Harris, Democrats, and the Union Vote

Myths and Realities

There has been a bit of misinformed chatter on cable news of late about labor not supporting Harris because of the inexplicable decision of the Teamsters’ national leadership to stay neutral as well as that of the Firefighters to not endorse in the Presidential race. Of course, what this ignores is that close to forty unions, including the national AFL-CIO, have endorsed her, and that many state and local affiliates of the Teamsters and Firefighters have broken ranks with their national organizations and endorsed the Vice President. 

This feeds into an ongoing narrative about the Democratic Party not speaking to the working class in the key swing states, so it’s a sexy story for many talking heads. But it is a distortion to suggest that “labor does not back Harris” when only a tiny minority of unions have not endorsed her.  In fact, a large portion of the ground troops doing calls and knocking on doors in the swing states are union members from across the country. 

That said, the refusal of even a small number of union members to support the Democratic nominee suggests how powerful the role of misinformation is even in circles that one might imagine would vote Democratic.  But, unfortunately, the ill-advised “it doesn’t matter” attitude persists in some quarters of the American working class. 

As I have written before in this space, the fact is that a second Trump administration would represent an existential threat to the labor movement.  Despite its frequent disavowal of Project 2025, it is clear as day to anyone paying attention that the anti-labor, anti-government vison of the rightwing think tanks would be a guiding light for another Republican administration, particularly one with not-so-secret fascist tendencies. 

They really do mean us ill. 

But for the cynical unionists in the crowd with real memories of the Democratic Party’s turn toward neoliberal economics and triangulation that helped foster record economic inequality, the off shoring of good unions jobs, and lukewarm if any real support of the union movement, there is new evidence to support the argument that the Democrats at present have come to realize the true value of unions and are helping to grow the movement. 

Indeed, the Biden administration’s policies and public support of labor has created fertile ground for organizing.  As Portside Labor recently reported:

More U.S. workers appear to be turning to unions in hopes of improving their jobs. 

On Tuesday, federal officials reported a 29% jump in union election petitions during the most recent fiscal year, rising from 2,593 in 2023 to 3,286 in 2024. The increase is part of a yearslong trend at the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that oversees private sector union elections and enforces collective bargaining rights. 

The NLRB said the number of petitions it’s received has more than doubled since 2021, when the board was reshaped following President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump.

Given the fact that despite unions’ growing popularity amongst a large majority of the public, the labor movement is still very much in an organize a lot more or die situation, so these kinds of numbers should be persuasive to any but the most recalcitrant, reactionary unionist.  In sum, you’d have to have been living under a rock somewhere not to get that voting for Trump in this election is against the interests of working people.  But, alas, there are a good number of rocks out there. 

Thus, it is not just fear of the specter of Project 2025 and a host of hostile policies that should motivate workers, it’s the positive momentum for unions that the present administration has helped foster and Harris would continue.  The facts are clear, which is why the right and their billionaire pals are doing everything they can to divert the attention of working people to anything else but their own self-interest.  They know that even a minority of bamboozled union workers could make the difference. 

That’s why it’s so important to, as the Who sang, not get fooled again.  Let’s just hope that, at the end of the day, the large numbers of union members on phones, writing letters, and/or knocking doors will outweigh the apathy and ignorance of those who choose to sit out the election of our lifetimes or, worse yet, vote like chickens for Colonel Sanders.