On July 21st, 2024, President Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2024 amidst growing unpopularity with the 81 year old President. Only one day later, the AFL-CIO and a number of affiliate unions such as United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and others announced their endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for President. The AFL-CIO states it “represents 60 unions and 12.5 million workers” and yet was able to make a decision on their endorsement in less than 24 hours. The rank and file have largely been ignored on many political issues as leadership continues to toe the Democratic Party line. In the year leading up to Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 election, the AFL and its unions endorsed the current President back in 2023 and felt the need to “reaffirm” their endorsement in June 2024. It begs the question why the AFL-CIO and its unions feel the need to state their unwavering support for Democratic leadership in the face of faltering support for the party among the populace.
For decades, labor has been shackled to the Democrats as union leadership in the building trades rely on Public Labor Agreements (PLA) that require contractors to pay union wages on public projects. More often than not, Democrats support PLAs while Republicans seldom do, making it only natural for building trade unions to gravitate towards the Democrats. The issue arises when union members themselves do not feel represented in leadership choices and are given no voice on matters that affect them. The AFL-CIO endorsement of President Biden is toothless if there is no rank and file to rally. This brings a long standing contradiction to the surface that is now bearing its teeth: support Democrats or else.
The contradiction lies in the belief that Democrats are the party of labor, yet they are bought and sold by many of the same donors and companies that back Republicans. We’ve seen Biden pay lip service to unions in this country while simultaneously using draconian laws like the Railway Labor Act to crush workers striking back at a system that left them by the wayside years ago. AFL-CIO leadership further digging in their heels to support a party that is increasingly becoming unpopular with workers across the country only proves that their allegiance is to the status quo and not what will fundamentally improve American workers’ lives.
As LUEL National Secretary Timothy Dirte stated in April, “the destruction of organized labor has in some ways made its rebirth possible.” Workers becoming increasingly disillusioned by the two-party system opens the way for class-oriented trade unionists to build a truly powerful labor movement in this country, one that is not beholden to any party, but rather the rank and file itself. The time is ripe for workers to break with the Democratic Party and build the labor movement they need and deserve, and that so many have been seeking for decades.
