NYT: Endorsement From Unions Offers Boost, but How Big?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27unions.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

Michael Nagle for The New York Times


At the District Council 37 union hall, Doris Carney makes calls in support of Mrs. Clinton.

As endorsements go, Hillary Rodham Clinton has hit a trifecta in New York, getting an edge before the Feb. 5 primary by winning the backing of the state’s three most powerful unions.

Hundreds of members of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 470,000 workers in the state, are making calls on her behalf from phone banks in Manhattan, Hauppauge, Utica, Plattsburgh and a dozen other communities. The Service Employees International Union has sent out a pro-Clinton mailing to more than 360,000 doormen, janitors, nurses, nurses’ aides, home care workers and others.

And District Council 37, a Manhattan-based division of the nation’s largest union for government employees, dispatched dozens of activists to ring members’ doorbells this weekend to urge them to vote for Mrs. Clinton.

“By and large, our membership follows the leadership, and we are expecting the majority of our membership overwhelmingly to support Hillary Clinton,” said Wanda Williams, director of political action for District Council 37, which represents 121,000 municipal workers, about 90,000 of them registered Democrats.

But in a trend that could hurt Mrs. Clinton and embarrass union officials, many of the rank and file do not seem inclined to play follow the leader. Outside the headquarters of the city’s Administration of Children’s Services last Thursday, one District Council 37 member after another — even those who backed Mrs. Clinton — said they would not reflexively follow what their union leaders were telling them.

“I do my own thinking,” said Heidi Seifert, a child welfare worker, as she was leaving work. “Out of the three candidates, I think John Edwards is best.” Still, she said, she might opt for Mrs. Clinton or Barack Obama if Senator Edwards fades before the New York primary.

FULL story at link.