Unions representing federal employees moved swiftly this week to shift their endorsements from President Biden to Vice President Harris following Biden's decision Sunday to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
Biden, who faced weeks of concern about his eligibility to serve another four years following his disastrous debate defeat against former Republican President Trump last month, announced Sunday he would step down in favor of Harris. State delegations quickly endorsed Harris this week, making her all but certain to be the party's nominee after next month's Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The American Federation of Federal Employees was the first federal employee union to publicly endorse Harris, noting that the vote by the union's national executive committee was “unanimous,” describing it as a “reaffirmation” of the union's endorsement of Biden last summer.
AFGE praised Harris for her work as a senator to protect federal workers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her tenure as co-chair of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, a committee convened by Biden as part of an effort to strengthen labor unions in both the government and private sector.
“During her time as a U.S. Senator, she stood shoulder to shoulder with AFGE to secure critical personal protective equipment and sick leave for workers on the front lines of the pandemic, keep the government funded to prevent devastating shutdowns, secure much-needed compensation for victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, protect safe staffing and collective bargaining rights across federal agencies, protect the agency's Office of Diversity and Human Rights, and nominate pro-union justices to the Supreme Court,” the union wrote. “As vice president, she led the important work of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, achieving results for workers across the country and being a key voice for change.”
In a separate announcement, AFGE Council 238, which represents more than 8,400 Environmental Protection Agency employees, voiced its support for the vice president. The EPA union only endorsed Biden last month. Council 238 President Mary Owens Powell highlighted Trump's anti-union policies during his presidency, as well as both his official policy platform and Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led Republican transition plan.
Under the Trump administration, the EPA imposed on the union a contract handed down by the then-conservative-majority Federal Services Impasse Commission that was largely pro-management, severely restricted union officials' use of official time, and limited the issues covered by the grievance procedure. Earlier this year, the union announced it had negotiated a new contract that formally removed the Trump-era language and added new provisions aimed at protecting employees' scientific integrity.
“The Trump Administration has limited our members' ability to protect people's health and the environment,” Powell said in a statement. “Kamala Harris is a staunch supporter of federal employees and their right to organize, and she will stand with them in the fight against climate change. … EPA cannot survive unless Trump's Project 2025 sees the light of day, and we must do all we can to protect the hard-won environmental gains of EPA employees.”
