DC 37 (NYC) is one of the most progressive unions in the country

[geek tragedy]

Very few organizations capture the intersectionality of labor, race, gender, and GLBT equality the way DC 37 does.

http://www.dc37.net/about/history.html

It is a union whose membership is largely people of color, with many women, that has stood for justice for all people, for all New Yorkers, for decades.

They chose to endorse Hillary Clinton in this election.

Unfortunately, some people who style themselves as standing for all the values that DC 37 has FOUGHT FOR are now trashing the union as corrupt, undemocratic, and failing to understand labor issues.

You'll never guess why.

Oh wait, you obviously know why.

You have a problem with DC 37, you have a problem with the core of progressive activism in New York.

If you think insulting them and condescending to them and patronizing them is going to win your candidate any votes, please proceed.

[hrmjustin]

1. They don't care. It is all about group think now.

[LexVegas]

2. Truth. nt

[choie]

4. Just because they're

Progressive doesn't mean they're willing to go out on a limb and go against the establishment. No different than DiBlasio.

[geek tragedy]

5. LMAO. They're not armchair revolutionaries, they actually do go out on a limb

and put it on the line to get results.

The ones who don't go out on a limb are people whose idea of activism is ranting on the Internet or Twitter.

[CalvinballPro]

7. +1 Internet activism isn't real activism. nt

[Armstead]

10. Then why are you on the internet?

[CalvinballPro]

19. News, comedy, boredom. I don't imply that my comments are going to change the country, though.

Unlike certain neohippies and their original-hippie mentors...

[1StrongBlackMan]

32. Yes it is! ...

It's the new school form.

I read that on the internet.

[choie]

9. I repeat

That has nothing to do with being willing to go against the establishment when endorsing a candidate. Even if that candidate that they endorse is not the one that will best respond to their needs.they are unfortunately no different than others who do the same

[geek tragedy]

11. do you realize how condescending you're being? honest question. nt

[choie]

20. Anybody who speaks against

The establishment is deemed by you and others as condescending - I couldn't care less!

[geek tragedy]

22. so, no you don't know how condescending it is to lecture these people

as if they don't know what's good for themselves or are too afraid to do what you consider what's best for them.

Berniesplaining at its finest.

[choie]

24. Blah blah blah

Condescending, blah blah blah. So when you say others who vote for repugs are making the wrong decision that's ok, but when Dems say other Dems are, that's condescending.... What hypocrisy!!!

[geek tragedy]

26. here is a thought--maybe people can disagree with you without being morally or intellectually

inferior to you.

[choie]

28. Has nothing to do

With being morally or intellectually superior or inferior - you must be having a conversation with yourself

[geek tragedy]

31. you said they were afraid to take on the establishment and go out on a limb.

Which is really, really dumb, since they're, you know, labor activists whose main job is fighting with the establishment for better wages and treatment for workers.

[choie]

34. That's not the same as

Endorsing a candidate and you know it.

[1StrongBlackMan]

35. I honestly don't think it's "Berniesplaining" ...

so much as Narcissistic.

The Bernie camp doesn't have a lock on that.

[geek tragedy]

36. they've raised it to an art form though nt

[JoePhilly]

50. + 1

[Armstead]

12. And I notice you are on the Internet ranting...though I don't know if you're in an armchair

[geek tragedy]

21. I'm not the one trying to pass myself off as bolder and braver than labor activists nt

[choie]

27. You are ridiculous

Nobody is saying anything about being more brave or bolder. Don't put words in other's mouths.

[geek tragedy]

37. you claimed they were unwilling "to go out on a limb and go against the establishment"

Do you think public unions are unwilling to go out on a limb and go against the establishment?

Do you really think this union is?

Are you familiar with how New York City politics works?

[choie]

47. I sure am familiar.

Fighting for your members' rights is not the same as endorsing a candidate. You can make excuses for them supporting Clinton all you want, but the reason they did so is because they want to be in the Democratic political mainstream. clinton offers nothing but the status quo. Period.

[geek tragedy]

49. Do you know a single member of DC37? Or are you a psychic who can read minds

of people you've never met?

You can make excuses for them supporting Clinton all you want, but the reason they did so is because they want to be in the Democratic political mainstream

Pretty sure this is just your imagination talking, and that you have no factual basis for making such a claim.

But, you support Bernie, so you must know everything.

[tk2kewl]

29. I work with DC37 union members...

As is par for the course the membership was not consulted.

A number of these members enthusiastically signed Bernie's ballot petition, and I know of at least one who is voicing her objections to union leadership.

DiBlasio recently signed a new contract with the union after it was left hanging for many years by Bloomberg, so the leadership may have not have been in a position to buck the mayor.

[Go Vols]

77. Yep,just like the Ironworkers Union

The leaders picked Hillary.The members want Bernie,but they get no say.

[awake]

3. a Question; did the rank and file have a say in the endorsement

or did just the Union leadership make the decision?

[Hoyt]

56. Yes, they voted for the leadership to represent them by working with the candidate's staff and

considering who can actually deliver what is good for the membership, as opposed to yelling platitudes.

[EndElectoral]

70. So in other words they didn't actually directly vote for the endorsement?

[Hoyt]

71. Why have leadership if you expect the members to vote on everything. In negotiations, just have

100,000 members sit around and say "Nope." See how far that gets you. The leadership does what is best for membership, or they can be voted out. Can probably call a special election today. Won't happen because most members know what is best.

[CalvinballPro]

6. To paraphrase the old adage, "Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves."

To Bernie supporters, this behavior seems A-OK. They think it's right and true to scream at, insult, and otherwise harass people in nomine Bernie. It never occurs to them to consider that this behavior might not be productive, because they can't even imagine a world in which it wouldn't be.

So let them shoot their own candidate in the foot. He deserves it, for poll-testing his policies to fit Millennial obsessions without testing whether they'd actually make good missionaries for his campaign.

[geek tragedy]

8. same ones who appointed themselves fit to lecture Dolores Huerta and John Lewis

about activism and social change.

[choie]

13. That's right

Nobody is perfect and sometimes even idols don't make the best decisions. You wanna call that lecturing, go to it. We are allowed to critic or even the most progressive leaders -they're not exempt.

[choie]

14. Right because Clinton

Doesn't do polling - that's why she changes her positions every other day

[CalvinballPro]

25. Clinton is honest about polling. Bernie isn't. Does he tell his supporters that he poll-tested

"free college" and "marijuana legalisation" as ways to attract Millennials to his campaign? No, he doesn't.

All your anti-Clinton nonsense seems more and more like projection every day. Your candidate is the money-obsessed dishonest political insider. He's certainly been manipulating rubes like you far longer than Clinton has been in politics, that's for sure.

[1StrongBlackMan]

38. LOL ...

Bernie is a different type of politician!

[choie]

48. Oh huh

The same way Clinton speaks in front of corporations and banks and has &10,000 a plate fundraisers where she asks the 1% what they want. She is a panderer with a capital P

[choie]

16. And it's the Clinton supporters

Who are arrogant and think she is due the presidency. THAT is arrogance!

[geek tragedy]

23. factually not true. only one union has made their decision that way.

and multiple Clinton endorsing unions did consult and poll their members.

And no one who knows anything would actually dispute that the membership of this union would be likely to support Clinton over Sanders.

[1StrongBlackMan]

39. That can't be true ...

multiple Clinton endorsing unions did consult and poll their members.

With each, and every, endorsement ... I've read (on the internet) where someone knows someone who the leadership did not ask, personally, who the union should endorse.

[geek tragedy]

42. Pauline Kaelism nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

44. I had to look that one up!

[geek tragedy]

45. it never goes out of style.

"I don't know anyone in New York who's voting for Hillary."

[1StrongBlackMan]

65. Or, ...

"I don't know anyone in that union that indicated support for Hillary (even though, the extent of my knowledge of that union is the internet, or that "I know someone who knows someone&quot ... so, it must have been the evil, corrupt leadership."

[geek tragedy]

66. They cite Glenn Greenwald to support those arguments

It's rather adorable

[1StrongBlackMan]

68. And HA Goodman! ...

Oh, the irony of that name!

I still maintain that HA Goodman is trolling the left. I would not be surprised if his first post-Democratic primary article is entitled, "How I fooled the fools on the Left ... It wasn't that hard!"

[geek tragedy]

69. I'm expecting Trump to do the same thing for the right nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

72. LOL ... Maybe, they'll collaborate! ...

"How we fooled the fools of the Left AND right ... It wasn't that hard!"

No. It would have to be: "How we fooled the fools of the right AND Left ... It wasn't that hard!" ... trump's ego wouldn't allow him to take second billing!

[choie]

51. Talk about arrogance...that's

Right Geek, only you know the truth

[geek tragedy]

52. no, you Bernie supporters know everything

you remind us of it on an hourly basis.

[uponit7771]

17. Birdiebro will make them change their minds !!!! /sarcasm <--- cause this is needed around here

[Starry Messenger]

30. RIP their Facebook page.

[geek tragedy]

33. the Bros are out in force nt

[Doctor_J]

40. Surprising that the union favors TPP, poverty-level wages, endless war, social security cuts,

fracking, for-profit healthcare and prisons, NDAA, torture as US policy, endless dark money in the political system, and wall street running amok.

But that's just me. I don't really see why anyone supports Clinton.

[Doctor_J]

41. If you think insulting Sanders and his supporters and condescending to them

and patronizing them is going to win your candidate votes, best of luck.

[1StrongBlackMan]

46. Damn ... You're getting good mileage out of what was being told to you ...

up until the actual voting started.

Kudos!

[choie]

53. More arrogance

from the Clinton supporters. It just eats you guys up to have another Dem running against her majesty, doesn't it.

[1StrongBlackMan]

67. How is it arrogant to point out ...

that Black DUers, and others, had been telling Team Bernie for months ... well, until the actual voting started ... that calling Black people "low informationed" or calling us "Stockholm Syndrome sufferers" was not the best tool for persuading us to support Bernie?

It just eats you guys up to have another Dem running against her majesty, doesn't it.

The only one considering HRC, "Her Majesty" is Bernie fans ... much in the same way the republicans referred to President Obama, "The One".

And, while there are two people in the Democratic Primary race, only one was a "Democrat" before being forced to sign an affidavit in order to get on the N.H. Primary.

But, NO ... It it doesn't eat anyone up to have another an independent, running as a Dem, running against HRC. But that NO, for me is qualified ... should Bernie continue his run, AND that run is based in attacking the likely Democratic nominee, beyond the point of numeric elimination, I will be irritated.

[ThePhilosopher04]

43. They are obviously misguided and uneducated on the facts about each candidate

If they were up to speed, they would not vote against their best interests.

[all american girl]

54. I'm not sure why Bernie supporters can't just say that's nice that Hillary got their support

wish it was my guy. Instead it's anyone who supports her or votes for her are stupid, not informed, or sometime (as that other thread and this one shows) worse. This is just sad and predictable.

[geek tragedy]

55. because many people support Sanders as a social signaling opportunity

to demonstrate how morally and intellectually superior they are.

same ones who are more concerned with their precious purity of conscience at the ballot box than, you know, preserving labor rights and a woman's right to control her own body.

[all american girl]

61. Damn, you're good!!!! and right!!!!

[geek tragedy]

62. Credit goes to Amanda Marcotte for diagnosing it

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/22/dolores_huerta_takes_on_bernies_base_nevada_caucus_flap_speaks_volumes_about_the_frustrations_of_sanders_supporters/

Under the circumstances, it’s understandable why Sanders supporters would be a bit touchy about Dolores Huerta accusing them of disrespect. Huerta sits right at the intersection of three demographics — labor, women, people of color— that the Sanders campaign needed, and failed, to win over in order to convincingly argue that this is a real political revolution instead of a social signaling opportunity for people who want to be seen as radical.

So it’s easy to see why Sanders supporters want to yell at Huerta. She’s an easy punching bag for those frustrated with voters they believe should vote for Sanders but stubbornly refuse to do what Sanders supporters want them to do. (It’s similar to way that older female Clinton supporters have gotten bossy with younger women who vote Sanders.) Painting Huerta as delusional, corrupt or a liar makes the loss of these voting blocs easier to swallow, because the alternative possibility, that Clinton voters know what they are doing, is too painful to contemplate.

It really was the Huerta episode that convinced me that the Bernie movement was not for me.

[Kip Humphrey]

57. If they are so f**king progressive, post the rank & file vote for this endorsement! Can't do it?

Of course you can't because THERE WAS NO RANK & FILE VOTE FOR THIS ENDORSEMENT. How "progressive" is that???

[geek tragedy]

60. vast majority of unions don't do that for political endorsements, even the ones

that endorsed Bernie.

union leaders are more in tune with their members than people who don't live here.

You'll see when the NYC vote comes in how popular Hillary is vs Bernie amongst working class people in New York.

[Orsino]

58. Well, one can hardly question their siding with one of TPP's creators.

Oh, wait. Yes, one can.

But they have indeed placed their bet, and doubtless expect some good return.

[geek tragedy]

59. you can disagree without disparaging them nt

[obamneycare]

63. Just another example of union leadership, rather than members, going for HRC

In the war for endorsements in the Democratic presidential primary, there is a clear trend.

Every major union or progressive organization that let its members have a vote endorsed Bernie Sanders.

Meanwhile, all of Hillary Clinton’s major group endorsements come from organizations where the leaders decide. And several of those endorsements were accompanied by criticisms from members about the lack of a democratic process.

It’s perhaps the clearest example yet of Clinton’s powerful appeal to the Democratic Party’s elite, even as support for Sanders explodes among the rank and file.

http://theintercept.com/2016/01/22/bernie-sanders-gets-group-endorsements-when-members-decide-hillary-clinton-when-leaders-decide/

...

Last night, the DC 37 delegates voted overwhelmingly to endorse her candidacy at their monthly meeting, after impassioned speeches in her support by local presidents Dennis Ifill of Local 1359, who is also chair of the DC 37 Political Action Committee, and James Tucciarelli of Local 1320, as well as Local 1549 Executive Vice President Alma Roper.

http://dc37blog.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/dc-37-endorses-hillary-rodham-clinton-for-president/

[geek tragedy]

64. welcome (back) to DU. nt

[Go Vols]

78. Sounds about right.

[synergie]

73. But they're the "establishment"!11!! And the persuasive strategy you point out

is literally the only one they have. Any other route requires education, facts, a grasp of reality and a candidate that any of those favor, so you can see why the name calling, abuse and other ever so persuasive tactics are necessary.

[geek tragedy]

75. it shows how out of touch they are from the actual activists

in this country

[MineralMan]

74. That union is under the bus now.

Obviously it's full of people who don't know what is good for themselves. Clearly. For sure. Otherwise, how could they have supported Hillary Clinton?

[geek tragedy]

76. it's all so predictable. nt