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| CHOOSING FAVORITES | |
 October 12, 1999 
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On the eve of the AFL-CIO endorsement of a presidential candidate, Jeffrey Kaye of KCET, Los Angeles explores labor's role in presidential politics.
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JIM LEHRER: Organized labor and presidential politics. Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles, begins.
JEFFREY KAYE: U.S. labor leaders meeting at the national AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles are likely to endorse a presidential candidate tomorrow. JOHN SWEENEY, AFL-CIO President: We will endorse a candidate who shares our outrage, who shares our vision and our values, and who will, above all, champion the concerns of working families. JEFFREY KAYE: AFL-CIO President John Sweeney did not mention a specific candidate in his keynote speech to representatives of 68 unions representing 13 million workers. But in interviews and behind the scenes, Sweeney is pushing for the labor federation to endorse Vice President Al Gore. |
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| Endorsing a candidate | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: Both contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Vice President Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley, have close ties to labor. Bradley urged the AFL-CIO to delay its endorsement; Gore pushed hard for labor leaders to endorse him now. Union officials supporting the Vice President say he has been more visible on labor issues than Bradley. Douglas Dority is president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which over the weekend endorsed Gore. DOUGLAS DORITY: Al Gore has gone around this country as the Vice President
and spoke out for workers' JEFFREY KAYE: So Gore is electable? DOUGLAS DORITY: Yeah, he's absolutely electable. JEFFREY KAYE: More electable than Bradley? DOUGLAS DORITY: I think -- yes. Yes, I believe that. JEFFREY KAYE: On Saturday, at a pre-convention TIPPER GORE: My husband has been proud to stand with you and provide the leadership that has created a new era of hope and prosperity in America. |
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| A possible labor divide? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: But not all labor leaders here support an early endorsement of Al Gore. Leaders of the Service Employees and Machinists unions say they want to hear from their members first. And Teamsters President James Hoffa believes it's too early in the presidential race to commit organized labor to a candidate. The Teamsters' spokesman is Chip Roth.
JEFFREY KAYE: Free trade has been a major concern of labor leaders opposed to an early presidential endorsement. VIDEO NARRATOR: All it's done is drag the workers down. Look at where they live. JEFFREY KAYE: Yesterday convention delegates viewed a videotape of industrial union leaders touring the Mexican border town of Tijuana last week. Labor expert Harley Shaiken of the University of California at Berkeley spoke to them outside one factory, or Maquiladora, owned by Sanyo.
JEFFREY KAYE: The trip to factories and to the slums where the workers live underscored a harsh reality: The loss of industrial union jobs in the United States. Edward Fire heads the Electronics Workers Union. |
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| Labor and past trade agreements | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JEFFREY KAYE: Both Gore and Bradley have similar positions on trade. Both supported the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, which organized labor opposed.
JEFFREY KAYE: Some labor leaders say delaying an endorsement will enable unions to influence candidates on issues as the race shapes up. But Jay Mazur, president of UNITE, the garment workers union, says an early presidential endorsement should make a candidate even more willing to support labor's issues.
JEFFREY KAYE: Sweeney says delaying an endorsement would put labor at a disadvantage. JOHN SWEENEY: We're left out of the process. And a Republican will be elected, a conservative Republican who is not finding any solutions will be elected to the White House. JEFFREY KAYE: The union label on political candidacies means big bucks, although labor's contributions are dwarfed by business interests. During the 1996 election cycle, labor unions spent $120 million on federal political activity, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Unions also mobilize campaign workers to build support and get out the vote. Vice President Gore is expected to speak to the convention tomorrow afternoon, following his likely endorsement. |
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CROWD:
Working people! Fighting back! 
JOHN
SWEENEY: We believe the Vice President has a strong voting record. He
knows the concerns of workers, he identifies strongly with the issues
of advocating an increase in the minimum wage, protecting Social Security,
addressing the health care needs of workers and their families. 
rights
to organize, and that's a key ingredient. 
event,
Gore's wife, Tipper, campaigned on his behalf. 
CHIP
ROTH: We feel that it is unwise to endorse at this early stage. We feel
like our members' best interests are served by allowing the primary
process to unfold to the extent that we can adequately assess the candidates'
positions on issues that are important to working families-- issues
like trade, employment, job safety, for instance. 
HARLEY
SHAIKEN: And the average wages in the Maquiladoras right now probably
hover around 80 to 85 cents an hour. So you've got this very unusual
situation. You've got first world productivity; you've got third world
wages. 
EDWARD
FIRE: The essential fact is, we have lost a degree of political power
in the United States of America; the labor movement has. I don't think
there's any question about that. And this is one of the direct results.
If we had the political ability to elect people to office at the highest
levels, including the President of the United States, in the first instance,
I don't think that the number of jobs that have come down here would
have, in fact, come down. 
HARLEY
SHAIKEN: I think the teamsters, the UAW, the Machinists, that appear
to be reluctant to make an early endorsement-- which is not the same
as saying they're opposed to an endorsement-- have all been impacted
rather directly and immediately by issues related to NAFTA and other
trade agreements. So my sense is that their position on trade is probably
one of the things that influences the reluctance to give the early endorsement.
JAY
MAZUR: One doesn't say once you've got the endorsement, it's all over.
The endorsement is just the beginning of the process. I think there's
plenty of room between now and the year 2000 when the election takes
place to continue to try to persuade those candidates, whether it's
the President of the United States or other candidates, to see our position
very clearly.