Gore Gets Big Labor Nod

The furious lobbying finished, the naysayers down to two - the Teamsters and United Auto Workers - the AFL-CIO handed Vice President Al Gore its coveted endorsement today, calling him "a supporter of working families and a champion of our unions."

In a resolution approved by voice vote at the close of its biennial convention, the AFL-CIO chose between the two Democrats running for president: "While one candidate, Bill Bradley, has the respect of many and a good record, there is no question that Al Gore is the favorite."

"It's been a good week," Gore celebrated.

But his support was far from unanimous. Several Teamsters complained to the convention that its vote was a top-down dictate.

"It looks like to me it's a sod job," said Kentucky Teamster Jerry Vincent.

"In the South, we always say, 'Don't wrap that pig, weigh it.' And we'd like to have it weighed before it's wrapped."

Emerging from the morning's preliminary vote by his executive council, federation President John Sweeney boasted of the overwhelming majority he won for Gore despite considerable reluctance at first by some of the AFL-CIO's 68 affiliated unions. "I always get two-thirds," Sweeney said.

Gore was making his acceptance speech from the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, just across the plaza from where he hopes to accept the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention next summer.

"I've been enjoying the campaign," Gore enthused to campaign contributors.

He had spent Tuesday holed up at a downtown hotel, thanking some of the unions that were undecided until very recently - including the Steelworkers, Paperworkers and building trades. Bill Bradley, Gore's only rival for the nomination, intensely lobbied for a delay in any presidential endorsement.

But Gore enlisted President Clinton, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Sweeney for a full-court press in the final days. The endorsement bestows on Gore the organizing power of the labor federation's 13 million members - early enough to make a difference in the primaries.

In its endorsement resolution, the AFL-CIO said: "More than any other national leader, Al Gore has used the power of his office to defend the freedom of workers to choose a union, free from interference by their employers."

The endorsement is an urgency, the resolution continued, because of the huge gap between the $40 million or so that labor has to spend on the 2000 elections, and the corporate interests' millions more. "The only way we can bridge (that gap) is will full mobilization now," the resolution said.

Only the Teamsters, the largest of the AFL-CIO affiliates, and the United Auto Workers broke ranks in opposition, saying their 2.2 million members needed more time to consider the field of presidential candidates.

However, both unions, which did not represent enough votes to block today's floor vote, stressed that their positio was neither anti-Gore nor pro-Bradley.

"It is because we think it's too early to endorse," Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said Tuesday. He said he polled local Teamsters leaders, who told him that members "need more time to see the candidates in action."

Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile said plans already were in the works to dispatch Gore, his wife Tipper and other surrogates to win Teamsters support one local union at a time in key early-primary states.

UAW President Stephen Yokich said in a statement, "We have not endorsed any candidate in any presidential primary and we don't intend to until our own endorsement procedure is completed."

Conceding defeat, Bradley spokesman Eric Hauser said: "The entrenched power that the vice president had here was a dramatic advantage. The case Bill Bradley made to labor will continue to resonate. Union members saw - and see - a lot of strength in his candidacy."

Sweeney called Gore's prize "a very valuable endorsement that really allows for mobilizing 13 million members around the country...who are looking to support a candidate who has a proven record of addressing working family issues."

A candidate who will win? "Definitely!" Sweeney bellowed. "You think we would endorse a loser?"