Amid a ‘really, really big week for labor,’ Illinois unions, Democrats held up as model

[August 22, 2024]  By JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
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Organized labor has been everywhere at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, from the main stage to the Illinois delegation’s morning breakfast gatherings.

“This has been a really, really big week for labor and very, very much appreciated, and it's heartwarming,” Illinois labor mainstay and state AFL-CIO President Tim Drea told attendees to the Illinois breakfast on Wednesday.

Drea spoke to the Illinois delegation about how unions – and Democrats, he said – “get s--- done.”

Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, kicked of the breakfast by noting a laundry list of union-backed initiatives that have been passed into law by a state government that’s dominated by Democrats at all levels. Throughout the years, union efforts and dollars have been instrumental in making that the case.

“All eyes are on our state this week. So what do we have to show them?” he said. “We'll show them how labor and Democrats work together to improve the lives of working people. We'll show them how we passed the constitutional amendment protecting workers’ rights. We'll show them how we banned captive audience meetings in this state, and we'll show we'll show them how we raised the minimum wage, expanded paid leave, and put an end to last-minute schedule changes.”

Speakers like Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in turn credited unions for policy wins of the past. He said his access to health insurance is the reason he is a survivor of prostate cancer.

“I'm not confused that we have access to health care as a standard employment benefit because of unions,” he said.

But it wasn’t just the local leaders who took note of Illinois’ place as a leader for labor and progressive politics. National AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Fred Redmond said Illinois shows what’s possible when Democrats control the “trifecta” of the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

“You know we need all of our elected leaders to really look at Illinois, where the Democrats have proven time and time again that this party is one and one party for working people,” Redmond, who is from Chicago, said.

Chicago is playing host to the DNC in part because of the state’s strong labor ties. And while the convention comes amid a period of momentum following President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, staying vigilant has remained a talking point throughout the convention.

“Don't take anything for granted,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, of Georgia, told attendees. “I mean, we feel real good right now. And I, you know, I want this excitement. I get mad when folks try to pour water on our excitement. No, we need this excitement. But when we come down from this mountaintop, we got to go down in the valley and do the work.”

Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea addresses the Illinois delegation at its Wednesday morning breakfast. He said it’s been a “really, really big week for labor” thus far as the Democratic National Convention continues in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

It’s a challenge that labor leaders said they’re primed to accept.

“During this election cycle, we will be putting out the largest ground game in the history of the American labor movement. It's all on the line,” Redmond said.

Another guest speaker was Eric Dean, general president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.

“Because iron workers, if you notice, there's no jobs unfinished,” he said. “We finish the job and we got a job to finish. We got to get Kamala Harris and Tim Walz elected.”

Dean, who is also from Chicago, said transitioning to the national stage was eye-opening.

“When I went from Chicago to Washington, I found out we don't have that same mutual respect between labor and elected officials,” he said. “I think we have our relevance and we earn that respect, but we needed to take the things that happen here and make it happen in other places.”

The iron workers union, he said, was the first construction union to endorse Biden and it stood firmly behind Harrs.

“I'm not going to return to that bulls--- from the Great Pumpkin,” he said, using a derogatory name for Donald Trump while hitting back on the former president’s frequent talking points. “…We're not going to scapegoat immigrants, attack labor standards, get more s----y judges, disrespect people who have a different idea of prosperity, lifting up working people.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also addressed the delegation, urging Democrats to continue to trumpet their positions on the issues.

“We got to remember that for some reason, Democrats have this habit of sometimes feeling like our views must be unpopular. The reverse is true,” he said.

For example, he said, most Americans agree “the wealthy are not paying their fair share,” that workers should have a right to join a union, that “you can love who you love” and that “a woman's health care decisions are up to her.”

“Americans agree with us that the best way to keep our children safe is not to censor Toni Morrison paperbacks and keep them out of the school library,” he said. “It is to make sure that gun violence does not come to the steps of our schools or our homes or neighborhoods.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.