With Pennsylvania’s primary election a month away, labor unions are making their preferences known.
The office of U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, announced Thursday the congresswoman had received the endorsement of a number of labor organizations, including the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO State Council, the Teamsters Joint Council No. 40 and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
Also on the list are SEIU 32BJ, the nation’s largest union of property service workers, as well as two teachers unions — American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers — and UNITE HERE Local 57, which represents hotel, casino, food service and stadium workers. Other Lee endorsements came from the United Food and Commercial Workers, National Postal Mail Handlers, Pittsburgh Fire Fighters IAFF Local 1, and the Union of Electrical Workers.
President Joe Biden, who has already clinched the Democratic nomination, won the endorsement of the United Steelworkers, the union announced on Wednesday. The USW said the endorsement came after the union surveyed its members about their top priorities.
“Our members told us that they value retirement security, affordable health care and labor laws that support our ability to form unions and negotiate strong contracts,” said USW International President David McCall. “President Biden’s record on all these issues speaks for itself. He also laid out a strong plan for building on this momentum well into the future.”
The union also sent each of the prospective presidential candidates in the Democratic and Republican parties questionnaires about their positions on a number of key issues that impact working people.
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the USW represents approximately 850,000 workers in a variety of industries, from metals, mining, rubber and energy production, as well as those in occupations such as health care, higher education, tech and service, and public sector workers.
In a statement announcing her endorsements, Lee said, “I am so deeply honored to have earned the endorsement of these unions and the support of the workers who make our communities run.”
She noted that she has “stood shoulder to shoulder with striking workers, labor unions, and workers who are trying to organize against union-busting CEOs, corporate wage thieves, and the wing politicians they bankroll. At a moment when workers’ rights and the working class are under attack, you deserve a Congresswoman who’s with you one hundred percent.”
Chris Geronimos, business manager and secretary treasurer of IUPAT District Council 57, said in the statement, “During Congresswoman Lee’s first term in the House, she has helped secure over $1 billion in funding for PA-12, including money for much-needed infrastructure projects on which many of our members will work. She listens to our members’ needs and is at her core a pro-worker, pro-union legislator and we are proudly endorsing her for another term.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey’s office announced a week earlier that Democrat Casey’s bid for another term had received the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 13’s Statewide Steering Committee.
Council 13 represents more than 65,000 public employees in Pennsylvania.
The PUP is the publication of the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
