Unions see template for Dems in Mamdani's economic message

Politico

15 hours ago

QUICK FIX
PROOF OF CONCEPT: Unions see a path forward for Democrats to tap back into working-class voters in Zohran Mamdani's economic messaging that helped catapult him to the Democratic mayoral nomination in New York City.
They see his disciplined drumbeat on issues like housing affordability, cost of everyday goods and speaking in a way that is easily relatable as the type of package that can be replicated — particularly as an alternative to the version of economic populism represented by President Donald Trump.
'Affordability is everything,' said Transport Workers Union leader John Samuelsen, who has praised Mamdani's transit plans. 'If the establishment Democrats embraced economic security like Zohran did, they wouldn't be seeing the losses they have.'
Labor leaders have long called on the Democratic Party to do more to speak to voters' economic precarity in a way that resonates with people who feel cast aside by the political system.
'There are a lot of working-class voters who could tip one way or the other,' said Steve Rosenthal, a longtime labor strategist and former political director at the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union federation. 'They understand the deck is stacked against them, and they can buy into the Trump arguments — but Democratic candidates can also tap into that.'
Since the election, unions have been trying to find their footing after four years of unabashed support from the Biden administration and public approval rating not seen in decades that nevertheless failed to reverse the long-standing decline in union membership rates.
'He is advocating for many of the same things we do — the rights of working people be respected,' said Stuart Appelbaum, the head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, of Mamdani.
Ironically, Mamdani succeeded largely without support from the city's most politically influential labor unions, though that began to change in the days after primary night. Many opted to endorse former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, while others decided to stay out of the race rather than risk angering constituencies within their divided memberships or backing the wrong horse in a crowded field.
'A lot of folks in the labor movement were puzzled that we would put our support behind a candidate who they thought had no chance of winning,' said United Auto Workers Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla in an interview.
The union was one of the few to get behind Mamdani early and became one of his leading backers. Mancilla said the primary results should prompt some introspection from both Democratic Party and risk-averse union officials.
'The lesson from Donald Trump's second win was that Democrats need to focus on bread-and-butter issues, rebrand as economic populists and embrace a new generation of leadership,' he said. 'Zohran represented exactly that. You can't call for that, and then just want Chuck Schumer in a 30-year-old's package.'
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On the Hill
RECONCILIATION REVS UP: Republican's multi-trillion legislative package is reaching escape velocity in the Senate after a crucial weekend of events, our Jordain Carney and Benjamin Guggenheim report.
Democrats chewed up the better part of 16 hours after requesting a full reading of the latest legislative text, which clocked in at 940 pages, but appear to have failed to convince enough GOP senators to put the bill in jeopardy — barring any late dramatics.
Among the late changes: The Senate dropped changes that would have changed pension benefit rules for federal employees and placed new burdens on public-sector unions after the parliamentarian ruled they violated the so-called Byrd rule, our Lawrence Ukenye reports for Pro subscribers.
The Senate will begin its vote-a-rama at 9 a.m. today, and the House could vote as soon as Wednesday morning, as Nicholas Wu reports. Trump has said he wants to be able to sign the legislation into law by July 4.
Related: 'Senate parliamentarian deals a blow to GOP's proposed $1,000 fee for asylum-seekers,' from our Hailey Fuchs.
Unions
AN 'ABUNDANCE' OF ISSUES: Labor unions in California are mounting a counter campaign to the 'abundance' agenda put forward in a bestselling new book that has gained popularity among Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom, our Jeremy B. White reports.
Organized labor is wary that rules that ensure union labor is used on government-funded projects could be cast aside in the name of expediency, and that they could be scapegoated as a reason that certain things are too costly to build or operate.
'I've been around long enough to know that some of this latest trendy stuff is bullshit,' said state Sen. Dave Cortese, a San Jose Democrat and a staunch labor ally.
The outcome of the messy internecine fight in California could soon play out in New York and elsewhere where Democrats have long been in control.
In the Workplace
DROPPING THE WEAPON: DOL's Wage and Hour Division said it will no longer seek 'liquidated damages' as part of administrative settlement investigations over violations of federal pay law.
The move, announced in a filed assistance bulletin Friday, effectively wipes away a policy put in place under the Obama and Biden administration — and goes beyond the rollback initiated in the first Trump administration. The penalties are typically equal to the amount of money that was wrongly withheld from workers, effectively doubling the cost to employers for not following the law.
The memo asserts that DOL had been exceeding its authority in seeking liquidated damages outside of formal litigation brought by either the agency or an unpaid worker.
In 2020, Trump's DOL said it would not seek those penalties as its 'default policy,' though it left open the option to do so. At the time, it said the policy was an effort to assist employers reeling from the effects of the pandemic.
— Meanwhile, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs called on employers Friday to 'volunteer information in narrative form' about what they have done to unwind diversity policies targeted by the Trump administration. However, DOL has been unilaterally disarming OFCCP's staff and enforcement authority, and the message from Director Catherine Eschbach is silent on what — if anything — would happen request isn't fulfilled.
More workplace news: 'Call Center Workers Are Tired of Being Mistaken for AI,' from Bloomberg.
Even more: 'Gen Z, It Turns Out, Is Great at Saving for Retirement,' from The New York Times.
AROUND THE AGENCIES
SUMMER DAZE: Temperatures at DOL headquarters last week reached 80 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas as the air conditioning system buckled amid D.C.'s heat wave, NBC4 Washington reports.
The Frances Perkins Building was not the only aging government building having difficulties. An EPA building had its AC shut off for several hours last week, our colleagues at Morning Energy reported.
And at least some staffers at the Department of Agriculture's headquarters were told to work from home on Friday due to a power issue, according to an email obtained by our Marcia Brown.
Once upon a time Washington was actually at the vanguard of AC technology, an advancement that changed how both D.C. politics and the federal government operated in dramatic fashion, as your host reported in 2023 for POLITICO Magazine.
WHAT WE'RE READING
— 'The World Economy Is on the Brink of Epochal Change,' from The Atlantic.
— 'They're in the Top 10% of Earners. They Still Don't Feel Rich,' from The Wall Street Journal.
— 'DOGE loses control over government grants website, freeing up billions,' from The Washington Post.
THAT'S YOUR SHIFT!