Labor leaders despatched a message loud and clear on the opening day Monday of the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago: Unions stand behind Vice President Kamala Harris in her quest to maintain former President Donald Trump out of the White Home.
United Auto Employees President Shawn Fain summed up the sentiment when he eliminated his blazer whereas talking onstage, revealing a crimson T-shirt that learn: “Trump is a scab. Vote Harris.”
“When the UAW stands up, we know who stands with us and who stands against us,” Fain instructed the gang. “Donald Trump laughs about firing workers who go on strike. Kamala Harris stands shoulder to shoulder with workers when they’re on strike. And that’s the difference.”
Delegates responded to Fain’s remarks with chants of “Trump’s a scab!”
Fain was one in every of a half-dozen union leaders who addressed the gang Monday night time, showcasing the Democratic Social gathering’s shut ties to organized labor.
A few of the largest unions shortly introduced they had been backing Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race final month, and the AFL-CIO labor federation of 60 unions mentioned Harris obtained a unanimous endorsement from its government council.
Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name by way of Getty Photos
Organized labor is traditionally a pillar of the Democratic Social gathering and will show pivotal in driving turnout for Harris and down-ballot Democrats in battleground states similar to Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Kenneth Cooper, president of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Employees, urged union members to get behind the Harris marketing campaign, noting that Harris had forged a tie-breaking vote to cross a large pension rescue for union employees and retirees.
“She has come through for all of us,” Cooper mentioned. “Now it’s our turn to come through for her.”
There was, nevertheless, one hanging omission from the DNC’s union-heavy speaker checklist on Monday: Sean M. O’Brien, president of the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters.
O’Brien angered many Democrats and union activists when he sought and accepted Trump’s invitation to talk on the Republican Nationwide Conference in Milwaukee final month. Trump was overtly hostile to unions and union organizing throughout his first time period within the White Home, and valuable few Republicans assist insurance policies that might bolster the labor motion.
O’Brien used the chance on the RNC to court docket Republican assist for unions. However his look, which included praising Trump as “one tough S.O.B.,” might have come at a political value: A Teamsters spokesperson instructed HuffPost that the DNC by no means responded to O’Brien’s request for a speaker slot in Chicago.
