Mike Klonsky's Blog: Have unions learned their lesson on early endorsements?

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Have unions learned their lesson on early endorsements?

Have unions learned their lesson on early endorsements?

In 2016, Hillary Clinton received early endorsements from the two big teacher unions. But many of their members ultimately campaigned for Bernie Sanders. 

Organized labor is still traumatized after the 2016 Democratic primary, when several unions endorsed Hillary Clinton early on, only to see the decision backfire when portions of their membership bolted for Bernie Sanders. So writes Politico's Ian Kullgren and Natasha Korecki.

“Everybody’s kind of taking a step back,” said Steve Rosenthal, a former political director for the AFL-CIO who is advising unions on 2020 campaigns. “[They’re] assessing the field — meeting with them, talking with them, finding where they stand on issues that are important to working people. But I don't see any rush at this point or any movement toward any type of major endorsements.”

Yes, that's exactly what Randi Weingarten and the AFT leadership should have done in July of 2015, six months before the Iowa caucuses. when they raced ahead of their own teacher members to be the first ones out there to demonstrate their fealty to the party leadership in exchange for, what they hoped would be a "seat at the table". There tactical objective was to kill off a Sanders insurgency before it got started.

There were no negotiations with the Clintons and nothing offered by Hillary to union teachers in return. The early endorsement also represented a show of top-down, undemocratic force directed against union dissidents who wanted Sanders, not Hillary.

The early endorsement by AFT and NEA leaders, not only failed to carry the day for Clinton, but it sharpened the divide within the unions where the main target of leadership in both the union CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Have unions learned their lesson on early endorsements?