Veteran Kentucky labor leader Kyle Henderson is skeptical of media reports that union members aim to desert Kamala Harris for Donald Trump at the polls in significant numbers.
“I think when they go into the booth, more of them will vote for her than people might think—that’s just a hunch, but I hope it comes to fruition,” said Henderson, an international representative for the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (ua.org)
Typical of the media narrative is a recent Vox story headlined: “The Democrats’ pro-union strategy has been a bust.” The story cites polls that indicate union support for the Democrats is slipping, despite President Joe Biden’s historic backing for organized labor.
Nonetheless, the AFL-CIO and nearly every U.S. union have endorsed Harris (the Teamsters, Longshoremen, and Firefighters declined to get behind Harris or Trump, though some Teamster and Firefighter locals have endorsed Harris). “Harris retains a polling lead over Trump with union voters and households, but the margin, according to multiple surveys, is smaller than those enjoyed by Joe Biden four years ago and roughly even with Hillary Clinton’s levels in 2016,” CNN reported.
Labor leaders say that by word and deed, Trump is no friend of unions. He favors “right to work.” When he was president, he tilted his Department of Labor steeply toward business, leading some union leaders to dub it “the anti-labor labor department.” He stacked the National Labor Relations Board with foes of unions.
Biden was the first sitting president to walk a strike picket line, joining striking United Auto Workers last year. Harris walked a UAW strike picket line in 2019 while she was a California senator. Trump, on the other hand, crossed an International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees strike picket line in 2004 in New York City when he hosted “The Apprentice” TV show.
Henderson urges UA members leaning toward Trump to take a hard look at https://uagetinvolved.org/harris, a UA webpage that compares the Biden-Harris and Trump records on union issues. (Other unions have similar compare-and-contrast webpages.)
Like many other unions, the UA endorsed President Joe Biden, then Vice President Harris after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her. “The Biden-Harris administration promised to be the most pro-UA administration in American history, and they delivered – putting our members to work building the future of American infrastructure,” said Mark McManus, the union’s general president, in a statement.
Given the evidence, Henderson is baffled why any working person would support Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, whom the AFL-CIO says is one of the most anti-union lawmakers on Capitol Hill. (Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, is a former public school teacher teacher, football coach, and member of the American Federation of Teachers.)
“I know there’s the social issues, and some people love the macho image and the rhetoric Trump puts out,” Henderson said. He is especially frustrated by “some of the very people who are complaining about this administration but who are working on jobs under the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed with all those protections for them. This administration has been the most pro-union administration since FDR.”
Henderson said thousands of UA members are employed nationwide on construction projects funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. “Everywhere you look, there’s a billion dollar project here and a billion dollar project there. This is the most work I’ve seen in my 26 years in the union.”
He said UA membership has hit 382,000. (The Associated Press recently reported that under Biden, worker petitions to organize unions have doubled, the “first increase since 1970s.”) “Our members have gotten record wage increases,” Henderson said.
Henderson’s union represents plumbers, pipefitters, sprinkler fitters, heating and air conditioning service technicians, welders, and pipeliners (technicians who build, repair, and maintain pipelines) in the construction industry.
UA members also enjoy some of the best health and pension benefits among building trades unions, according to Henderson, a longtime member of Paducah Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184. (The 135-year-old local has kept its original name.) Also in his hometown, Henderson was president of the West Kentucky Building and Construction Trades Council and the Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council.
A second Trump administration would threaten all gains all unions have made on Biden’s watch, he said.
The Inflation Reduction Act, vehemently opposed by the GOP, would be in jeopardy of repeal with Trump back in the White House, and if the Republicans hold the House and flip the Senate, Henderson said. House and Senate Democrats were united in support for the bill, while Republican opposition was unanimous in both chambers. Last month, Trump pledged to withhold any “unspent” monies under the act should he win, thus potentially eliminating benefits even to Republican communities, according to Politico.
“There’s nothing in this country that can’t be fixed with a good job, and that’s what we’ve got right now under the Biden-Harris administration. You hear employers saying they can’t find workers. But you can always find workers if you treat them respect, pay them well, and give them the opportunity to retire with dignity.”
All that comes with a union card, Henderson said. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris talk about union jobs. With Trump, it’s just jobs.”
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