Democrats have faced several uphill battles with labor unions at the state and national level in 2023, something that former President Donald Trump is hoping will sway blue-collar workers to his campaign in the 2024 election.
Unions came out of the 2022 midterm elections with a sense of security, particularly after the pro-union Biden administration and Democrats were able to maintain the Senate and give Republicans a slim majority in the House. However, union-busting efforts and lengthy contract negotiations have made unions wary of whether Democrats deserve their support in the next election cycle.
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Most recently, Democrats are facing a new challenge out of California. Striking workers pressured California Democrats to push a last-minute proposal through the legislature that would give unemployment benefits to those on strike.
The proposal comes as both screenwriters and actors are on strike for the first time since 1960, and California hotel workers are in the middle of their own contract negotiations. It is likely going to cause tensions among Democrats, who are typically torn between business interests and support for unions, and the outcome could put off support from one of the party's largest voting blocs heading into 2024.
At the national level, President Joe Biden has worked to gain back the trust of labor unions following several high-profile union disputes that had the power to cripple the economy. Late last year, Biden and Congress passed the Railway Labor Act to avert a railroad worker strike. Several unions rejected the deal, as it did not meet their demands for paid sick leave, and they said the president had abandoned them in the interest of big business.
Biden is also in the middle of a tense battle with the United Auto Workers, who have held off endorsing the president despite giving their support in 2020. Auto workers are preparing to strike over the hazards and lack of benefits in electric vehicle production, arguing that there is not enough incentive to move from their current factories to EV plants.
UAW President Shawn Fain has called on Biden and Washington, D.C., lawmakers to amend federal incentives in Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and other spending legislation to wage and safety standards at all auto factories. Otherwise, unionized auto workers could be walking off the job in September — placing Biden at a crossroads: maintain support from unions, or advance his green energy agenda.
Unions are typically one of Biden and the Democrats' most loyal constituencies. Failing to secure support from the UAW, for example, could fracture the voting bloc that sent Biden, the self-billed most pro-labor president in U.S. history, to the White House three years ago.
This could have a significant effect on Biden's chances in 2024, especially if Republican candidates like Trump can secure UAW's endorsement. The former president appealed to the union in a video released in late July, saying only his presidency could save the auto industry from Biden’s “ridiculous Green New Deal crusade.”
The former president has also capitalized on the "slaughter" of 117,000 auto jobs — a hit to the Biden administration, which touts its low unemployment records and its adding of more than 200,000 jobs in July alone.
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Biden lost the endorsement of one of New Hampshire's largest labor unions, New Hampshire State Employees’ Association/SEIU Local 1984, in April. The union argued Biden was not sufficiently pro-labor and urged other Democratic candidates to enter the race — but they could circle back to endorsing Biden in the future.
Still, the president has received some small victories, such as when the Teamsters Union and UPS produced a tentative labor agreement on July 25, just six days before over 300,000 UPS unionized workers were slated to walk off the job.