DALLAS (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton won the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union on Tuesday, giving her the support of a labor powerhouse that backed President Barack Obama in 2008.
The nation’s largest health care union represents about 2 million nurses, health care workers and other caregivers and is among the most ethnically diverse unions in the country. The decision is a blow to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose supporters had pushed against an endorsement.
“Hillary Clinton has proven she will fight, deliver and win for working families,” said SEIU president Mary Kay Henry in a statement. “SEIU members and working families across America are part of a growing movement to build a better future for their families, and Hillary Clinton will support and stand with them.”
Clinton was holding a rally in Dallas later Tuesday in which she planned to discuss the health care overhaul under Obama. It represents another show of strength for Clinton, who has locked up most of the major unions despite Sanders’ message of helping workers overcome income inequality. In a statement, Clinton said she was “deeply honored” by the endorsement.
The third main Democratic candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, is shifting staff from his Baltimore headquarters to Iowa and other early states as he struggles to raise money.
SEIU endorsed Obama over Clinton in early 2008, giving the future president a boost in the lengthy Democratic primary battle. Union officials said Clinton received a strong majority in the vote of its leadership and a recent poll of its membership found about 70 percent back Clinton.
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said the campaign was “gratified that hundreds of thousands of workers are part of the growing grassroots movement supporting Bernie’s campaign to help working families.”
The union has been at the forefront in the fight to get cities to adopt a $15 an hour minimum wage.
Clinton has endorsed raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, a level below the $15 an hour that Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley have sought. But the union says its support was about building a movement for higher wages, not about a candidate or a campaign.
The union could be an asset to Clinton in the general election because it has a large presence in several battleground states, including Florida and Colorado. Half of its members are women and about 40 percent are minorities, with many speaking languages such as Spanish, Chinese and Creole.
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It’ll be interesting watching Hillary straddle the Corporate/Union fence. Has she taken a firm stand on the TPP yet? Any Union with any sense would have gotten a firm NO F’ing Way on that before they handed their support to any candidate.
Nothing definite on TPP yet. It’s a complex deal, a 2,000 page document, and was only released earlier this month.
Not a whole lot of media analysis yet, either. Although VOX has done a couple reports on the agricultural part and on the dispute resolution part.
One interesting point: although TPP garnered the initial support of many Republicans, now that support appears to be waning. Apparently the TPP is more “liberal” than some Republicans had hoped, and issues relating to pharmaceuticals and tobacco had been firmed up in response to earlier concerns and criticisms.
I don’t get why theyask their members to strike for $15, then endorse the candidate who doesn’t want their members to get $15
At the Saturday debate, Clinton said that $15 is untested and could have unintended consequences of job loss.
She said she prefers $12 as a minimum – with local areas free to require more – and indexed for inflation.
I admit I don’t know if Clinton is calling for an immediate increase to $12/hour, or phased in. During the recent discussion of $10.10/hour, those advocates called for phasing it in over three years.
but all of the donald’s service workers will vote for him because he is just the bestest, most wonderfulest boss ever. just ask him.