By Greg Staskiewicz
Omaha labor unions endorse both Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.
Whom they endorse depends on their aims. Unions are not strictly partisan, said John Kretzschmar, director of the William Brennan Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
“They will continue to evaluate people on a case-by-case basis,” Kretzschmar said. “So, within organized labor at a federal level, there are unions endorsing people who are R’s (Republicans), and there are unions endorsing people who are D’s (Democrats). Organized labor is not marching in lockstep.”
As a young man in Detroit, Kretzschmar was a member of the Laborer’s Union, which represented construction workers, he said. Years later, he was a member of United Automobile Workers while employed at a Chrysler plant.
Though the common perception that unions usually vote for Democrats has some basis in truth, he said. Unions can vote both ways. This perception exists because Democrats tend to support legislation most unions want, though Republicans’ opposition to unions has “turned around.”
In general, unions want to reduce income inequality and level the playing field in order to give everyone a shot at the American Dream, Kretzschmar said.
“What does labor want?” Kretzschmar asked. He quoted the first president of the American Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers:
“What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright.”
“If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” Kretzschmar said. “This is a society still trying to achieve what we say in the last words of our pledge: to create a nation with liberty and justice for all.”
Politicians are important to unions – if they did not get involved, legislation would be passed that would hurt workers, he said.
Kretzschmar said the formula unions use when deciding whether to endorse candidates is to “reward your friends and punish your enemies,” as AFL President Samuel Gompers said.
In Nebraska, most unions support Democrat Kara Eastman for the 2nd Congressional District, Kretzschmar said. Eastman is endorsed by the Nebraska AFL-CIO, the state-level chapter of the largest federation of unions in the U.S.
However, Omaha police and firefighters’ unions endorse Republican incumbent Don Bacon for the 2nd District, largely due to legislation he promised to pass that would help first responders.
Anthony Conner, Omaha police officer and president of the Omaha Police Officers Association, said Bacon promised to pass the Kerrie Orozco Act in honor of Detective Kerrie Orozco, who was killed on duty in 2015.
The act would give priority for receiving citizenship to immigrant spouses of first responders killed in the line of duty, Conner said. As of now, it has passed the House of Representatives.
Police usually endorse candidates who support “tough on crime” legislation, Conner said.
“Sometimes we have legislators who will support very light sentences for very violent crimes,” Conner said. “As a police officer, you are risking your life. You’re trying to protect the public.
“The additional part of protecting the public, it has to be some legislation to support our efforts,” he said. “So if I arrest a violent offender, I need the legislature. I need the law to support putting that person behind bars.”
