WASHINGTON—Citing his opposition to privatizing mail service, the American Postal Workers Union endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the Democratic presidential nomination on Jan. 30. “We’re pleased that a number of presidential candidates have taken positions and actions supportive of postal workers and expanding union rights,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said in a statement. “But when we judge candidates by their long-term and consistent actions, Bernie Sanders stands out as a true champion of postal workers and all workers throughout the country. He has been a leader in the fight for expanded postal financial services and was the lone senator who stopped postal privatizers from appointments to the Postal Board of Governors.” The union, which represents 220,000 active postal workers and retirees, also backed him in 2016. Meanwhile, UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents more than 30,000 workers in Southern California and Arizona, announced a joint endorsement of Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Jan. 28. The union praised Warren for being the first candidate to say she wouldn’t cross Sodexo workers’ picket line at Loyola Marymount University before the Democratic debate last December, and Sanders for supporting hotel housekeepers’ campaign for “panic buttons” on the job. Read more
