At United Steelworkers conference, members and leaders play down election divide (updated)

Avante

20/09/2024 22:18

* 
      USW doesn't push oil workers to support Harris at
convention
    

        * 
      Union bosses and rank-and-file workers focus on contracts,
legislative proposals
    

        * 
      Past conferences featured members wearing pro-Trump MAGA
caps
    

  
 (Adds  Teamsters council endorsements in paragraph 9)
    By Erwin Seba and Nicole Jao
       PITTSBURGH, Sept 20 (Reuters) - At a meeting of United
Steelworkers union officials this week, presidential politics
was off the agenda, a departure from past election-year
gatherings and a sign of the division between USW members and
union bosses over the candidates. 
    The leadership of the USW - a union of 1.2 million U.S. and
Canadian workers from the steel, paper and energy industries as
well as government workers - in July endorsed Democratic party
candidate Kamala Harris, handing her an early victory just a day
after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race against
Republican Donald Trump. 
    But USW officials failed to mention Harris by name or ask
the 300 local officials at a national oil bargaining conference
to recommend members to campaign or vote for her. Still,
attendees did see presentations about legislative proposals the
union is pursuing in Congress and with the Biden administration.
    The omission underscores the tensions within union ranks
ahead of the Nov. 5 election, a race that polls show is
essentially tied - leaving the outcome dependent on how union
workers and others in battleground states vote. Union workers
have traditionally formed a core part of the Democratic base but
the dynamic has shifted in recent election cycles with Trump
peeling away support from working-class, white voters.
    Most oil workers come from states like Texas, Louisiana,
Oklahoma and California that are not expected to be decisive in
determining the outcome of the election.
    Other major unions like the United Auto Workers have also
backed the Harris campaign. But the powerful Teamsters union on
Wednesday dealt a blow to her campaign by choosing not to
endorse either presidential candidate. 
    The 1.3-million-member transportation workers union last
failed to endorse a Democrat, President Bill Clinton, in 1996.
    The Teamsters released two surveys of rank-and-file
membership that showed they prefer Trump over Harris. 
    Trump used the Teamsters survey results to proclaim he had
won the Teamsters' rank-and-file endorsement. 
        Still, Teamsters regional councils that represent
hundreds of thousands of members and retirees in Michigan,
Wisconsin, Nevada and western Pennsylvania endorsed Harris. 
  
    The Harris campaign declined to comment. Her campaign has
previously said that Harris will fight for union workers and if
elected, would work with Congress to pass legislation making it
easier to organize and "end union busting once and for all."
    The oil-bargaining conference, just six weeks before the
election, was also unlike prior conferences that featured dozens
of members wearing pro-Trump MAGA red baseball caps. Attendees
in Pittsburgh have been largely silent about the presidential
election, only discussing it when asked by Reuters reporters. 
    “I’d say 80% to 90% of USW oil workers will vote for Trump,”
said a Texas union leader who asked not to be identified by name
to maintain relationships within the union. However, he said
“out of the entire USW, the majority will vote for Harris.”
    
    BEING LEFT BEHIND   
    The decision to avoid discussing the election, according to
a regional official, was designed to prevent a public split
between the USW's national and local officials in its oil
bargaining group. 
    USW President David McCall said in an interview with Reuters
that he wanted to keep the oil bargaining group members
laser-focused on 2026 labor contract topics, and did not raise
the election or seek a separate vote on the candidates.
    "I wanted to concentrate on the oil industry itself, just
generally about the community and solidarity, that's the role
I'm playing," McCall said.
    The national leadership's July endorsement of Harris
reflected her campaign's responses to union questionnaires sent
to both presidential candidates.
    “[The Harris-Walz campaign] has given us the knowledge that
they're in line with our priorities as a union and we just don't
have any other information to compare if we don't get a response
from the other,” said Mike Smith, chairperson of the USW's
National Oil Bargaining Program. 
    Interviews with oil local officials at the conference
anecdotally revealed a strong preference for former President
Trump, with many saying the Democrats' priorities did not align
with theirs.
    "They believe the Democratic Party has left them behind,
from the promotion of electric vehicles, which limits oil
demand, to the adoption of a new stricter fuel standard that
increases the cost of fuel," said one union member from Texas,
who asked not to be identified by name.
    A Louisiana union member attending the conference said he is
voting for Trump because he is the candidate for the Republican
party, which he said would protect his economic interests.
    "It's not pro-Trump," said the man, who asked not be
identified. "It's in my best interest. I want to keep my money."
    A third official said the absence of overt political caps or
campaign buttons was intentional. 
    “Many people here are voting for Trump, but they just don’t
want to talk about it,” the union member told Reuters.
    

 (Reporting by Erwin Seba and Nicole Jao in Pittsburgh;
Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Washingtion; Editing
by Deepa Babington)
 ((erwin.seba@thomsonreuters.com; +1 832 746 4269; Reuters
Messaging: erwin.seba.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))