What role do unions play in the US presidential election?

Guardian Nigeria

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00:00Hello and welcome to People & Profit, I'm Kate Moody.

00:18From picket line to campaign trail.

00:20As we enter the final countdown to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, we're looking

00:25at what role labor unions have played in this race.

00:28The first recorded worker strike in the U.S. dates back to 1768.

00:33In more modern times, labor law has recognized American unions since 1935, allowing members

00:39to carry out collective bargaining for better wages and working conditions.

00:44Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have been courting

00:48union support.

00:49The working class voters they tend to represent could prove crucial in several battleground

00:54states.

00:55The bottom line is when unions are strong, America is strong.

01:05And our unions have always fought to make our nation then more equal, more fair and

01:10more free.

01:11We will end all taxes on overtime.

01:16Those are the people that really work.

01:19They're police officers, nurses, factory workers, construction workers, truck drivers and machine

01:24operators.

01:25It's time for the working man and woman to finally catch a break.

01:31We're joined now by Bob Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University

01:35of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, also author of the book What Work Is.

01:40Thank you for being on the show today.

01:42Tell us, what have we heard from the two candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, in terms of

01:46their approach to unions?

01:48Well, we've heard very stark differences.

01:54Donald Trump really has been very critical of union leaders.

01:59And he has, on a number of occasions, articulated really his opposition to things that unions

02:07stand for, like raising the minimum wage.

02:10He's also made clear that he favors right-to-work laws, which are very destructive of union

02:17organizing in the United States.

02:19On the other hand, Kamala Harris has actively sought that union vote.

02:25She has met with quite a few union leaders.

02:28She's given a number of rallies and talks at union halls.

02:33She's got the endorsements of most of the large unions.

02:38Something Donald Trump has really not attempted to do is really to win favor with many unions

02:44in the United States.

02:45And she's proposed policies that would be largely supportive of worker rights, like

02:53the PRO Act in the United States, but also other measures that would protect work and

03:00protect the right to organize.

03:01So the differences are very stark.

03:04Let's talk a bit more about endorsements and the lack thereof.

03:08Donald Trump, as you mentioned, has received the backing of a few local and law enforcement

03:12unions.

03:13Kamala Harris has much more high-profile support from the likes of the United Auto Workers,

03:17United Steel Workers, National Teachers Unions.

03:21Those groups do traditionally back Democratic candidates.

03:24But the decision of the Teamsters not to endorse either candidate back in September arguably

03:29made even more headlines.

03:32Do these kind of endorsements really matter in a presidential race?

03:36Those kinds of endorsements really do matter.

03:39Companies labor has lost a lot of its political clout.

03:43But even with reduced membership, it can still be a decider in national elections, particularly

03:52in many of the competitive states, those that are in the Midwest, where there is still a

03:57high percentage of unionization.

04:01So these endorsements are coveted, and they do have influence on the rank and file.

04:09And briefly then, what do you make of the decision of the Teamsters specifically not

04:13to endorse Kamala Harris?

04:17We saw the president of the Teamsters actually appearing at the Republican National Convention

04:20in support of Donald Trump.

04:22Their rationale for not endorsing is something that seems really hard to accept and to understand

04:30because the statement was that neither of the candidates would put working class interests

04:35ahead of corporate interests.

04:37While that's certainly true of Donald Trump, you could never make that argument that it

04:43was true of the Biden administration.

04:46And the president of the union, the Teamsters union, has also gone on record to say that

04:51Joe Biden was the most pro-union president that he has seen.

04:57So it is perplexing.

05:00Perhaps it's an attempt to just curry favor and to be in a position so that regardless

05:08of how the election turns out, I mean, it is close, that you will be in a position perhaps

05:15to work with the incoming administration.

05:18But it seems like Teamsters themselves have rejected the position of their leadership

05:25in lots of different forums.

05:28A bit of a divide there then.

05:29Bob, stay with us for a moment as we take a closer look at the state of labor unions

05:34in the United States.

05:35Public support for collective action peaked in the 1960s and membership began to decline.

05:41More workers have joined organized unions in recent years, in particular since the pandemic.

05:46But in the strong job market, that means a steady level of about 10 percent unionization.

05:51Yuka Royer has more.

05:53Last year, Joe Biden made history as the first modern U.S. president to walk the picket line

06:00in support of striking autoworkers in Detroit.

06:03You deserve the significant raise you need and other benefits.

06:10Strike culture appears to have returned to the American labor market as inflation hit

06:14workers' pockets.

06:16In 2023, Hollywood screenwriters and actors, Starbucks workers, nurses, hotel staff and

06:23pilots staged strikes before the United Autoworkers Union paralyzed car production in Detroit

06:29with a weeks-long stoppage, affecting all of the big three car companies.

06:35The trend has continued this year.

06:37Boeing's machinists halted production of best-selling jets, dock workers succeeded in getting a

06:43significant pay raise after a three-day stoppage.

06:46Amazon drivers, more autoworkers and journalists also walked off their jobs.

06:51The total number of workers involved in major strikes rose to nearly 460,000 in 2023, a

06:58280 percent increase from the previous year, though still a fraction of the 1970s levels.

07:05However, despite the recent resurgence of collective action, American workers remain

07:10largely non-unionized.

07:12According to the government, union membership in the U.S. peaked in the 1950s at over one-third

07:17of the workforce.

07:19Last year, that figure was down to 10 percent, but still a potentially significant chunk

07:25of American voters.

07:27Bob Bruno, thank you for staying with us.

07:30There does seem to have been a spike in high-profile strikes in the U.S. over the past two years

07:34or so.

07:35Why is that?

07:37Well, in part, the labor market just went through shock and trauma following the recession

07:46that was caused by the pandemic, and then there was this rapid reopening of the economy.

07:52We have never seen anything quite like that in the United States.

07:55It wasn't just in one sector, but it was across all industries, and there was an enormous

08:00demand for labor.

08:03In that particular situation, power shifts to workers.

08:08I think workers also realized during the pandemic just how badly treated they were and how disposable

08:14employers thought they were.

08:17Therefore, when the market shifted in their favor, they also realized that through organizing,

08:25a collective voice would be the best way to really maximize their strength.

08:31You saw an increase in unionization, but you also saw the ability structurally to strike,

08:40to hold out for greater demands.

08:43Obviously, inflation had really eroded the incomes of working-class folks, and that was

08:51following on 40 years of fairly stagnant or slow wage growth.

08:59The structural moment, and I think the realization amongst workers, an increased consciousness

09:05that only through collective action could they maximize their power, has led to this

09:10moment where we see these very, very high-profile and always successful strikes, along with

09:18increased numbers of workers organizing, increased numbers of workers filing complaints with

09:24the federal government about management abuse, and workers winning more elections and winning

09:32more of the charges they bring against employers, and popularity.

09:40Public approval of unions is nearly, well, it hasn't been as high as it was in the 1960s.

09:48It's at a very high level, and I think workers understand that very well and are exploiting the moment.

09:57Would you say that unions and labor issues have taken a different, perhaps more prominent

10:02role in this year's campaign compared to other election cycles?

10:08Labor is always an important constituency.

10:13It's obviously been the backbone of the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party's made a bit

10:19of a play for that labor vote really since Richard Nixon.

10:27Labor plays a prominent role regularly, and given the closeness of elections, given that

10:33we are having these elections decided by such small numbers in key states and only a handful

10:41of key states, the density of union membership in places like Michigan or just western Pennsylvania

10:50can be critically important to who wins.

10:54For all those reasons, I certainly think Harris has put working with organized labor and winning

11:02their vote at the forefront.

11:04I think that even the Republican Party understanding the pain, the angst, the feeling of being

11:13left behind that most working class folks have felt here in the United States really

11:20creates an opening and an opportunity to try to peel off some of those union votes.

11:31I think that vote really is important in this election in ways perhaps that it hadn't been

11:37in previous ones.

11:39But I think it's also consistent with organized labor being an important political institution

11:44during presidential elections.

11:46Let me ask you very briefly about Joe Biden's legacy.

11:49He came into office promising to be the most pro-union president in modern history.

11:54Will he be remembered that way?

11:56I think he will be.

11:59This record is really very consistent with the promises that he made, both in terms of

12:07appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, his stance on collective bargaining.

12:15You mentioned earlier in your piece walking a picket line.

12:20Also the three major pieces of legislation that invested in electric vehicles, renewable

12:28energies, creating more microchips, the large infrastructure bill.

12:36All of these bills really are very, very positive for working people, and they all have labor

12:43protections that are written into them.

12:47So he, I think, justifiably has earned that moniker as the most pro-union president in

12:59the modern era.

13:00Bob Bruno from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, thank you so much for your

13:03time today.

13:06My pleasure.

13:07Well, that's all for now.

13:08Don't forget to look for People & Profit on the podcast platform of your choice, or as

13:12always on the Fronts24 website.

13:14Until next time, thanks for watching.

13:17♪♪

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