Following President Joe Biden's poor performance in the June debates, some union leaders have questioned his chances of winning the election, according to multiple reports.
Leaders United Auto Workers (UAW) and National Education Association (NEA) According to multiple media reports, Biden has publicly expressed concern about whether he can beat former President Donald Trump in November's presidential election. Behind the scenes, AFL-CIO union leaders expressed concerns to the Biden campaign about the president's chances of winning in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, three sources familiar with the meeting said. Said The Washington Post.
Biden: Called himself “The most pro-union president in American history”
“In this election, we can't afford to shut our eyes and run from reality,” UAW President Sean Fain said at a conference of labor activists in Baltimore on Friday, according to Bloomberg. “We tried that in 2016 and it didn't work. True democracy and true leadership means not being afraid of the truth, even the hard truth.” (Related: New report reveals powerful labor union that suddenly courted Republicans spent millions on liberal advocacy.)
The previous day, Fain met with the union's executive committee to discuss serious concerns about Biden's chances of winning the looming presidential election. according to That's according to three sources who spoke to Reuters.
The UAW is approximately 400,000 members They have a strong presence in Michigan, a key battleground state.
Sara Nelson, president of the Union of Flight Attendants, was one of the most outspoken voices at the AFL-CIO conference on Wednesday about her concerns about Biden's chances, according to The Washington Post. Nelson later disputed the Post's reporting on the meeting, saying her comments were “distorted,” Politico reported. reportHowever, according to the Post, the AFL-CIO later voted to reaffirm its support for the president.
Some members of the NEA 3000000- Powerful teachers' unions are calling on the organization to withdraw its support for Biden because of his handling of the Gaza war, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. report.
“We are calling for an end to the harm that is happening,” Samy El Baroudi, a member of the Des Moines Education Association who founded the National Education Association's Caucus of Arab American Educators seven years ago, told the Inquirer. “This is about human rights, the rights of all human beings. This disregard for brown lives in the way of white people has to stop.”
“A lot of people have doubts” about Biden, NEA Executive Director Aaron Phillips said Friday, according to Politico.
President Joe Biden addresses autoworkers at the Community Complex Building. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Everybody's a little nervous,” a former union president who is still involved in the labor movement told Politico on Friday, noting that some people are “very nervous.”
Labor unions have historically been a core part of the Democratic coalition, spending $1.8 billion on political activities during the 2020 election cycle. according to According to a report from the National Labor Relations Institute, the Service Employees International Union has already pledged to spend $200 million to help Biden and other Democrats win the November election, The New York Times reported. report.
But the union's blanket support for Democrats may be shifting as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters seeks to gain influence among Republicans. The union has donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee and is sending its president, Sean O'Brien, as a speaker at the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
According to Politico, O'Brien has expressed interest in speaking at both the Democratic and Republican conventions, but has not received an invitation from the Democratic Party to attend the convention.
“I did everything I could to make sure he wasn't invited to the Democratic National Convention,” one former labor union president told Politico. “No one who represents the working class should go near the Republican Convention.”
“What kind of union leader campaigns to block other union members' right to speak,” a Teamsters spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is the type of person who is retired and out of the industry, but still lacks the courage and conviction to speak out behind the veil of anonymity.”
The Teamsters 1.3 million members They represent truck drivers, civil servants, pilots, construction workers, warehouse workers, people who work in the public sector, and many other workers in many other sectors.
The Association of Flight Attendants, the National Federation of Labor, the AFL-CIO and the UAW did not immediately respond to DCNF's requests for comment.
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