It's not as if workers have ever gained from the AFL-CIO just endorsing the frontrunner without getting anything in exchsange?

For workers "it's enough to 'elect a Democrat'" hasn't worked for years now.

Labor doesn't need to act as if it has no right to ask for anything.

Not true. Obama recess appointed labor favoring people to the NLRB. That's just one thing. And he's vetoed anti-union legislation this year. It's a long list for just Obama. Lots of things a Republican would never have done.

It was the same with Clinton including Robert Reich as Sec of Labor.

He got the endorsement because, of the two main candidates in '08, he was the only one who was pro-worker. They didn't just back him at the beginning, like they did with Dukakis and Clinton and Gore and Kerry.

And Reich as Labor Secretary(while I admire the guy) had no influence in Clinton economic policy and wasn't able to do much of anything to help workers(he tried, but that administration hated working people-that's what backing NAFTA and cheering on the Walmartization of the U.S. economy, while refusing even to propose the mildest forms of labor law reform, means).

They endorsed him because he clinched the nomination. The fed didn't endorse Obama until he clinched the nomination. There were just as many members working for Hillary as Obama. They would never have endorsed Hillary or Obama until one clinched. They even said as much. To do so puts the other camps union supporters in the position of working against the union endorsement, something that can get charges filed on a union member which can lead up to and including expulsion from the union.

In 1984 there were a lot of us working for Gary Hart that were extremely unhappy when Mondale was endorsed. That was when the fed said they would not endorse again before someone clinches the nomination.

And I would surely remember a short 4 years later if labor endorsed Dukakis before he clinched. Or 8 years later with Clinton. I was at the time the Sec-Treasurer for the local AFL-CIO. And I was a Clinton delegate to the DNC. My recollection is they did not endorse until Clinton clinched. And I also remember the informational flyers going around some unions at the time detailing anti-worker things that happened when Clinton was guv of AR. I remember the mood at the time as being reluctant to have him as the nominee in some unions and locals.

As for Reich, there are many situations that the DOL interacts with a union and its members. Everything from overtime pay, to prevailing wage complaints and lots of other things including DOL audits. With Reich as Sec of Labor, we couldn't have had a more favorable DOL in our dealings with them. I don't even want to think about what our DOL dealings would have been like under Bush I.

This isn't just from the outside looking in. This is from inside labor and seeing it happen.

The nomination is clinched or if there's an incumbent prez.

We should come out strong and fight like hell for the only candidate who has always been unflinchingly and unapologetically on the side of labor: Bernie Sanders.

They need to back the candidate who works for them. Teachers got screwed in this last administration, workers are getting screwn with TPP, so the lesson should be learned by now. Workers need to unite or be totally marginalized.

the nomination was all sewn-up. I haven't seen or heard anything to lead me to believe that the process would be any different this time.

AFL-CIO is not itself a Union but an affiliation of associated Unions. The various affiliated Unions are free to endorse or not endorse, and the collective decision of the affiliates becomes the endorsement or non endorsement of the AFL-CIO. In years where there are more than one popular Democratic candidate, such as 2008, an endorsement takes longer to simmer. It comes from the bottom up, it's Union not the Church.

Here is a breakdown of the process for this cycle:

http://www.aflcio.org/About/Exec-Council/EC-Statements/Endorsement-Process-and-Timeline

We were in the AFL-CIO at one point, but left a couple of years ago.

I know the AFL-CIO isn't a union itself, but it is seen as the main voice of the labor movement.

It's just struck me that, for the last few years, it automatically endorsed the frontrunner even before the nom was deciided.

If that's not true, I stand corrected.

Thanks for the link.