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The United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 555 today announced it’s endorsing Nicholas Kristof in the Democratic primary for governor.
UFCW, with 29,000 members, is the state’s largest private-sector union.
“We have heard from a number of other candidates in this contest,” said UFCW 555 president Dan Clay in a statement. “But frankly our board felt, as I do, that it’s foolish to support the politicians who praised essential workers during the pandemic while neglecting necessary worker protections. We need leadership that is willing to actually deliver solutions when they get to Salem, instead of trying to get in their sound bites.”
The endorsement is a feather in Kristof’s cap because the other leading Democratic candidates, House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) and State Treasurer Tobias Read, have long cultivated strong relationships with organized labor—and Kristof is a first-time candidate. Kotek pushed through minimum-wage and worker scheduling laws that benefited UFCW workers, and Read implemented a retirement savings system for workers whose employers don’t offer such programs. But both got a cold shoulder from UFCW.
(Kotek scored the endorsement of the Oregon State Building & Construction Trades Council in mid-September before either Read or Kristof entered the race.)
UFCW, as Clay’s statement indicates, felt aggrieved that its members got short shrift from Salem during the pandemic as its workers got lower priority for vaccinations than other Oregonians working the front lines. That prioritization came from Gov. Kate Brown, not Kotek, but the speaker may suffer guilt by association.
UFCW made its endorsement without interviewing Kotek or Read, according to their campaigns. In addition, Thomas Mosher, UFCW’s government affairs director, is volunteering for the Kristof campaign while on paternity leave. Those circumstances are a little unusual, but UFCW spokesman Miles Eshaia says the group did its homework.
“The Local 555 Board had robust deliberations about each of the candidates in the race which were informed by detailed communications with each of the three leading Democratic candidates,” Eshaia says.
Kristof was pleased with the result. “I am thrilled to be endorsed by the members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, who are providing crucial support to our state during the global pandemic,” he said in a statement. “This endorsement underscores how many working families in Oregon want new, bold leadership for our state.”