Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Thursday received his biggest labor endorsement yet — from the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America.
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Thursday received his biggest labor endorsement yet — from the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America (CWA).
The Vermont senator, a self-described Democratic socialist who has been lagging Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in union endorsements despite his populist campaign platform, said he “would have won a lot more national union support” if other national unions followed the same process as the CWA.
“What we are seeing is a lot of grass-roots support in union after union in this country, but that support has not necessarily trickled up to the leadership,” he said.
At an event where Sanders appeared with members of the union’s executive board, CWA President Chris Shelton said the decision to back Sanders was a reflection of strong support for him by the rank and file, expressed in a survey of the members.
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Several thousand members voted “decisively” over the past three months to endorse the Vermont senator, Shelton said. The executive board followed that lead with a unanimous Thursday morning vote, Shelton said, because of Sanders’ stances on the financial sector, debt-free college, health care and “retirement security,” among other issues.
Shelton declined to comment on other unions’ endorsements of Clinton, which include those of AFSCME, the Laborers, and the Government Employees’ Union. Her support from labor groups represents the majority of the unionized workers in the United States.