- Interest Groups « Endorsements « Facebook post from United Electrical Workers (UE)
United Electrical Workers (UE)
April 24, 2016
UE ENDORSES BERNIE SANDERS
UE has voted to endorse Bernie Sanders for President. The endorsement was approved, without opposition, by rank-and-file local delegates at meetings of the union’s three regions (Western, Northeast, and Eastern) over the past six weeks. Delegates to the Eastern Region voted to endorse at their regional meeting yesterday in Monroeville, PA.Peter Knowlton, UE general president, said UE has had a long and rewarding relationship with Sanders, especially through the locals, membership, and retirees in Vermont. “As more of our members around the country have seen and heard Bernie over the past few months, they’ve seen that his policies and priorities match our own. So, there has been a groundswell of support for Bernie with members volunteering for the campaign.”
Knowlton added, “Bernie Sanders is the most pro-worker pro-union presidential candidate I have seen in my lifetime. Electing Bernie Sanders is a unique opportunity that workers and unions must not pass up. We are proud to endorse Bernie Sanders and support his campaign.”
Bernie 2016
April 24, 2016
Contact: Michael Briggs
United Electrical Workers Endorse Sanders
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday welcomed an
endorsement by the 35,000-member United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America.
Peter Knowlton, the union’s national president, called Sanders “the
most pro-worker pro-union presidential candidate I have seen in my
lifetime” and said electing Sanders “is a unique opportunity that
workers and unions must not pass up.
“We are proud to endorse Bernie Sanders and support his campaign,” he
added.
The endorsement was approved unanimously by rank-and-file local
delegates from the union’s three regions over the past six weeks.
Knowlton said the labor organization and Sanders have longstanding ties
in Vermont. “As more of our members around the country have seen
and
heard Bernie over the past few months,” he added, “they’ve seen that
his policies and priorities match our own. So, there has been a
groundswell of support for Bernie with members volunteering for the
campaign.
Sanders welcomed the news while he was campaigning in Rhode Island
ahead of Tuesday’s presidential primary elections here and in
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland.
“I thank the 35,000 members of the United Electrical Workers for their
endorsement," Sanders said. “During my 25 years in Congress, I have
been proud to stand side by side with the UE fighting to increase the
minimum wage to a living wage; to guarantee health care to every man,
woman and child as a right; to make it easier for workers to join
unions; to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure; to transform our
nation’s energy system; and against disastrous trade agreements like
the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalized trade with China
which have destroyed millions of decent-paying jobs in America.”
Altogether, more than 100 national and local unions, representing over
1.5 million workers, have endorsed Sanders. They include the
Communications Workers of America, the American Postal Workers Union,
the Amalgamated Transit Union, National Nurses United, the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the United Electrical
Workers.