THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE, Part 1 of 3: Unions shift gears for a new race for White House

Photo above: The Harris for President campaign organized a Minnesota kick-off rally July 27 at the St. Paul Labor Center.     — Ellen Perrault photo


First in a series

By Jean Hopfensperger
Special to the Minneapolis Labor Review

SAINT PAUL — Greg Hansen joined the upbeat crowd at the Carpenters union hall in St. Paul earlier this month to watch a live broadcast of the first rally of presidential hopeful Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Governor Tim Walz. Hansen had been getting nervous about the Democrats’ prospects in November, but now felt a blast of energy.

A union electrician for 35 years, Hansen said he’d been disheartened that the Biden-Harris administration wasn’t getting credit for its unwavering support for union workers.  Now he was about to watch a new Democratic team, with strong new messaging, in a room full of supporters cheering, “Let’s win this!”

“It was like a breath of fresh air, a case of Red Bull,’’ said Hansen, IBEW Local 292 member who works in Minneapolis. “It [winning the election] is going to take a lot of work. This is not going to be easy. But people are fired up.’’

Across Minnesota, the labor movement is gearing up for what is expected to be a tight presidential race between AFL-CIO endorsed Harris — and former president Donald Trump.

Minnesota is home to 356,000 union members, or 13 percent of the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They, and union members and working-class folks around the nation, have become a key constituency in the battle for the White House.

Labor leaders are preparing for a blitz of campaigning in the weeks ahead. Phone banks, door knocks, letter-writing campaigns and election trainings will roll out after Labor Day.

The message: Harris has been an integral part of the Biden administration’s staunch support for policies benefiting working Americans, bringing jobs to their communities and protecting labor rights. By contrast, the Trump administration record is of prioritizing big business and employers while rolling back worker protections, wages and rights to organize.

That message will need to cut through a barrage of political attacks and misinformation being thrown at union members on social media and certain conservative TV networks, labor leaders say. They also acknowledge that they need to break through Trump’s tough guy image and cult of personality, which has been appealing to some members.

Look at candidate records on issues such as job creation, health care, wage protection and labor rights — what they did while in office — not just their social media posts and sound bites

Look at candidate records on issues such as job creation, health care, wage protection and labor rights — what they did while in office — not just their social media posts and sound bites, they argue.

“When you see all that Joe Biden [and the Biden-Harris administration] has done for labor, but you vote for someone else anyway, what message does that send to other candidates?’’ asked Dan McConnell, president of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council.

“(It says) ‘I don’t even have to support labor, and I’ll still get elected.’’’

The Biden-Harris administration has delivered for the building trades on pension reform, massive investments in  roads, bridges and infrastructure projects, manufacturing growth, and appointing a pro-worker NLRB (National Labor Relations Board), “to name a few,’’ said McConnell.

“All of these have been priorities for the trades for decades and have earned Biden the title of the most union-friendly president in our lifetime — if not all-time,” he said.

Kamala Harris is expected to continue that legacy,  supported by Walz, a longtime friend of Minnesota labor.

What’s at stake

Harris has been piling up endorsements from national labor groups including the AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers, American Federation of Teachers,  American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union, and United Food and Commercial Workers. Unions representing carpenters, electricians, steelworkers, hospitality workers and many others also have pledged support.

They’re now working to translate that enthusiasm across the rank and file.

In 2020, Biden won the vote of union households 56 percent to Trump’s 40 percent, according to exit polls. In 2016, Clinton outperformed Trump by a more narrow margin – 51 percent to 42 percent, polls showed.

In 2024, labor leaders hope to continue and grow that winning streak. Every profession, every trade, has a lot at stake.

Ternesha Burroughs, president of Education Minnesota-Osseo Local 1212, can’t shake the memory of the U.S. Department of Education during the Trump Administration. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continually proposed slashing the department’s budget, even eliminating the entire department — an idea that Trump floated as recently as last year.

DeVos also fought to create a voucher system that would allow students to use public school funds to pay for private schools. Burroughs, a math teacher, described the plan as “defunding public education to pay for the rich people’s private schools.’’

That’s not to mention Trump’s broader erosion of labor union rights, she said, such as policies to curb collective bargaining rights,

“It’s enough to make any educator not support Trump,’’ said Burroughs. “I tell members who [support the former president] — ‘You’re voting against your own self-interest.’’’

For Carpenters union members, the protection of fair wages and benefits is a critical concern, said Richard Kolodzieski, government affairs director of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters. Like Burroughs, he remembers the Trump record and the many setbacks for workers during the administration.

Trump, for example, has acknowledged he’d like to eliminate prevailing wage laws, he said. Those laws create a wage and benefit minimum for workers on government-financed construction projects based on local market rates. They protect workers from wage exploitation and help ensure that workers can support their families, he said.

Trump also has said he supports a so-called federal Right to Work law, which would guarantee workers the right to not join their union and/or pay union dues. In states with such laws, it has resulted in lower worker wages, weakened unions and more leverage for employers.

Kolodzieski is particularly concerned about provisions in Project 2025, a policy blueprint for a next Trump administration, whose contributors include dozens of Trump’s former advisors and aides. The project is a disaster for labor, he said.

Project 2025 would shrink overtime eligibility, let states opt out of federal overtime and minimum wage laws, ban unions for public employees — and more. Trump has recently tried to distance himself from the plan as it sparked growing controversy.

“These [proposals] are not just against labor, but against all workers,’’ Kolodzieski said.

AFL-CIO report card

The AFL-CIO has issued its own statement regarding the records of Harris and Trump. Its Trump analysis also focuses on the anti-labor provisions of Project 2025.

Below are some of the reasons cited by the AFL-CIO for supporting the vice president, Harris:

• Played a critical role in supporting Biden-administration programs to rebuild bridges, roads and transportation infrastructure, invest in good-paying union jobs, bring manufacturing back to America.

• Cast a deciding Senate vote for the American Rescue Plan, which saved the pensions of more than one million workers and retirees. That includes 30,000 in Minnesota.

• Led the administration’s efforts to boost access to affordable child care and the child tax credit.

• As a U.S. Senator, she fought to expand labor protections and fair wages for agricultural and domestic workers, and walked the picket line with the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) workers.

• Consistently advocated for workers’ rights to form or join a union, and to protect workers’ rights.

“From day one, Vice President Kamala Harris has been a true partner in leading the most pro-Labor administration in history,” said national AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.

“The AFL-CIO is proud of our early and steadfast support for the Biden-Harris administration,” Shuler said, “and now we’ll ratchet up our mass mobilization of union workers to elect Vice President Harris as President.”

Tight race ahead

But labor leaders are not taking this election for granted. Trump has been courting working class voters, especially those frustrated by higher gas and grocery prices, and general inflation. His messaging about certain social issues, immigration and culture  wars also has resonated with a segment of union voters, they admit.

Harris, meanwhile, also will face challenges from voters not ready for a woman president, much less a woman of color president. Add on the constant distortions about her and Walz, now blasting across social media, and the scope of their battle to win the White House starts to becomes apparent.

Plus, many union members simply don’t know much about Harris, who maintained a low public profile during much of Biden’s administration. When she suddenly skyrocketed as top contender for the Democratic ticket in July, she was a relative unknown to most ordinary workers.

“People are a little confused, especially in rural areas,’’ said Trevarious Pegg, of Carpenters Local 68. “They don’t know what she stands for.”

Pegg, Minneapolis, plans to vote for Harris. But he is among union members wanting to learn more, especially where she stands on issues that he sees on the job and in the community.

“I hope she really gets on the back of wage theft and [labor] human trafficking,’’ said Pegg, a member of his union’s political action team. “We’ve got a big problem.”

His other concern is the fentanyl epidemic and making sure communities have resources to help people suffering through it.

Pegg is relatively new to political action, but is excited to get involved with the Harris-Walz campaign. For the first time, he’s planning to do some door-knocking and phone-calling to get out the vote.

He’s motivated by the issues, but also by the wild ride of this presidential race. In the past two months, Trump survived an assassination attempt, Biden dropped his candidacy, Harris almost immediately won her party’s nomination, and Minnesota’s own governor became her running mate.

“I think this election is going to be the most interesting ever,’’ Pegg said.

For IBEW member Hansen, a DFL activist for decades, this year also is a first. The Maplewood electrician is heading to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which runs August 19 to 22.

The first-time national delegate already has ordered his Harris t-shirt and nabbed some posters. He’s also been asking about the seating chart at the convention hall.

Turns out the Minnesota delegates get a new improved section by virtue of their governor being on the ticket. Laughed Hansen: “We’re getting a seating upgrade in Chicago.”

Like other staunch Harris-Walz supporters, he hopes that the convention creates an even bigger blast of enthusiasm for the pro-labor candidates, and that the media exposure allows “the whole country will get to know them.’’

Said Hansen: “There’s an energy out there that has just burst.”

This story is part one of a three-part series reported for the Labor Review by Jean Hopfensperger, a retired member of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild who worked 35 years as a reporter at the Star Tribune.

Read the other two stories in the series:

The Race for the White House: Part 2
Workers, families are focus of Harris-Walz agenda

The Race for the White House: Part 3
With clear choice for President, labor mobilizes for Harris

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