(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump picked up the endorsement of a major New York City labor union this week, while President Joe Biden won the backing of one the largest union coalitions in the country.
“Illegal immigration … gas prices, grocery prices, inflation … the push for EV vehicles, solar power. I mean, you name it,” said Bobby Bartels, Steamfitters Local 638 business manager, about why many of his members are backing Trump.
“They are pretty much disgusted” with the status quo, he told NewsNation’s “On Balance” on Friday. “My members are sending me a pretty clear message … that they want change.”
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Bartles says his union’s endorsement isn’t quite a renewal of the “hippies vs. hardhats” conflict of the late 1960s and ‘70s.
“When the hippies in the 70s protested, they were protesting against a war that they didn’t believe in,” he said. “These protesters are protesting against America. (They’re) looking for the death of a certain heritage.”
Steamfitters Local 638 has about 10,000 active and retired members throughout New York City and Long Island.
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While Trump met with union officials in New York on Wednesday, Biden was receiving a loud, warm reception in Washington at a conference of the North America’s Building Trades Unions.
“Donald Trump is incapable of running anything,” NABTU President Sean McGarvey said in a video played at the conference. The union also announced its endorsement of Biden.
One of the biggest unions in the country, the Teamsters, abstained from the NABTU endorsement vote. Both Biden and Trump are seeking the Teamsters’ endorsement.
Nearly all the major labor unions have endorsed Biden. The board of the AFL-CIO was one of the first, doing so in June of last year. The organization represents 60 unions and has more than 12 million members.
