USA postal workers union backs Sanders’ presidential bid

Sen. Bernie Sanders garnered his biggest union endorsement in the presidential race on Thursday. Sanders has the support of National Nurses United, the activist union that has been in the forefront of the fight for single-payer health care, along with endorsements from union locals in key states-such as global Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Union 490 and Service Employees worldwide Union (SEIU) Local 560 in New Hampshire. He continued, “Applying that criteria, Sen”. Dimondstein called Sanders “a true champion” of workers. While major Democratic players and politicians have embraced the former secretary of state, politically influential unions, including AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, Service Employees worldwide Union, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, have delayed any endorsement.

Calling the Democratic candidate “a fierce advocate of postal reform to address the cause of the USPS financial crisis”, Dimondstein said “Bernie Sanders doesn’t just talk the talk: he walks the walk”. In 2011, then-Senator Sanders introduced the Postal Service Protection Act, a bill aimed at modernizing the postal system in order to avert impending post office closures, and save tens of thousands of jobs. After the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Clinton, their members – sporting blue shirts emblazoned in their logo and the Clinton logo – were seen across the country. The complaint, filed Thursday, claims Sanders is ineligible because he has never been elected as a Democrat.

The independent Senator has recently gained significant support among Democrats, mounting a serious challenge to the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“Given his life-long commitment and continued commitment to the organized labor moment, we would like to have as many organized labor endorsements as we could get”, Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager said on Wednesday, before the postal endorsement was announced.

Joyal added that union brass might be tempted to swing their votes toward Clinton, but that dues-paying members in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire will not necessarily follow. All told, Clinton has picked up twelve national labor union endorsements to date.

A Sanders campaign manager told necn the senator refused to answer questions from reporters because he was trying to keep the day focused on veterans instead of politics. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) led a letter today with 33 of his colleagues calling on the company that employs Senate cafeteria and catering workers to respect their right to organize.