Harris begins to win union endorsem*nts (2024)

Some of the country’s largest worker unions are beginning to support Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing his candidacy and endorsing Harris, unions representing teachers, Hollywood technicians, government workers, communications workers, electricians and retail staff have thrown their support behind the vice president.

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, a staunch supporter of Biden's campaign, offered its support to his No. 2 on Monday.

“From day one, Vice President Kamala Harris has been a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “At every step in her distinguished career in public office, she’s proven herself a principled and tenacious fighter for working people and a visionary leader we can count on. From taking on Wall Street and corporate greed to leading efforts to expand affordable child care and support vulnerable workers, she’s shown time and again that she’s on our side."

"With Kamala Harris in the White House, together we’ll continue to build on the powerful legacy of the Biden-Harris administration to create good union jobs, grow the labor movement and make our economy work for all of us," Shuler added.

“Vice President Harris has been a proven ally of the IBEW,” IBEW President Kenneth W. Cooper said in a statement Monday. “Working by President Biden’s side, she cast the deciding vote to save our pensions. Their administration created good union jobs through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the American Rescue Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.”

He said Harris has been visiting IBEW job sites, union halls and training facilities for the past four years.

“She has listened to us, and we stand confident that she will continue this administration’s extraordinary record on behalf of working people when she is sworn into office next January,” Cooper said.

With 838,000 members, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is one of the country's largest unions. It was among the first major unions to endorse Harris, along with the 1.7-million member American Federation of Teachers, 700,000-member Communications Workers of America, 170,000-member International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and 100,000-member Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Throughout the Biden-Harris Administration, Biden has repeatedly called himself the most pro-union president in U.S. history. Last year, he became the first sitting president to walk a picket line with United Auto Workers members as they struck the Detroit Three automakers for better pay and benefits.

“Vice President Harris has fought alongside Joe Biden to deliver historic accomplishments and create a better life for all Americans,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement Sunday, after the group’s 47-member executive council met and voted unanimously to endorse Harris for president. The AFT expects the vote to be ratified during its convention this week.

“She has a record of fighting for us — fighting to lower the costs we pay, for reproductive rights, for worker empowerment and to keep communities safe from gun violence,” Weingarten said. “As President Biden said in his endorsem*nt of Kamala Harris, she has his full support to be the Democratic nominee for president. And she has the AFT executive council’s support too.”

On Sunday, theService Employees International Union, which represents 1.9 million health care, public service and property service employees in the U.S. and Canada, said it was "ALL IN" for Harris.

"The most important thing for working people right now is uniting behind Vice President Harris, the candidate who can beat Donald Trump and finish the job that we started under the Biden-Harris administration,"SEIU International President April Verrett said in a statement. "Working people are clear: Vice President Harris is the leader who has their back. SEIU is ALL IN for Kamala Harris."

In a presidential contest that could be determined by working-class voters in swing states, both parties are seeking coveted labor endorsem*nts. Last week, during the Republican National Convention, GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance said the party was done “catering to Wall Street. We’ll commit to the working man.”

Former President Donald Trump has so far won the endorsem*nt of one labor union: the International Union of Police Associations. On Monday, the Associated Builders and Contractors trade group announced its endorsem*nt of the former president.

“After almost four years of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ anti-competitive, inflationary and divisive policies undermining taxpayer investments in America’s infrastructure, ABC is looking forward to working with a president who is willing to welcome all of the U.S. construction industry to rebuild America,” ABC President and CEO Michael D. Bellaman said in a statement.

“For too long, the Biden/Harris administration’s policies have locked out nearly 90% of the construction workforce — that’s more than 7.3 million workers — simply because they have chosen not to belong to a union,” Bellaman said.

While many of country’s largest unions have yet to decide who they will endorse for president, several issued statements praising Biden’s record.

The National Education Association said Biden is “the most pro-public education, pro-union president in history.” NEA President Becky Pringle said Biden had expanded school meal access for 5 million students, invested in student mental health and provided student debt relief for millions of educators and working families.

While the group stopped short of endorsing Harris, saying only that it will work to “ensure President Biden is succeeded by a leader equally dedicated to building the future our students, educators and families deserve," Pringle said, “Educators and parents have done their homework and are seeing how Trump’s Project 2025 roadmap will slash funding for students in public schools, gut programs to help special education students, remove civil rights enforcement and do real harm to students and families.”

Several other major unions also issued statements following Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race, praising his leadership but stopping short of endorsing Harris, including the United Auto Workers. In a statement Sunday, the group said, “The path forward is clear: we will defeat Donald Trump and his billionaire agenda and elect a champion for the working class to the highest office in this country.”

The Teamsters, which have 1.4 million members and endorsed Biden in 2020, told Spectrum News that it traditionally does not endorse candidates until after each party’s nomination convention.

“Rank-and-file Teamsters will dictate any possible endorsem*nt from our union,” a spokesman said in a statement to Spectrum News. “Since the end of 2023, we have convened historic Presidential roundtables with our members and have conducted unprecedented town halls at roughly 300 local unions across the country.”

The spokesperson said the Teamsters’ presidential endorsem*nt this year is its most democratic, inclusive and transparent in the union’s 121-year history.

Notably, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week, roiling labor allies.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, with 1.6 million members, announced its endorsem*nt of Harris Monday afternoon.

“Vice President Harris is seasoned, tough and tenacious. She is a dynamic leader who has been a pro-worker champion throughout her years in elected office. She understands that unions and the working class are the engines of our economy. And she has a deep respect and appreciation for the work AFSCME members do to strengthen our communities.,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a statement.

NOTE: This article has been updated to accurately reflect the membership of theRetail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.