The postal workers union delivers an endorsement to Bernie Sanders

The executive committee of the 2 million-member Service Employees Union global is holding a much-watched meeting November 17 at which another early candidate endorsement is possible.

The postal workers’ support follows the August announcement from National Nurses United, another AFL-CIO member, that it was backing the democratic socialist for president.

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The postal workers’ union said Sanders has a long history of supporting its workers and pointed to his efforts to keep open post offices and mail-sorting plants in rural communities, oppose slower delivery standards and fight attempts to privatize the mail service.

“The Postal Service is under constant and vicious attack … the Postal Service is not going broke”, he said, according to a union transcript of the event.

Sanders departed New Hampshire for Burlington, where an aide said he planned to begin preparing for this weekend’s Democratic presidential debate. “We request therefore that the Compass Group commit to reaching an agreement with the union seeking to organize these workers”, Sanders and 33 Democrats – including Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)- wrote Friday in a letter to Compass Group CEO Richard Cousins. “Bernie Sanders stands above all others as a true champion of postal workers and other workers throughout the country”.

The postal union brings with it more than 200,000 members at a time when Sanders and Clinton are scuffling behind the scenes to win over organized labor. “No other candidate has his record of standing with workers on picket lines, fighting for a $15 per hour minimum wage, for free public college tuition, and advocating for veterans’s benefits”, he said.

Dimondstein praised Sanders’ commitments to Social Security, advocacy for Medicare expansion, and opposition to Trade Promotion Authority granted by Congress, and his rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact negotiated by the administration with 11 other nations.

Sanders’ campaign welcomed the endorsement on Thursday.

Clinton, who has a wide lead over Sanders in national polls, also remains ahead in the labor fight with endorsements from large unions such as AFSCME, the public employees union, the American Federation of Teachers and others.

A third Democrat, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, also is in the race.

After months of publicly demanding union recognition, the people who serve US senators their crab cakes and curry spiced salmon have won the support of a few of their most powerful customers.

Sanders urgency to raise the minimum wage comes just one day after Clinton reinforced her position to support a $12 minimum wage last week.