Everyday union members were key to Biden win

 

Bill Knight column for 11-12, 13 or 14, 2020

 The nation is used to hearing labor’s demands, which are supported by most Americans. According to a survey of union members conducted by the AFL-CIO, 95% of union voters want workers’ rights protected – that includes 93% of union members who cast ballots for Trump.

Workers and the public see dignity in work and want the right to organize and bargain collectively, fair wages and workplace safety, a voice on the job and secure retirement.

Election 2020 benefited from pro-Biden and anti-Trump figures as varied as Cindy McCain and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stacey Abrams and Pete Buttigieg, columnist George Will and author Cornell West, women, young people and African Americans, plus a host of scientists, prosecutors, military and national-security leaders and disaffected Republican lawmakers.

A key part of the united front was organized labor.

The AFL-CIO’s post-Nov. 3 survey shows 58% of unionists voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Union members favored the Democratic ticket by 21 points, compared to the overall vote, which shows the electorate backed Biden/Harris by 3 points.

Many others helped, of course, some with greater fanfare. The Lincoln Project of anti-Trump Republicans got considerable attention for its creative political ads and social-media presence, but they didn’t budge much of Trump’s base. Trump’s popular-vote count increased 7 million from 2016.

On the other hand, labor had “boots on the ground,” getting out the vote in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, helping to restoring the Blue Wall and contributing to the highest turnout in decades.

UNITE HERE, the hospitality union, alone had phone bankers make 10 million calls and sent 1,700 canvassers to knock on 3 million doors in Arizona, Nevada, Philadelphia and elsewhere.

“This is what we do as a union – we organize,” said Nicole Hunt, President of UNITE HERE Local 634 in Philadelphia, “They had lost hope in the system so they did not vote last election, and they may not have this year either. But we went to them to help them find their voice.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, speaking two days after the election and two days before Biden was declared the future 46^th U.S. President, commented, “Joe Biden’s firewall was union-made.”

And so far, every vote’s counted, whether early, mail-in or in-person ballots. In our country, voters decide elections, not candidates, judges, lawmakers or “faithless” Electoral College electors who betray their states voters.

Further, whether supporters of Biden or Trump, AFL-CIO members – progressive, moderate or conservative – 78% believe candidates should recognize the results, accept the outcome and cooperate in a peaceful transition of power.

“Let me tell you about what happened in Detroit,” Trumka said. “On Tuesday night, a chaotic scene erupted outside the vote tally room at the TCF Center. Protesters showed up. They harassed and intimidated nonpartisan volunteers who were counting ballots. They screamed ‘stop the votes’ and ‘stop the counts.’ The Michigan AFL-CIO put out an email Wednesday at 3 a.m. asking members to show up and protect our democracy. The outpouring of support was incredible. Union members showed up, peacefully defused the tension, and the count proceeded.

“That is who we are,” he continued. “That is what we stand for. That is what we are prepared to do.

“I have a message for anyone who would seek to prevent our votes from being counted,” Trumka added, “to prevent the electors we choose from being seated, to prevent the duly elected president and vice president from being inaugurated on January 20, 2021: We will not let you take our democracy away from us.”

The coming weeks, maybe months, may be as tough as 2020, when the nation lost jobs, livelihoods and lives to the pandemic.

However, it must be remembered that throughout the COVID-19 crisis, everyday workers – many of them union members – became essential and delivered for the country, from healing the sick, continuing government services, and moving people and products to teaching kids and serving consumers buying food, medicine and more.

So, we recognize difficulties ahead and concede that reform won’t be easy. It will be hard work.

We’re used to it.