It was one of the most heated moments of the Democratic National Convention. Last Monday night, Sean FineThe president of the United Auto Workers union took the stage at the United Center, stripped off his blazer and revealed a red T-shirt that read “Trump is a scab.”
The crowd, packed with party loyalists wearing the same T-shirt, roared with approval and began chanting, “Trump is a scar.” Fine, an electrician who worked in an Indiana auto parts factory, is a throwback to the more stark archetype of labor leaders. He promoted the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris “Fighter for the working class” and skated Trump As “the laptop for the billionaire class”.
But while Fine evoked the militant labor bosses of an earlier era, behind that vintage style a sophisticated, tech-savvy propaganda machine was poised to seize the moment. Before long, the Harris-Waltz group’s digital foot soldiers, along with the UAW, plastered the fine video on social media, racking up millions of views, thousands of bright red T-shirts sold, and the word “scape” trending online.
Harris-Walls reflected the systematic planning and preparation of the campaign, choreographed theater to find every opportunity to amplify labor’s message and, crucially, burnish its own pro-union credentials with the labor leaders they aggressively embraced. And for good reason – maybe the union vote Decisive in 2024.
Aware that Donald Trump’s strong run with Union families in battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election, the Harris campaign understands that blue-collar voters could emerge as this campaign season’s version of suburban soccer moms. – A key demographic for success.
“There are 2.7 million union members in battleground states,” Harris-Wallace campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in an Aug. 8 memo shared with CBS News. “That means about 45,000 votes in key states that decided the election four years ago.”
Last week, Democratic convention planners spared no detail in attracting workers. A record number – 20% – of Democratic representatives are union members; All delegation members from the 50 states and territories stayed at Union Hotels; All of the physical work at the convention was sourced from union labor, from building sets to electrical work, as well as makeup for speakers and performers. And tough calls to unions were strategically placed in several celebratory roll call votes.
The Harris campaign sees its tight cooperation with labor as a force multiplier.
“We’re in a fragmented media environment, and it’s very difficult to reach undecided voters,” said one campaign official. “Unions are the ultimate check: they can cut through the noise and misinformation and publish the facts on our record against Trump.”
While a key component of the Democratic Party, union members have been divided in the Trump era — the former Republican president has proven effective at pulling those traditionally Democratic voters across the aisle. Backstage in the convention hall, it was clear the Harris campaign was trying to counter those victories by using old-school, hardball tactics.
When another prominent union boss, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, addressed the Republican convention in Milwaukee late last month, Democrats took notice. O’Brien hailed Trump as “a tough SOB” and said he “doesn’t care about being criticized” for being the first Teamsters boss to speak at a Republican convention in its 121-year history.
But two weeks later, Trump fired back With Elon Musk In a conversation about the layoff of workers at X. The Republican nominee hailed Musk as a “great cutter,” asking him to “look what you’re doing, get in, do you want to get out?” I won’t name the company, but they go on strike and you go: ‘You’re all gone!’
O’Brien quickly engaged in damage control, a Report to Politics He called Trump’s comments “economic terrorism.” But the Harris campaign and its labor allies saw an opportunity for payback. The next day, the UAW’s Fine filed a grievance Against both Trump and Musk The National Labor Relations Board accuses them of unfair labor practices. The Harris campaign was delighted and urged Fine to wave to talk about their move, according to a source close to Fan.
O’Brien was clamoring for a chance to get back into the Democrats’ good graces. He asked to speak at their conference, but the Harris campaign shut him down, a labor source said. Campaign officials did not even respond to his request. Later, in a move that appeared to undermine O’Brien, the Harris campaign invited several rank-and-file Teamsters members to participate in convention ceremonies without their leader.
A labor source, who asked not to be identified to speak freely about the episode, called it “a snub.” Others suggested it sent a softer message that supporting Trump could lead to consequences.
“They didn’t throw a ball at his head, but maybe a little inside to make him take a step back from the plate,” said Eddie Vail, a political and labor strategist who represents unions, including the AFL-CIO. He said that there is no point in addressing.
Still, at the end of the conference, officials with Harris’ campaign said they were keeping the door open to a possible rapprochement with Teamsters leadership. In what a labor source called “virtue signaling,” Harris accepted an invitation to meet with the union’s executive committee, which is expected to include O’Brien.
“Both sides want to know that each other can continue to talk,” the source said.
Harris faces a tougher challenge in securing union support than his predecessor. President Biden’s close relationship with labor unions took shape after years of cultivating his image as “Scranton Joe,” whose middle-class roots helped him understand the plight and aspirations of workers. But Harris, a very cosmopolitan personality from California’s Bay Area, had to do more work to define himself as a natural ally of the working class.
In 2020, Mr. Trump won 57% of the union vote in key swing states, compared to Trump’s 40%. Harris, by most accounts, needs to do at least as well as Biden to win this election.
Trump has also attracted large workers. In January, he participated Teamsters Rank and File Presidential Roundtable (Mr. Biden visited Teamsters headquarters a few weeks later) and praised the union, noting that many of his biggest projects were built with the labor of Teamsters. And in an old-fashioned bit of transactional politics, he vowed to give union leaders a “seat at the table” if they backed him in the election.
The Harris Group is strategic about its labor courtship. At last week’s conference, speakers seemed to take every opportunity to point out that Harris worked at a McDonald’s while in college, and the nominee accepted. Harris spoke passionately, but tactfully, about the East Bay neighborhood where he grew up, calling it “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers.”
And almost immediately became Harris Nominated Last month, his campaign sent him on a tour of battleground states, where he met with rank-and-file union members, including UAW workers in Detroit. The campaign has touted Harris’ pro-union record, pointing to his 2019 presidential first run for picketing with union strikers and, as vice president, breaking the balance in the Senate that allowed him to pass the Butch Lewis Act. Act that restored the pensions of over a million workers.
After that, Harris chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walls as his running mate. His plain-spoken Midwestern style, football coach persona and worn flannel shirts meant an appeal to lunch-pile voters. A Harris campaign official said Walls’ first solo trip to rally members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees at an international conference in Los Angeles was no coincidence. Walls, a former high school teacher, is a charter member of the American Federation of Teachers.
Ultimately, the Labor vote may follow the candidate. Harris will certainly win the labor polls, but what really matters is Trump’s ability to narrow his margins by appealing to working-class voters on issues like immigration and trade.
Robert Forant, a historian of the American labor movement, says the Harris campaign recognizes this and is making those economic concerns part of its message.
“They started talking about how inflation really matters, and you can’t pretend it’s not there.” But the Harris campaign says more must be done, as working people are increasingly forced to hold down multiple jobs, which has third-order effects, including damaging family structures. “You have to thread the needle when it comes to appealing to the union vote,” Farrant said.
