The head of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, a close ally of President Joe Biden, said she forgot to bring something to the stage at the union’s national convention in Houston, Texas.
“I don’t have any tissues, unfortunately I should have,” Weingarten said before thanking Biden for his accomplishments.
The day before, the director was among the first union leaders to express her support for the recent presidential candidacy of current Vice President Kamala Harris.
“As you can imagine, my approach has changed a lot over the last few days,” Weingarten told the audience.
The sentiment reflects a bittersweet moment for organized labor, a key part of the Democratic coalition that has broadly backed Harris after remaining an ally of Biden until her decision to forgo reelection.
Just hours before the Democratic vice president’s nomination, some of them expressed firm and resounding support for Harris, although they acknowledged that an internal endorsement process must take its course.
The support stems from a perception of the vice president as a labor ally and Biden’s heir apparent, as well as a recognition of the difficulty of such a short campaign in which unions are eager to see former Republican President Donald Trump defeated, union leaders and labor experts said.
Harris’s outpouring of support is part of a broader movement among Democratic Party leaders and elected officials that has made her a clear front-runner. So far, no challenger has emerged as the libertarians prepare for their convention next Monday.
“Unions are quickly uniting around Kamala Harris,” said Stuart Applebaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which endorsed the vice president. “We’re excited.”
The 2 million-member Service Employees International Union, the largest private-sector union in the U.S., also endorsed her. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000, a labor organization in the Pacific Northwest, drew attention when it became the only union aligned with Biden, who has resigned for reelection.
Other unions followed suit and expressed support, including the American Federation of Teachers, ABC News reported.
They have also issued statements praising Harris, but stopping short of giving her their full endorsement, as the organizations are going through a formal process to do so.
For its part, the AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the United States, which has 60 affiliated unions with 12.5 million members, issued a statement speaking favorably of the vice president, but is still in the midst of a process of support.
“It’s safe to say that things are moving pretty quickly,” said Steve Smith, deputy director of public affairs for the AFL-CIO, noting that several of the unions’ affiliates had endorsed Harris. “She has close ties to many, many unions.”
In that regard, the United Auto Workers, an influential union in key states, will likely convene an international executive meeting to discuss its likely endorsement, the official said. He also called Harris an “ally” and a “champion” of workers. The UAW had previously endorsed Biden.
But at least one union leader allied with the current president expressed reluctance to join his peers in backing Harris. Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen called public pressure to remove Biden from the Democratic ticket a “betrayal.”
“I have no relationship with her,” he added. “I knew Biden pretty well. I have faith that Biden is not going to screw over transportation workers. At this point, workers have been betrayed so many times by both parties that it doesn’t make sense not to be as prudent as possible.”
Unions have rallied behind Harris not only because of Biden’s perceived strength among organized labor but also because of the limited time left in the campaign, said Johnnie Kallas, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois.
“The reality is that we are three and a half months away from the election,” Kallas said. “If this was a conversation, it should have been held a year ago.”
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