Local union strikes deal, allowing Democratic presidential debate to proceed
The Democratic National Committee avoided disaster on Tuesday when a local union that had threatened to picket Thursday’s presidential debate in Los Angeles struck a deal on a new contract, paving the way for the event to proceed as planned.
The DNC said chairman Tom Perez, a former labor secretary under President Obama, helped drive the negotiations in recent days.
Mr. Perez said Tuesday the agreement is an important reminder of what the Democratic Party stands for.
“Every single Democrat running for president believes in the importance of collective bargaining, believes in the importance of the labor movement, understands that when the labor movement succeeds the middle class succeeds and grows,” Mr. Perez said at an event in California to commemorate the deal. “That’s the values of the Democratic Party.”
The seven 2020 contenders slated to participate in the debate had indicated they would not cross the workers’ picket line after the dispute came to light last week, illustrating the influence organized labor has on the party’s nominating process.
The episode was a “win-win-win” for labor, said Ron Faucheux, a nonpartisan political analyst and publisher of the LunchtimePolitics.com newsletter.
“This was an opportunity for labor to flex its muscles to show they still have power,” Mr. Faucheux said. “While they wanted to win the contract dispute, they also wanted to test the candidates and allow the debate to go on.”
On Friday, UNITE HERE Local 11 had said food service workers at Loyola Marymount University planned to picket Thursday’s debate amid stalled contract negotiations.
The union had been negotiating with Sodexo, a food service management company that contracts with LMU, on a new contract. Local 11 says it represents 150 cooks, dishwashers, cashiers and servers who prepare and serve meals at LMU.
The union said the three-year agreement includes a 25% pay bump and a 50% decrease in health care costs, and credited Mr. Perez and the DNC for working to resolve the situation.
A spokesperson for Sodexo confirmed Tuesday a tentative deal had been reached.
“We have been a member of the LMU community since 1975 and are excited to continue working with our partners on campus to welcome the Democratic presidential debate,” the spokesperson said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts got the ball rolling when she said last week she wouldn’t cross a potential picket line at LMU, even if she missed the debate.
“When workers fight together, workers win,” Ms. Warren said at the event with Mr. Perez on Tuesday. “Let us never forget: unions built America’s middle class and unions will rebuild America’s [middle class].”
The six other candidates slated to be on the stage Wednesday quickly followed suit. In addition to Ms. Warren, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, billionaire former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang qualified for the debate.
The DNC had originally eyed the University of California, Los Angeles as the debate site but shifted gears amid a labor dispute on that campus as well.
Many of the country’s largest unions, like the AFL-CIO and the Teamsters, have not officially picked a horse among the 2020 Democratic contenders.
But Mr. Biden, who kicked off his campaign at a union hall in Pennsylvania, did score an early endorsement from the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF).
Mr. Sanders last month was endorsed by National Nurses United, the country’s largest nurses’ union that also endorsed the Vermont senator in his 2016 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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