Hoping to undermine Hillary Clinton’s union support, underdog Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined hundreds of striking government workers across the street from the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, braving a steady drizzle under gray skies to push for a $15 minimum wage.
“Workers who work for the United States government deserve the right to raise their children in security,” the Vermont senator told the crowd gathered at Upper Senate Park. “They deserve the right to earn enough to live in a decent apartment or a decent house. They deserve the right to bargain collectively.”
“There are a number of senators that are served by people right here,” Sanders continued. “And they should know that if you are serving them, they have got to start serving you.”
Down in the polls and struggling against Clinton’s increasing dominance, Sanders is showcasing his support for a $15 wage for federal contract workers. It’s part of his larger push to earn crucial union endorsements going into next year’s primaries. Clinton has already picked up several such endorsements, including that of the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Sanders has received just one major union endorsement so far, from National Nurses United, in August.
#share#Clinton tweeted her support for nationwide “Fight for 15” protests organized by the Service Employees International Union for Tuesday morning, but she refuses to endorse a $15 wage nationwide. She advocates instead a $12 federal minimum wage. Workers and union officials out in front of the Capitol on Tuesday said that the disparity has them leaning toward Sanders for president.
Sanders ”is a champion — not only for the federal contract workers, but all the workers,” says Ricardo Gallardo, an organizer with Good Jobs Nation, the group coordinating the strike. “We have supported him because we know that if he wins, we are going to get what we want.”
The membership of many unions is more or less evenly split between Hillary supporters and Sanders fans.
Gallardo is skeptical about Clinton’s candidacy, saying she hasn’t shown enough support for a $15 wage and that he sometimes doubts whether she really supports the working class. “She is okay,” he says. “But we don’t need an okay candidate. We need a really strong leader.”
Warner Massey, a maintenance employee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and one of the speakers at Tuesday’s rally, maintains that Hillary Clinton “has a lot of work to do” convincing workers like him. “Right now, I’m sticking with Senator Sanders,” he states.
#related#Bob Callahan, the Washington, D.C., chief of staff at labor-union coalition Change to Win, notes that union support is one of the most contested battlegrounds in the Democratic presidential primary. “People like Bernie, and then there are a lot of people who like Hillary,” he says, explaining that the membership of many unions is more or less evenly split between Hillary supporters and Sanders fans. The coming Democratic debates, he suggests, will present a clearer picture for union members before internal polling determines which candidate they will endorse closer to next year’s primaries.
The crowd of striking Capitol Hill workers seemed to enthusiastically welcome Sanders’s $15 wage and unionization message. But most attendees were sullen and withdrawn for the rest of the rally, and many refused to talk with reporters or even one another. Any signs of life came after the speeches concluded, when workers were invited to enjoy free pizza and burritos brought by several participating unions.
— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review Online.