Alabama: Labor Unions Align Behind Democrat Primary Candidates
According to Tuscaloosa News.com:
BIRMINGHAM | With Alabama’s presidential primaries less than two months away, labor union members in the state are following the leads of their national organizations in their Democratic presidential endorsements.
Some, like Kirk Patrick, a member of the machinists union that endorsed Hillary Clinton, said they may personally prefer another candidate, but will fall in line in the interest of ensuring that a Democrat is elected to the nation’s highest office.
He believes Democrats are more sympathetic to workers’ needs than Republicans.
“My favorite candidate, even though I’m a machinist, is John Edwards,” said Patrick, a member of Machinists Local 2452 in McIntosh and president of the Central Alabama Labor Federation.
He said Edwards has long been a union supporter, sponsoring legislation while he was a U.S. senator, and showing up at union rallies and strikes to draw media attention to union causes.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, however, has endorsed Clinton in the Iowa caucuses.
The United Mine Workers of America has endorsed Edwards in Iowa.
“We believe in dancing with the one who brought us,” said Daryl Dewberry, chief administrator of UMWA District 20, which includes Alabama, Georgia and part of Florida, and a member of the UMWA executive board...click to continue.
