海角大神

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Hillary Clinton as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 but held back from endorsing her, citing two concerns.

After calling Mrs. Clinton 鈥渧ery, very qualified to be president鈥� and the current favorite among Democratic voters, Mr. Trumka argued Thursday, at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters, that her candidacy would benefit from a primary. 聽

鈥淎nytime anybody believes there is going to be a coronation, that is dangerous for the candidate,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he candidate needs to be developing a grass roots system and support around the country.... And I think, quite frankly, that is precisely what she is doing.鈥�

Trumka, head of the nation鈥檚 largest labor federation, also noted that before endorsing anyone in 2016, labor leaders intended to probe potential candidates about the composition of their economic teams. 鈥淚f you get the same economic team, you will get the same results, and the same results aren鈥檛 good enough for working people,鈥� Trumka said. During the session, he was sharply critical of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by President Clinton.

To avoid the division over presidential candidates that the labor movement endured in the 2008 battle between Barack Obama and Clinton, Trumka said that, for 2016, all of the member unions of the AFL-CIO have signed a written agreement that 鈥渘o one will endorse until we decide that all of us are going to endorse.鈥�

When asked whether President Obama had been good for the labor movement, Trumka said, 鈥淗e is trying ... he has done some things to help. No, we would like to see a lot more, the economy needs a lot more.鈥�

Obama is expected to take executive action on immigration in the next few weeks. "I hope it is bold enough to be worthwhile,鈥� Trumka said. Regardless of what the president does, 鈥渢he right wing is going to go bonkers.鈥� Bold action is the best course, the labor leader said since, 鈥淚f he goes mild, he will energize the right but he won鈥檛 energize the center and the left.鈥�

When asked what the labor movement would consider to be bold action on immigration, Trumka said: 鈥渁ffirmative action with workers to let them come out of the shadows,鈥� as well as taking control of immigration law enforcement back from the states and cities.

Trumka offered a sober assessment of the state of the labor movement in advance of next week鈥檚 Labor Day holiday. Despite some laid-off union workers being called back to their jobs, 鈥渨e are still in crisis, Trumka said. 鈥淲e are still too small to be able to change the economy to make it a shared economy or a prosperity for all.鈥�