AFGE member: Why Did My Union Give an Early Endorsement to Hillary Clinton Over Bernie Sanders?

from In These Times:


Why Did My Union Give an Early Endorsement to Hillary Clinton Over Bernie Sanders?
BY JOHN E. MCELHENNY II


The leadership of my union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), officially endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president on December 10. The endorsement came after union leadership had informed its members on November 17 that they would not make a presidential endorsement for at least two more months and without holding a membership vote.

Fifty-five rank-and-file union members from over 50 different AFGE locals signed on to a letter sent to AFGE leaders on November 16 that urged the union “to oppose an early primary endorsement for Hillary Clinton” and expressed support for Senator Bernie Sanders.

In response to the petition and the demand that the union refrain from issuing an early endorsement, National Vice President Gerald Swanke, from District 11, responded via email: "We're not. I don't expect an endorsement until at least the legislative conference."

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AFGE leadership appeared to pursue two paths to determine its endorsement. First, they sent out a questionnaire to all presidential candidates. Second, they conducted a poll of 800 members, which they refer to as the "gold standard" (it's not clear if this is 800 out of its 300,000 members or out of the 670,000 federal workers AFGE represents). Based on these results, AFGE’s National Executive Committee (NEC) then voted to endorse Hillary Clinton for president.

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Breaking down the polling numbers, out of over 300,000 dues-paying members, assuming these are who were polled, AFGE contacted 800 members. Out of these 800 members, 424 said conclusively that they would vote for a Democrat. Of those 424, 178 said they would vote for Clinton while 106 said they would vote for Sanders—not at all the “2 to 1 margin” AFGE claimed in their initial release. The AFGE leadership apparently believes that a poll of 800 people with only 22% supporting Hillary Clinton is enough to make an endorsement for their entire union. ................(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18766/afge-union-endorsement-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-labor