AFL-CIO Endorses Kerry, Hits Bush on Labor Policy

The AFL-CIO, America’s largest coalition of labor unions, overcame concerns about John F. Kerry’s voting record on trade agreements and endorsed the Massachusetts senator Thursday in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The backing had been expected for several days, but it was well-timed for Kerry following Sen John Edwards’ second-place finish behind him in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary.

The slate of Super Tuesday contests on March 2 includes key primaries in New York and Ohio -- big states in which organized labor is a force and manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Gaining the support of the labor federation -- 64 unions with 13 million members -- gives Kerry a boost in image and logistics.

Describing Kerry as “a friend of working families” and railing against what he called the Bush administration’s “shameful negligence” toward American workers, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the group’s board voted to back Kerry because “the time has come to unite behind one man, one leader, one candidate.”

Although the AFL-CIO withheld making an endorsement last year when the Democratic race featured more candidates, many of its member unions backed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean or Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt. Both exited the race without winning a primary or caucus.

At an outdoor rally blocks from the White House, Sweeney sought to assuage concerns among some labor leaders about Kerry’s 1993 Senate vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement. He declared that Kerry “is a man who will not sign his name to a single trade agreement that does not include worker protections and environmental protections.”

Edwards increasingly has criticized Kerry over the NAFTA vote, arguing that the treaty with Mexico and Canada has cost the United States jobs.

Kerry has noted that the North Carolina senator was not in office when the agreement came up for a vote, making it easier for him to criticize those who were. He also has argued that the Bush administration has not enforced the treaty’s worker and environmental protection provisions.

“Unlike George Bush, John Kerry will fight to ensure that these protections aren’t just there for show, but are enforced so that we have trade that is fair to workers here at home and fair to workers around the world,” Sweeney said.

Kerry on Thursday also was endorsed by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a long-time leader in the civil rights movement. Georgia is among the 10 states voting on March 2, and Lewis’ backing should help Kerry among African American voters.

At Thursday’s rally, union members chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, George Bush has got to go!” on stage beneath a large American flag and a banner that read “America Needs Good Jobs.”

Union leaders pledged a sustained campaign to defeat Bush in November, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan questioned the effect that would have on rank-and-file members.

“I think that working Americans support the president for the policies that he has advocated and worked to implement,” he said.

Kerry, in his remarks, noted that the administration has retreated from its prediction that the economy would grow by 2.6 million jobs in 2004.

“Just last week, the White House promised to create 2.6 million jobs this year,” he said. “But just yesterday, George Bush said he couldn’t be held responsible for knowing the number of new jobs because he’s not in charge of numbers.... We’re not asking George Bush to count the jobs. We’re asking George Bush to create the jobs and to fight for working people.”

Michael Feldman, who is neutral in this year’s race and served as Al Gore’s chief of staff in the 2000 campaign, said the AFL-CIO backing was another sign that Kerry is consolidating support among the party’s key elements. “It’s clear Sen. Kerry is methodically going through and dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on the nomination.”