Greg Gardner

Detroit Free Press

UAW President Dennis Williams endorsed Hillary Clinton today after surveying members and observing that the former Secretary of State is within 100 delegates of clinching the nomination.

While he called Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders "a great friend of the UAW," he told MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, "It's about time for unity. We're endorsing Hilllary Clinton. She's gotten 3 million more votes than Bernie, a million more votes than Donald Trump. She's our nominee.

"She understands our issues on trade, understands the complexities of multinational economies and supports American workers, their families and communities."

The endorsement came as Clinton has 2,305 of the 2,383 delegates required to win the nomination at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Philadelphia. Sanders has 1,539 delegates.

Matthews questioned Williams about 28% of UAW members who responded to an internal survey saying they planned to vote for Trump.

Williams has acknowledged Trump's appeal to working-class voters. Trump has attacked the North American Free Trade Agreement and other trade deals, which the UAW has also opposed. But Trump also has opposed increasing the minimum wage and has said that American wages are too high.

"Mr. Trump clearly does not support the economic security of UAW families,” Williams said. He noted Trump has said some UAW jobs may need to move to non-union states to compete against lower wages at automakers' Mexican plants. Last August before UAW negotiations with the Detroit 3 automakers, Williams called Trump "an enemy of the middle class."

The UAW has a history of sitting on the fence when the Democratic nomination is contested. In 2008 it didn't endorse then-Sen. Barack Obama until mid-June, about the same time that then-Sen. Hillary Clinton conceded to Obama.

About two dozen of the nation's unions have endorsed Clinton, including the Service Employees International Union, which hosted Clinton earlier this week at its national convention at Cobo Center.

Sanders has received support from the Communications Workers of America, National Nurses United, American Postal Workers Union and the Amalgamated Transit Union.

The UAW's clout in presidential politics is not as substantial as it was in the late 1970s when its membership peaked at about 1.5 million. Today it has about 412,000 active members, and more than 1 million retirees.

Although President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Hillary Clinton has supported other trade agreements, she has said she opposes the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership in its current form.

Williams pointed to her fight against attacks on collective bargaining, her support for expanding overtime rules to include more working families and her backing of equal pay for women and paid family leave as reasons for the endorsement.

Contact Greg Gardner: (313) 222-8762 or ggardner@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregGardner12.