The union umbrella organization UNITE HERE is taking a victory lap after all three states its members heavily canvassed in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election went for their favored candidate, Joe Biden.
In a press conference held on Nov. 5, the union said its canvassers spoke to 2.8 million voters in Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania as part of its “Take Back 2020” campaign. The union credits itself with driving up voter turnout in the three battleground states.
Among the canvassers were 600 union members from New Haven, where Yale graduate student employees are organized by one of the union’s affiliates. In addition to knocking on doors, union members also made phone calls in support of Biden.
Union leaders say they were able to commit 30,000 Pennsylvanians who had not previously voted to get out and vote for Biden.
UNITE HERE President D. Taylor told the Yale Daily News that the union now plans to hold Biden accountable to the unions that helped elect him by expecting him to support their platform, which includes making union organizing easier and encouraging the use of project labor agreements on government contracts.
UNITE HERE is a union with around 300,000 members in the airline, food service, gaming, hotel, and transportation industries.