AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka

Outlining an agenda including raised wages, paid sick leave, expanded overtime eligibility, funding for infrastructure and education, and support for collective bargaining, Trumka asked:



The question is, will our candidates listen? Will they seize this opportunity? I wonder, and so do the vast majority of working Americans. The truth is we’re skeptical. Are we wrong to be skeptical? I don’t think so. A surging army of workers, activists and families are tired of taking “maybe” for an answer. We’re tired of scared politicians who won’t stand up for what’s right. Listen to this: About one-third—30%—of working class voters after the last election said they couldn’t see any significant difference between the two parties. [...] Of the working class voters we surveyed, 80% of Democrats and Republicans, 80%, say both parties do far too much for Wall Street and not nearly enough to help average folks.

The reality? AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and labor will probably have little choice but to get on board the Clinton bandwagon.

In the end, there's getting on board and getting on board—an endorsement and some pro forma support vs. an all-out effort—and different unions will have different approaches to 2016. But when it comes down to it, unions face the same experience so many of us do, trying to push Democrats to the left, but then looking at Republican candidates and wanting to do anything possible to stop them, even if it means an imperfect Democrat.