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CLEVELAND, OHIO —
As a union
carpenter, Dustin Wolf used to walk on stilts to work on grid ceilings. Now he
works for the local chapter of his union, Interior Systems Local 373 of the
Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents 35,000 carpenters across Ohio,
Indiana and Kentucky. A fourth generation union carpenter, Wolf will be voting
for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because "the
carpenters have endorsed Hillary Clinton, so that's who I'm voting for." Wolf
is part of a long tradition of union members voting for the candidate endorsed
by their union. But there are signs that tradition may be changing.
Hard choice for
members - and unions
It continues to
be a tough economic time for union members, even as the U.S. economy has
recovered in other sectors. Manufacturing and other union jobs continue to
disappear and as a result, union membership nationwide has dropped. It peaked
in 1979 at 21 million and stands now at 15 million. The National Mining
Association says 40,000 coal miners alone lost their jobs in the past year
after the Environmental Protection Agency issued new emission standards.
United Mine
Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said that kind of mass job
disintegration left his members questioning the current Democratic
administration.
Roberts' union
has not endorsed either candidate yet, although both are clamoring for UMW
votes as well as its phone banks and door-to-door voting programs. The union is
torn between its longtime Democratic leaning and the anger of its members. "The
people are angry in the coal fields of West Virginia," he said.
"They're angry in the coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio and in the coal
fields of Alabama. So it's a difficult proposition with the election for
president, there's no question about that."
Political
science professor Emeritus with Ohio State University Herb Asher said
Republican candidate Donald Trump is saying what union members want to hear. "I
would argue that Trump's promises to bring back the coal jobs is without any
credibility," he said. "But at least he's saying, 'We're going to
bring back your jobs.'What did Hillary Clinton say? 'We're going to take away
your jobs. 'I think if those are the two choices, who are you going to vote
for?" Asher is author of American Labor Unions in the Electoral Arena,
which examines union voting influence.
At age 33,
Johnny Nickum is an apprentice carpenter. Nickum said he saw no future in the
hospitality industry. So he switched to manual labor. And in November, he will
defy the Regional Council of Carpenters' endorsement. "I'd probably vote
Trump right now," he said. Nickum is aware that unions are at a low point.
But he doesn't think he's diluting their influence by taking a stand against
his.
"You don't
have to be a follower all the time. That's the best part of democracy is being
able to choose and think for yourself," he said. How Nickum and other
union members vote matters in Ohio, a key swing state in the presidential
election that is a must win for Trump.Ohio "remains critical to Mr.
Trump's path to the White House," said the New York Times. But Ohio
continues to be elusive, polling for Clinton in mid-August and Trump in
mid-September. Wednesday the state was shown in two polls to edge back towards
Clinton in the wake of her strong performance in the first debate.
A Bloomberg
Politics poll in mid-September showed that the leaning of union members is no
more decided than the state as a whole. The poll indicated Trump was winning 45
percent of voters in union households, compared with 48 percent for Clinton. But
there are 670,000 workers represented by unions in Ohio. And their vote,
whether they go along with union leadership or go it alone, could swing the
state. President Barack Obama won the state by a little more than 166,000 votes
in 2012.
Joe Ochsenhirt,
27, kneels down to drill a screw into a metal stud.
He graduated
from Ohio University with a degree in Business Management but couldn't land a
job in his field. Now he's a third-year apprentice union carpenter at the Ohio
Carpenters' Apprenticeship and Training Program in Richfield, Ohio. In the past
he's voted Republican, but this year, he says he would like to check the
"undecided" box: "I don't agree with either side. So I'm right
in the middle."