Unions seethe over early Clinton endorsement

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/unions-seethe-over-early-clinton-endorsement-120206.html

Labor leaders said there was a clear understanding that no national unions would make an endorsement before July 30. But the American Federation of Teachers jumped the gun.
By Annie Karni
7/16/15 5:21 AM EDT




There was never any question that the powerful American Federation of Teachers — a union representing 1.6 million educators across the country — would endorse Hillary Clinton for president.

But on Saturday, when the AFT became the first international labor union to make an endorsement in the contest by announcing its support of Clinton, it drew sharp criticism from teachers as well as other labor leaders, who questioned the timing amid Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ surge in popularity.

Labor leaders said there was a clear understanding that before July 30 — when all of the Democratic candidates have an hourlong interview at AFL-CIO headquarters and could be grilled on their positions on controversial issues like trade — no national unions (the AFT is one of the 56 national and international unions that make up the AFL-CIO) would make an endorsement.

In 2007, the AFT didn’t endorse Clinton until October.

FULL story at link.

[GoneFishin]

1. You can't tell them who to vote for, but moving the date around to the benefit of a particular

candidate is a pretty blatant manipulation tactic.

[NCTraveler]

3. You think that twenty days would make a big difference?

As a campaigner, I would be in a really bad place if twenty days was a deal breaker for me.

[GoneFishin]

6. 20 days plus "an hourlong interview at AFLCIO headquarters and could be grilled on their positions

on controversial issues like trade "

Yes.

[NCTraveler]

10. I don't think you are reading what you are typing.

An hour long interview with people Hillary, O'Malley and Sanders have spent decades courting. I understand they want their moment in the sun, and have earned it, but to make that interview out to be more than it is just doesn't fly from the outside. They have a point in saying that. It is about their day. You are trying to make it something more. You're fishin'.

[red dog 1]

53. I agree

[NCTraveler]

2. Is the AFL-CIO upset that the AFT tipped their hat too early?

No decision made this year will make all members happy. I would think, with the failed petition that was circulating in an attempt to condemn the AFT, that the writing is on the wall for the other groups that make up the AFL-CIO.

[frylock]

11. The reason the AFL-CIO is upset is clearly stated in the article.

[NCTraveler]

13. Pretty sure only one of us read the article.

"The reason the AFL-CIO is upset is clearly stated in the article."

Operatives are discussed. This type of article is well know with respect to politico. They are pandering to low info voters who simply read headlines. The article doesn't match the headline.

The AFL-CIO's position is clear and makes sense. They HOPE their member unions would hold out on endorsements until after July so their meetings hold more significance. A perfectly reasonable and sound position to take.

Fact is, one of their member groups did endorse, and the backlash has been very minimal. That should tell you something.

[frylock]

15. Ummm... okay

Labor leaders said there was a clear understanding that before July 30 — when all of the Democratic candidates have an hourlong interview at AFL-CIO headquarters and could be grilled on their positions on controversial issues like trade — no national unions (the AFT is one of the 56 national and international unions that make up the AFL-CIO) would make an endorsement.

[NCTraveler]

16. Correct. That backs every word I have said.

The AFL-CIO, centered around contracts, didn't find this significant enough to make it binding. They know more than anyone that means recommendation. Hard to believe I am reading some of these things here.

[frylock]

18. reading what? The ridiculous excuses and rationalization for a union head..

who is actively working to elect Hillary Clinton who went against an agreement set by the AFL-CIO? Who gives a shit if it was non-binding? Keep spinning.

[Bluenorthwest]

58. AFL-CIO is an affiliation of Unions, there are protocols agreed upon in advance of election cycles

and this article makes it clear that AFT did not follow those protocols. As a member of another affiliated Union, I take great issue with other Unions that do not follow the agreed upon process because trust and good faith are the things that hold organized labor together.

[DanTex]

4. This is extra funny. On one hand the Hillary bashers attack AFT leadership for top-down forcing of

Hillary onto their membership (despite the fact that the membership was overwhelmingly in favor of her). But now they are cheering on an even higher authority scolding AFT for acting in its own interests.

Illustrating yet again that none of the Hillary bashing is based on any kind of principle whatsoever. Top-down is good when it favors Bernie, but bad when it favors Hillary.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Like I told you last night I wish HRC would give BS the endorsement.

BTW, I was here in 08 and I didn't see this wailing and gnashing of teeth when the AFT endorsed HRC during the 08 primary cycle:


http://www.aft.org/resolution/resolution-presidential-endorsements

[dreamnightwind]

61. The article says in '07 they waited until October

so that might explain, at least in large part, why you didn't see this "wailing and gnashing of teeth" about an early endorsement, no early endorsement happened, they waited until well after the AFL-CIO interview as they should have.

edited to change '08 to '07 in the subject line

[virtualobserver]

8. who is cheering?

She could have waited until Jul 30th, and still endorsed Hillary.



It just shows that Randi acted on behalf of her friend Hillary.....they are a part of the AFL-CIO, and if there was an understanding that they should all wait until July 30th, why would she risk damaging her relationship with the main organization?

[Bluenorthwest]

59. AFL-CIO is an affiliation of Unions, there are protocols agreed upon in advance of election cycles

AFT agreed to those protocols then failed to follow them, the other affiliated Unions are doing as they always do, following the process in the agreed fashion.

The endorsements of each affiliate add up and if they reach a certain percentage, an AFL-CIO endorsement is triggered, so in a way each Union is casting a vote as to how the affiliation will endorse, so following the agreed process is important.

They agreed to a process they did not in fact adhere to. It's not cool at all.

[DanTex]

60. That may be true, although it seems more of an informal understanding than a hard protocol.

Still, the fact is, AFT followed their own protocol to arrive at the Clinton nomination. When that happened, there were exactly zero Bernie supporters who made arguments in support of union leadership following protocol. Because they didn't like the outcome. Union leaders and their protocols went straight under the bus.

That was until this story broke. Now, suddenly union leaders and their protocols are sacrosanct.

[ibegurpard]

5. this story won't be going anywhere

Hope the controversy was worth it.

[ancianita]

14. Anti-charter fighters within the AFT think the controversy's worth it. When public schools go out

and everyone blames the teachers, it won't be because teaching professionals didn't try for decades -- decades -- to make themselves heard by their union leaders and the public.

Most important institutional deaths go down quietly, after stake holders are sold out, worn out, quieted.

[ibegurpard]

20. Oh without a doubt

I meant the controversy for Clinton.

[Scuba]

21. Why would you think those are different controversies to the membership?

[ibegurpard]

25. I dont

I think it was foolish of the Clinton campaign to push for this. The controversy will not go away and shows how completely tone deaf both her campaign and this union leadership are.

[ancianita]

24. The controversy for Clinton is for the very soul of this union, so this story NEEDS to go somewhere.

The soul of this union is about the promoting and protecting the last standing democratic institution for human development in the US. Non-unionized teachers are more loyal to their jobs, more politically vulnerable to authoritarian and corporate "Gradgrindian" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradgrind) frameworks of learning.

The controversy is over whether unions will die off as their leaders sell out to charters that act as transitions toward privatized national schooling, or whether they will survive as centers of non-corporate, civic values in future generations' development.

That's the Big Deal behind the Clinton endorsement controversy.

[Scuba]

28. /\_/\_This right here_/\_/\

[jwirr]

33. That is absolutely the problem with this top directed indorsement. I especially regret that we have

had no debates before this happened. By going too soon they risk the possibility that their endorsement will become irrelevant. Many may change their minds after the candidates become more known and after the debates.

[ancianita]

35. Yes! "Wait for the debates" should be behind our Bernie efforts.

[merrily]

48. +1

[still_one]

9. The teamster voted to endorse Reagan in 1980.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/31/us/teamsters-vote-to-endorse-reagan.html

[Kurovski]

12. So ironic.

So self-destructive.

[still_one]

17. That was my point. Leadership assessments are not always correct

[Kurovski]

23. And a fine point it is.

[Omaha Steve]

19. Nixon too: Republicans protected them from serious government investigation

http://www.nathannewman.org/other/teamstersGOP.html

Snip: On the other hand, for two decades, the Republicans supported the corrupt,
mob-backed leadership of the Teamsters union and protected them from
serious government investigation. In exchange, the Teamsters were the only
major union that supported Republicans for the Presidency and would donate
millions to the Republican party.

It is worth remembering that is was Robert Kennedy back in the 1950s who
led the Congressional investigations into Teamster corruption,
investigations that led to the AFL-CIO expelling the Teamsters from the
labor federation. It was under Democrats in the 1960s that Jimmy Hoffa
Sr. (the father of the man Carey defeated last year for leadership of the
Teamsters) was indicted and imprisoned for fraud and looting the pensions
of his unions' retirees.

And then Richard Nixon pardoned Jimmy Hoffa in 1971 in exchange for the
Teamsters endorsing Nixon for President in 1972. Hoffa would not survive
the internal mob crossfire in the union, but the bond between the corrupt
Teamster leadership and the Republican Party would become only stronger.

In the late 70s, the corrupt Teamster leadership began a massive public
relations and political donation campaign to whitewash their image. Part
of this campaign involved hiring F. C. Duke Zeller, a Virginian Republican
operator who had been an unsuccessful Republican nominee for state
government and had turned to PR as a career. Hired by the Teamsters, he
detailed over a decade of the Teamster-Republican Party dealings in his
recent memoir, DEVIL'S PACT: INSIDE THE WORLD OF THE TEAMSTERS (1996).

FULL story at link.

[still_one]

54. That is a new one to me. The union leadership does not always speak for its members

[Doctor_J]

22. The aft big shot is a friend of Hillary. randi obviously put Hillary's concerns ahead

of those of the teachers. I am not surprised, unfortunately. This is why many people have a bad view of union leaders.

[McKim]

26. Will Hillary Keep the Neoliberal Education Agenda of Bush and Obama?

We out here in the real world have not heard if Hillary will continue with the Bush and Obama Education agenda of testing to benefit the
private testing companies. Will they continue this policy that puts money from public into private hands? Will Hillary continue with
Arne Duncan whose qualifications were that he played basketball with Obama? We out here in Teacherland are waiting to hear.

[Doctor_J]

29. without a doubt. Clinton and her husband are bfee members in good standing

That's the underlying reason for all of her republicans policies, and why I won't vote for her

[ibegurpard]

30. I wouldn't bet against her doing just that

[merrily]

49. Which position will get her into the Oval Office?

[WillyT]

27. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[kenfrequed]

31. I wonder what her motivation for the early endorsement was.

If it was already a lock and she knew that the AFL-CIO was going to go with Hillary anyhow then maybe she was hoping to grab a news cycle and maybe dampen Bernie's upward surging.

If the AFL-CIO is open then maybe she was concerned that labors increased interest in Bernie was going to put them in his camp instead or that some of the constituent unions would go with Bernie over Hillary. Maybe her friend wanted to assure that there would be a 'labor supports hillary' story out there that could be repeated until July 30th when the various unions in the AFL-CIO made up their mind. Obviously if the endorsement wasn't at all a lock and the unions were actually wanting to have a grilling and had intentions on questioning directly on the interests of labor it is possible that the AFT didn't think Hillary would meet the expectations of labor in terms of policy.

Maybe this was a trial balloon by the AFL CIO and they planned to go with Hillary but wanted to see how well various memberships took the news with the aftershocks of the TPP story still around. Of course that assumes it is a lock. I don't think it is at all.

It was still early, considering there hasn't been a single debate. There had been several public debates prior to the decision in October of 2007. I don't think this was appropriate.

[cherokeeprogressive]

34. Sec. of Education.

[daleanime]

32. K&R.....

[mmonk]

36. Being left to hang out and dry is certainly worth any measurable anger.

[rateyes]

37. As a card carrying member of the AFT, I am pretty much pissed off at this endorsement.

No one polled me about it. I think that Arne Duncan and Obama's education policies hurt public education, and am not pleased with what I hear from Clinton.

My union might endorse Clinton, but this union member is voting for Sanders.

[merrily]

47. I hope you will communicate your anger to the AFT.

It's too late for this, but they should know for the future that members do not appreciate this kind of thing. Otherwise, you will see this repeated.

[rateyes]

50. They will hear from me and others.

[merrily]

51. Yeeayyyyy. Good for you!

[red dog 1]

52. + 1000

[Indepatriot]

38. Very badly handled by Team Clinton.

They run a very sloppy ship. This could have been handled easily and without controversy if they just followed the stated schedule of events. Feel The Bern indeed....

[merrily]

41. The OP article gives the clue: They sought to take some of the steam out of the surge for Sanders.

[Indepatriot]

44. I know WHY they did it. I don't understand how they can so badly handle a simple endorsement.

This takes what should have been a day's worth of "good news" for HRC and turns it into a week of bad press. Team Clinton ain't much of a team...

[merrily]

46. From their standpoint, it's mishandled only if it costs her primary votes. I don't think it will.

[99Forever]

45. Unforced errors is what they do best.

[merrily]

39. AFT: wrong in 2007 and wrong again in 2015.

[lewebley3]

40. Well, with Hillary as the candidate how could the help but support Hillary

Hillary, is the right choice!!

[merrily]

42. Wrong choice for the AFT and wrong timing for the AFT.

[lewebley3]

43. No, positing and responding to reply postings:

[red dog 1]

55. K&R...Thanks for posting, Omaha Steve

It should be obvious to anyone, even HRC supporters, that the decision on who the AFT would endorse should not have been made until after July 30.

According to the Politico article:
Weingarten also defended the timing of the endorsement, and said it simply occurred now because the AFT held it's annual executive council meeting last weekend.
"We had 2,000 educators in Washington on Saturday for our executive council," she said.

"The decision, Weingarten explained, was made based in part on polling of 1,150 AFT members who are registered to vote between June 22 and 27.
About 67 percent of those polled favored Clinton over Sanders or former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley."

Isn't a poll of only "1,150 AFT members who are registered to vote" too small a sample to represent a union with over 1.6 million members?

Was it a truly "random" poll?
And who, exactly did the polling? Weingarten's staff? The executive council's staff?

Also according to Politico:
"Online, close to 4,000 teachers signed a Change.org petition calling for the AFT to withdraw it's endorsement."
"On Facebook, a post about the union's endorsement has thousands of comments expressing dissent."

From a July 11, 2015 Time magazine article on the AFT's endorsement of Clinton:
"It's an important endorsement for Clinton, who is still struggling to establish herself as the favored candidate of the Democratic base."
http://time.com/3954717/hillary-clinton-endorsement-american-federation-teachers/

[progressoid]

56. Wonder what the National Education Association will do. They represent 3 million teachers.

Seems to me the NEA picked Obama over Clinton in '08.

[McCamy Taylor]

57. I read this as Teachers love Hillary so much they could not wait to endorse her.

Efforts to split Clinton from her (devoted) base are doomed to fail.

[dreamnightwind]

62. Creative reading - eom

[LWolf]

63. And then there's this:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AFTMembersFeelTheBern/?fref=nf

?AFT Members for Bernie Sanders

***1.6 million of you endorsed her?

Secretary Hillary Clinton Addresses AFT TEACH 2015
YOUTUBE.COM

Like Comment Share
3 people like this.

***Did they call Randi 1.6 million times?
17 hrs · Like · 8

*** No, it was only 1 million. I counted twice to make sure.
17 hrs · Like · 5

*** The speech lacks passion and knowledge. I am mortified that a union I belong to (not for long after this embarrassing endorsement) endorsed a person who comes across like this...empty and droid-like.
17 hrs · Edited · Like · 7

*** eeeeeecckkkk. This is like a SNL skit. wow.new.lows.
16 hrs · Like · 3

*** Wrong.
16 hrs · Like · 1

*** She got it wrong the most important thing that will help our students is not recruiting and keeping excellent teachers it's dealing with poverty and all the inequality in our country! Just more of the same old same old.
8 hrs · Edited · Like · 7

*** I am not happy. I smell all sorts of CRAP in this deal...will Randi be the new Arne?
8 hrs · Like · 3

*** Yes ***, she will. frown emoticon
1 hr · Like · 2

*** Hell no & I won't wait to be heard!
44 mins · Like · 1

*** Cough, cough, bullshit,cough, cough
38 mins · Like · 2