Construction-sector unions want environmentalist barred from get-out-the vote effort.
Preexisting tensions within the Democratic Party rose to the surface recently when plans for a major voter turnout initiative were announced. The $50 million For Our Future PAC’s backing by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer has broken wide open an existing schism in the party between the blue-collar labor unions that once formed the party’s backbone and environmentalists who now find themselves serving as one of the party’s major pillars.
The AFL-CIO has the precarious position of standing smack in the middle of the rift. As the federation that represents labor groups on both sides of the rift, it is feeling pressure from within its ranks. While the federation was once dominated by blue-collar labor unions, it now also represents a number of large and powerful white-collar unions. Three of those white-collar groups – two of the country’s largest teachers’ unions and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – joined forces with Steyer to form the Super PAC.
While For Our Future’s stated intent is to rally the vote to stop presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump from winning the White House in November, some see the AFL-CIO’s partnership with Steyer as a betrayal of the blue-collar agenda.
Following the announcement of the Super PAC’s formation, Richard L. Trumka, AFL-CIO president, received two scathing letters from blue-collar trade unions. Those groups want the federation to back away from its association with Steyer, the founder of the NextGen Climate advocacy group. Blue-collar unions see Steyer and his environmental agenda as dangers to their very existence.
One letter, signed by presidents of seven building-trade unions, urged the AFL-CIO to cut its ties with Steyer, a hedge fund manager who has spent millions to promote efforts meant to combat climate change. Those efforts have put the kibosh on major construction projects, including the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which might have helped members of the blue-collar unions find work.
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The second letter, fired off by Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) president Terry O’Sullivan, strongly condemns the AFL-CIO’s participation in the Super PAC, which is reportedly being seeded by a $5 million donation from Steyer.
“Last year, LIUNA sent more than $2.3 million of our members’ hard-earned dues to the AFL-CIO in per capita taxes,” O’Sullivan wrote. “Yet now, the Federation chooses to ally itself with the organizations and individuals who are taking food off our members’ tables, and interfering with their ability to provide for themselves and their families.”
O’Sullivan called the creation of the Super PAC an “injustice” to his union’s members. He went on to voice objections to the “political agenda of the AFL-CIO being sold to a job-killing hedge fund manager with a bag of cash.”
Criticism of Steyer is poorly placed Sky Gallegos, a NextGen executive, told the New York Times.
“Our new unified effort will help elect progressive leaders who are committed to a just transition to a clean-energy economy that will benefit working families across the nation,” she said.
Whether the AFL-CIO and the Democratic Party will be able to bring all members to the table to stop Trump remains to be seen. With strong appeal among many blue-collar workers, Trump’s candidacy may very well threaten unity within the party. To date, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has failed to obtain endorsements from some of the biggest blue-collar unions, including the Teamsters.
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