The Trump-Vance and Harris-Walz presidential campaigns are both courting blue-collar workers, but each one is approaching pro-labor groups very differently.
Trump has targeted the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union of drivers that boasts 1.4 million members. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention, but the organization hasn’t formally endorsed a candidate yet.
Harris has sought (and won) the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a similarly sized organization.
The UAW and AFSCME have also endorsed the Harris-Walz campaign. And UAW President Shawn Fain spoke on the first night of the Democratic National Convention.
Though the larger Teamsters group has so far withheld its endorsement, Politico reported that the National Black Caucus of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has backed the Harris campaign. Unite Here, the hospitality workers’ union, has also endorsed Harris.
While union membership has been on the decline in the last few decades, there are still an estimated 14 million Americans who belong to a union — a significant number in an ever-tightening presidential race.
“I think unions play an outsized role relative to their overall numbers,” said Christian Grose, a professor of political science and public policy at the University of Southern California. “Union influence is really strong due to their ability to turn out voters.”
Here’s how the candidates stack up on labor issues.
The Trump-Vance approach
Trump, in his 2016 presidential bid, swayed many blue-collar workers away from Hillary Clinton by leaning into his populist message, especially blaming trade agreements like NAFTA for the loss of blue-collar jobs and leaning into protectionism.
During this year’s reelection campaign, Trump has tried to build on his previous momentum by courting pro-labor groups. In his platform, Trump proposes “large tax cuts for workers and no tax on tips” if he is elected again. In recent months, he has made several campaign stops attempting to woo the Teamsters and other groups with pro-union sentiment.
For months, Trump had been eating into President Joe Biden’s blue-collar base in key swing states, and having O’Brien speak at the RNC underscored Republicans’ support from this key bloc of voters.
But despite his efforts, now that Harris has joined the race, Trump’s lead in support from unions has been cut back as she has earned the endorsement from several massive pro-labor groups.
On August 13, the former president was accused by the United Autoworkers union of violating labor law for mocking striking workers during his rambling conversation with Elon Musk the night before. The complaint, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, suggests Trump’s comments amount to intimidating workers.
“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump said to Musk.
“I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike,” he continued. “And you say, ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. So every one of you is gone.’ You are the greatest.”
It’s unclear what company Trump was referring to. Reuters reported last year that an NLRB complaint against Tesla, alleging the company illegally fired workers for striking, had been dismissed.
The United Auto Workers union described Trump’s remarks to Musk — and Musk’s subsequent laugh and agreement — as “illegal attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.”
“When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.
The head of the Teamsters also critiqued Trump’s comments, with O’Brien telling Politico that “Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism.”
Though he has positioned himself as pro-union, Trump is no stranger to complaints about his labor policy and approach to worker rights. In 2020, the Economic Policy Institute released a report listing 50 ways the first Trump administration eroded worker rights and expanded corporate power.
Trump’s veep pick, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has spoken positively of police unions but denounced collective bargaining for Starbucks employees and opposed pro-labor measures during his brief tenure in Congress.
Despite his espousal of populist ideals on the campaign trail, Vance has a history of opposing pro-labor measures. He briefly appeared on the picket line during last year’s autoworkers strike but has opposed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would expand protections for unionizing workers.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attacked Vance this month for his voting record on workers’ rights, but the freshman Ohio senator has supported at least two pro-worker bills since joining Congress, according to The Washington Post.
Vance also cosponsored the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act, a bill that would undermine unions by allowing voluntary “employee involvement organizations,” creating groups that wouldn’t be covered by collective-bargaining agreements and could be dissolved by an employer at will.
Still, two political science experts told Business Insider that Trump’s comments targeting unionizing employees were politically unwise, given the state of the race.
“Considering how much this race has tightened up, Trump can’t afford to lose any group of voters, and in particular, not any union people,” said Trish Crouse, a practitioner of political science and public administration in residence at the University of New Haven.
While the Trump campaign dealt with the fallout from the NLRB charges — with CNN reporting a campaign spokesperson calling the claim from the United Auto Workers union “frivolous” and a “shameless political stunt” — the Harris-Walz campaign was busy taking a different approach.
The Harris-Walz approach
When Harris stepped up to succeed Biden after he ended his reelection bid, she stepped into the shoes of a man who aimed to be the most pro-labor president in history.
Biden encouraged Amazon workers to unionize, issued executive orders to improve working conditions for federal project employees, established new rules for pay equity for federal workers, and, in 2023, became the first US president to walk a picket line.
As vice president, Harris repeatedly addressed unions and promoted pro-labor policies, including the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which invested in millions of union jobs with labor and wage protections.
Walz — a former school teacher and union member — has bolstered the campaign’s pro-labor profile, and the Minnesota Gov. has been leaning into his union background on the campaign trail.
“I would call it night and day,” Larry Cohen, the former president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, told BI about the differences between the Harris and Trumps campaigns on labor issues. “Trump and particularly Vance pretend to support a type of populism, but when it comes to workers who organize, as Trump said on his Twitter feed with Musk last Monday, when workers strike, you fire them.”
The Harris-Walz campaign seems eager to keep up the reputation of supporting workers. Though the campaign has not yet rolled out its labor platform, Harris and Walz have made union support a key talking point in stump speeches.
At Monday’s kickoff of the Democratic National Convention, support for unions was central to multiple speeches.
The DNC crowd enthusiastically chanted “Union yes” as the labor leaders took the stage, highlighting the party’s enthusiasm for supporting workers’ rights.
Earlier this month, Walz spoke at the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) International Convention in downtown Los Angeles.
Addressing the union, which represents 1.4 million members, the Associate Press reported Walz said, “When unions are strong, America is strong.”
Both Harris and Walz appeared on August 8 before a group of United Auto Workers in Detroit, with the Associated Press reporting vice president Harris declared it was “good to be in the house of labor.”
At the event, she espoused the value of unions, saying they were “about understanding that no one should be made to fight alone.”
Union voters have historically voted for Democrats, though some blue-collar workers have been more open to supporting Republicans in recent years, Grose said.
While Trump’s comments about striking workers might not win the Harris-Walz ticket a wave of new voters, it could energize an already-existing base, he added.
“You have Trump laughing with Musk — that’s going to light a fire under rank-and-file union members to go mobilize,” Grose said.
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