CNN
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Joe Biden is expected to win a major union endorsement Wednesday from the Construction Workers of North America, whose leaders say the president was largely able to pass an infrastructure bill. .
In one of the earliest presidential endorsements in history, NABTU leaders launch an eight-figure organizing program to rally 250,000 members to support Biden in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. I'm letting you do it.
The Teamsters, whose endorsement has been sought by both Biden and Donald Trump, are members of NABTU but abstained from Tuesday's board vote, according to people familiar with the proceedings. They plan to endorse after the next convention.
Support from NABTU, which has 3 million members nationwide, has been more enthusiastic than support for Biden in 2020. And it comes at a moment when a significant portion of the union's rank-and-file membership has split from the union leadership, which has traditionally been aligned with the Democratic Party, in ways that have electoral influence. This raises questions about the political future of the next generation of union members.
“We feel like we've got the perfect leader at the perfect time for working people,” NABTU President Sean McGarvey told CNN in an interview announcing the endorsement.
Mr. Biden will attend a union meeting in Washington on Wednesday to formally give the nod, but union leaders say this is a departure from Mr. Trump, who fervently sought support from union members and leaders during his time in office. They hope this will be seen as a harsh rebuff, but leaders say it has “not yielded any results.” NABTU had called for President Trump to resign following the January 6, 2021, riot.
In praising Biden's commitment to workers, McGarvey cited the Infrastructure Act, the American Rescue Plan during the pandemic, the CHIP Act to increase national technology production, and the investment and union protections built into the Control Inflation Act. listed. He acknowledged that support for Biden is stronger among union leaders than among many union members at the moment, with a roughly even split between Biden and Trump in 2020, and overall said that this is still the case.
“They think now Joe Biden and Trump are running again, but they think it's just two politicians, 'same old, same old,'” McGarvey said. Ta. “Look, it's not the same old, it's not the same old.”
Construction unions have a long history with President Trump in the private sector, working together directly on projects or partially financing them through union-owned financial services companies in the 1980s and 1990s. .
“He was one of the worst customers we ever had because he rarely kept his promises and was a fight to get us to pay him back,” McGarvey said.
The financial relationship ended at Trump Tower in Chicago, and the search for a project manager was featured on the first season of “The Apprentice.”
Labor unions are keen to support Trump's infrastructure bill pledged while in the White House, and McGarvey wins support for multiemployer pension funds in first coronavirus relief bill of 2020 He said he had discussed this with Trump.
“All your people love me, don't they, Sean?” McGarvey recalled President Trump telling her over the phone.
But none of that materialized, McGarvey said, which along with union job creation and long-term worker protections and apprenticeships enshrined in law, sharpened the contrast with Biden. Told.
“Donald Trump talked about infrastructure once a week, once a month, once a year. He was passionate about it, and it was easy for him,” said Brent Booker of the North American Workers International Union. The chairman spoke in a mocking tone.
Trump entered office promising a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, but returned to it multiple times during his years in office, but never proposed any actual legislation or plans.
McGarvey added that his conversation with Biden had a different feel than his conversation with Trump. The president twice grabbed Mr. Biden by the shoulder and made him promise to ensure that the training centers benefit from all the legislation passed during his administration. Both in rural towns and urban areas.
“This is a compelling argument” for members who aren't drawn to Trump for other reasons, Booker said. That includes Trump's positions on immigration and his general pledge to break with business-as-usual government.
“It shows that once we know what he's done for us, everything changes dramatically,” Booker said of Biden.
Future union-funded assistance programs will hurt hundreds of thousands of union members and their families in Blue Wall states, which will be crucial in the run-up to 2024 when Biden takes power from Trump in 2020. It connects members through local union halls, social circles and organizations. House.
“When you have time to explain where these opportunities come from, their eyes light up and they say, 'I didn't vote for him last time, but he'll vote for me next time,'” McGarvey said. said. “We will make the capital investment and the ground-based work we need to do in key states to ensure everyone who needs to know the story knows it and can vote in their economic interests. I guarantee you that for the first time in a generation.”
As for Mr. Trump, union leaders are hoping the former president especially feels their backlash and are laughing at the possibility of an angry response at Truth Social. “Even if he's angry, I don't really make fun of him,” McGarvey said.
Trump's press secretary did not respond to requests for comment about the endorsement or McGarvey's comments about the former president.
Biden campaign official Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement about the endorsement that Trump had turned infrastructure into a “punch line,” but that “Biden has remained true to his promise and has continued to support union members at every step of his presidency.” “I have fought desperately for this,” he said. ”
Reached by email on the flight to tout Biden's record, campaign co-chairman and former infrastructure coordinator for the administration, Mitch Landrieu, said the endorsement was “rebuilding the country in a way that creates good, high-paying wages.” “It has to do with honoring the president's pledge to do so.” It's about creating union jobs and the strongest economy we've seen in years,” adding, “And if we want to do more, we're going to stay the course and move forward.”
Landrieu said he was happy to see things like infrastructure investments useful politically, writing that “a watched pot never boils.” “Until that happens.”