s announcement on July 21, Fain and Nelson thanked the president for his leadership and highlighted his support for their union members. Fain was a featured guest at Biden’s most recent State of the Union.
“In his first days in office after just one phone call he stopped airline furloughs and secured our jobs, while banning airline stock buybacks and capping executive compensation,” Nelson wrote in a statement. “Just this past month, two major airlines agreed to significantly more at the bargaining table because President Biden stood strong for our bargaining rights and our right to strike.”
Alaska Airlines flight attendants clinched a tentative deal, boosting wages by more than 18%. American Airlines has put a deal on the table. AFA-CWA had previously rejected an offer that would have increased pay by 18% followed by 2% yearly increases. The union demanded 33% upfront, with yearly bumps of 6%. Flight attendants have been without a raise since 2019. Meanwhile, United Airlines flight attendants have called for a strike vote.
In a statement shared on social media, Fain wrote: “Joe Biden made history by joining us on our picket line last September and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class throughout his term in office.”
“In his first days in office after just one phone call he stopped airline furloughs and secured our jobs, while banning airline stock buybacks and capping executive compensation,” Nelson wrote in a statement. “Just this past month, two major airlines agreed to significantly more at the bargaining table because President Biden stood strong for our bargaining rights and our right to strike.”
“Vice President Kamala Harris walked the picket line with us in 2019,” the statement also read, “and along with President Biden has brought work and jobs back to communities like Lordstown, Ohio, and Belvidere, Illinois.”
The UAW went on to cut a strong contrast with Donald Trump who crossed a picket line of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) in 2004. More recently, during the UAW’s Stand-Up Strike in the fall, Trump spoke with nonunion auto-parts workers at the invitation of the company’s boss and coordinated by nonunion manufacturers who oppose the transition to electric vehicles.
At a July 20 rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump fulminated against electric vehicles, repeating debunked lies that they’re too expensive, consumers don’t want them and they don’t go far enough to be worthwhile for many people to own.
Trump also targeted and tore into Fain, while using Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to burnish his pro-worker credentials in spite of a well-documented history of anti-worker and union policies, including his lack of support for autoworkers in Lordstown, Ohio, in 2019 as the plant shuttered while he was in office. As workers struggled after the plant closed, Trump fired off a Tweet to David Green, president of UAW Local 1112, telling him to “get his act together and produce.”
“While Donald Trump lies about rebuilding the auto industry, the fact is that while he was in office, autoworkers in Lordstown were left for dead by GM in 2019 while he said and did nothing,” Fain said in the statement.
While Nelson and Fain appeared to be careful on Sunday to avoid weighing in on who should ultimately be the Democratic nominee, Fain did have a message for working people and labor.
“The path forward is clear,” Fain said, “we will defeat Donald Trump and his billionaire agenda and elect a champion for the working class to the highest office in this country. We will speak truth to power about the issues that matter to the working class: a living wage, decent healthcare, a dignified retirement, and taking our lives and our time back.”
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