Usually, the unions provide the Democratic camp with a pool of activists who keep the campaign alive on the ground, in companies, in door-to-door operations, but this year, several large federations of workers have decided… Not to decide, not to call on their members to vote for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump because they sense a disconnect between the leaders at the national level who are clearly pro-democrat, and the activist base which seems to be. increasingly seduced by the populist and outrageous speeches of Donald Trump.
We are thinking in particular of the Teamsters, a very powerful union of truck drivers and logistics warehouses, which surveyed its members at the end of the summer. Result: nearly 60% of them thought they would vote for Trump. So the national leadership decided not to support any candidate. However, this is causing turmoil internally, with local sections which have seceded and are campaigning for Harris, like the one in Philadelphia chaired by Richard Hooker. For him, the choice of supporting the Democratic candidate is the only possible one, because according to him, a return of Donald Trump to the White House would deal a fatal blow to American democracy, the rights of workers and unions.
For the trade unionist things are clear, Donald Trump is the candidate of the employers, as evidenced by his proximity to Elon Musk and his violently anti-union positions. And yet Richard Hooker clearly sees around him some of his comrades who are giving in to the Trumpist sirens. “Trump is America: brutal, narcissistic, dictatorial, white supremacist… He embodies all the values on which America was founded, whether we like it or not. So many people are seduced, because he speaks to the deepest part of America.”
Also in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, we also meet a union which decided to support Donald Trump against the advice of its federal leadership.
This is the IAFF, the firefighters and ambulance union. For the first time in three decades, her national leadership is not taking sides, and that in itself is already a very strong disavowal for Kamala Harris. But many members would have preferred that the IAFF clearly decided to follow its base and commit to Trump, like the president of the Philadelphia section, Mike Bresnen: he does not hide his pro-Republican affinities, even if that makes one cringe. He explains that in 2020, his section was the only one in the United States to choose to officially support Donald Trump, after carrying out a survey of its members which showed that 65% felt pro-Trump.
Here are two cases that show the growing disconnect between union leaders and their base, particularly among white workers in the former industrial regions of Rust. Belt : they saw in Joe Biden a true ally of workers and unions, but did not necessarily find that in Kamala Harris. However, it is in these states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin that the presidential election will be played out on November 5.
