(New York, N.Y. August 31, 2020) – The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, today announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for president of the United States. The endorsement reflects a democratic process to capture the interests of the working people the union represents.
“Joe Biden has spent his life fighting for working people, and he is someone who understands and prioritizes the needs of working families,” said OPEIU President Richard Lanigan. “OPEIU is committed to advancing the interests of our members by rebuilding the middle class, improving the economy and providing opportunity for everyone and not just the wealthy, to protecting working people’s right to join unions and collectively bargain, and in the fight for racial justice and equality for all Americans.
“Joe Biden is the only candidate who shares those values and vision for America’s future,” Lanigan continued. “He has the experience, and perhaps even more importantly, the temperament, to lead this nation out of these troubled and divided times and put our nation back on course to economic and racial equality.”
In addition to his inept handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 Americans, President Trump has spent his presidency actively seeking to undermine and dismantle our nation’s major institutions and to systematically destroying worker protections. At every turn, Trump has sought to further the interests of millionaires and billionaires while sacrificing America’s working families.
“Working people cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump. Our nation and our democracy cannot survive it either,” said Lanigan. “That’s why we need Joe Biden. He will bring this nation together with empathy and compassion and help us heal, and his actions will be guided by kindness at a time when our nation craves decency and humanity.”
OPEIU has put into place a comprehensive political mobilization effort throughout the country and specifically in key battleground states to get out the vote for Biden.
OPEIU’s 103,000 members represent a cross section of America’s working people, employed in administrative offices, hospitals and medical facilities, hotels and in the fields of nursing, insurance, higher education and transportation, among other industries.
OPEIU presidential endorsements are determined by a majority vote of the Executive Board, which consists of vice presidents representing all regions throughout the U.S., after careful consideration of the candidates’ positions on key issues of importance to OPEIU members. This year’s endorsement is guided by an open, member-driven process that resulted in 70 percent of respondents supporting Biden to be the next president. This is the first time OPEIU has conducted a union-wide survey of its members to determine its endorsement for president. Visit opeiu.org for more information.