Three Democratic Presidential candidates; Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley all went to the Nevada AFL-CIO convention in Las Vegas two weeks ago, seeking support from the 120 unions there representing 200,000 workers.
At the same time, hundreds of Las Vegas union members rallied in front of the Trump International Hotel, protesting Trump's union busting and scab herding.
I was glad to see the candidates honor labor by attending the convention. I was dismayed that only one candidate cared enough to go out into the hot sun to stand with the workers against Trump.
And it wasn't the Socialist.
http://lasvegassun.com/...
Socialist presidential candidates have a rich history or interweaving their campaigns with support for local struggles. Eugene Debs was a union leader and the Socialist candidate in the early part of the last century. He led national and general strikes, and served prison time for it, when not running for President. In 1920 he ran for President while sitting in prison for giving an anti-war speech.
I lavished praise on Bernie Sanders in a diary two days ago, for marching on the Fairpoint Communications and other picket lines, and he's scheduled to join the grain millers' union to picket the Penford/Ingredion ethanol plant on September 4.
But it was only Martin O'Malley, according to published accounts, who hit the bricks to march against the odious Trump. Neither Hillary or Sanders apparently attended the anti-Trump demonstration.
Go, Martin!
I'd think that's one rally no Democratic candidate could afford to miss. Trump's racist and woman-hating attitudes are well known. We should make sure that everyone also knows he's busting the union at his Vegas Hotel, and the Trump Taj Mahal (10% owned by Trump) is training several hundred scabs in preparation for a potential strike at that Atlantic City facility.
Here's a partial list of other ongoing strikes, lockouts and bitter labor disputes that could sure use the boost in political will and morale that a Presidential Candidate's visit would bring:
800 paper mill workers are striking Kapstone, Longview Washington
ATI Steel, Penn., 2000 workers locked out
SunTran Busses, Arizona, 400 teamsters fighting for a first contract
2700 pilots need a contract at NetJets, multiple location in the Northeast
37,000 workers at Verizon in the Mid-Atlantic states may strike soon
450 Ikea workers need a contract in Maryland
1100 Metal Trades workers are picketing at Pantex Consolidated Nuclear Security, Amarillo, Texas
Warning: I downloaded all of this information (except Kapstone) from the Internet so it's subject to error.