The New York Times-20080127-Endorsement From Unions Offers Boost- But How Big-

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Endorsement From Unions Offers Boost, But How Big?

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As endorsements go, Hillary Rodham Clinton has hit a trifecta in New York, getting an edge before the Feb. 5 primary by winning the backing of the state's three most powerful unions.

Hundreds of members of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 470,000 workers in the state, are making calls on her behalf from phone banks in Manhattan, Hauppauge, Utica, Plattsburgh and a dozen other communities. The Service Employees International Union has sent out a pro-Clinton mailing to more than 360,000 doormen, janitors, nurses, nurses' aides, home care workers and others.

And District Council 37, a Manhattan-based division of the nation's largest union for government employees, dispatched dozens of activists to ring members' doorbells this weekend to urge them to vote for Mrs. Clinton.

By and large, our membership follows the leadership, and we are expecting the majority of our membership overwhelmingly to support Hillary Clinton, said Wanda Williams, director of political action for District Council 37, which represents 121,000 municipal workers, about 90,000 of them registered Democrats.

But in a trend that could hurt Mrs. Clinton and embarrass union officials, many of the rank and file do not seem inclined to play follow the leader. Outside the headquarters of the city's Administration of Children's Services last Thursday, one District Council 37 member after another -- even those who backed Mrs. Clinton -- said they would not reflexively follow what their union leaders were telling them.

I do my own thinking, said Heidi Seifert, a child welfare worker, as she was leaving work. Out of the three candidates, I think John Edwards is best. Still, she said, she might opt for Mrs. Clinton or Barack Obama if Senator Edwards fades before the New York primary.

Ronell Dunham, an administrative assistant, said he was not affected by his union's pro-Clinton campaign.

I back Obama, he said. It would be great to have a black president. He's firm. He'll take charge of a lot of things. He'll help the poor.

With political prognosticators expecting Mrs. Clinton to win New York easily, pro-Clinton unions could have chosen to sit out the New York primary or campaign at half speed. But union leaders understand that there is a lot at stake for her, including making sure that she wins her home state by a large enough margin to avoid embarrassment.

Mike Fishman, the president of Local 32BJ of the service employees' union, which represents 60,000 building-service workers in New York, is pressing his union to do its utmost.

Far more than in recent years, the primary in New York means something because the delegate count is going to matter, he said. We have to help her get as many delegates as she can.

The candidates are looking to unions to deliver for them, partly because candidates are doing little broadcast advertising in New York, where ad rates are high.

Given that the candidates will be low on financial resources and the party can't participate, labor unions might play a bigger role than ever before in targeting the vote and pulling it out, said Jennifer Cunningham, a political consultant and the former political director of the giant health-care union, 1199 S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East. That 300,000-member union has endorsed Mrs. Clinton and done a mailing for her, even though many of the union's members strongly support Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards.

In political races, people from union phone banks often first call members to ask which candidate they support and then, a day or two before the election, call back those who support the union's preferred candidate to remind them to vote.

This year's Democratic campaign has led to embarrassment and disappointment for many unions. In the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Obama had minimal union support, yet he bested Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Edwards, both of whom had heavy labor backing. In the Nevada caucuses, the union that is by far the largest in the state, Culinary Local 226, representing 60,000 hotel and restaurant workers, endorsed Mr. Obama a week before the caucuses, yet Mrs. Clinton won more votes.

Unions aren't very influential in persuading members which candidate to vote for, said Joshua B. Freeman, a history professor at City University Graduate Center and the author of Working-Class New York.

But unions are very good at getting people to vote. In general elections, unions can make a big difference if they get union members to turn out in big numbers because union members tend to be Democrats.

Bruce S. Raynor, president of Unite Here, the parent union of Nevada's culinary local, argued that unions can play a powerful role in persuading members whom to back.

Unions are effective when they have enough time to educate our members and make the case why we endorse a particular candidate, Mr. Raynor said. Merely saying that a union has endorsed a candidate has limited effect. Members have minds of their own.

He said that his union did not have enough time to conduct a full-scale educational campaign in Nevada on behalf of Mr. Obama.

One way unions have a great effect in elections is they provide the foot soldiers to knock on doors, run phone banks and be poll watchers, Mr. Raynor said.

The teachers' union has taken pains to educate its members about why they should support Mrs. Clinton. The union has distributed literature, made phone calls to persuade members and asked Clinton backers to urge co-workers at their schools to support her.

Our members don't want to just hear from their union about whom we endorse, said Randi Weingarten, president of the teachers' union local in New York City, the United Federation of Teachers. They want to know why.

Mrs. Clinton has certainly wooed the teachers' union, attending its convention last year and phoning in to a Jan. 16 meeting of 1,000 U.F.T. delegates while she was campaigning in Nevada.

People were incredibly buzzed by her call, Ms. Weingarten said. We are unequivocally supporters of her because of her lifelong commitment to working families and children and to seeing the promise of education to change people's lives.

Ms. Weingarten said that judging from her union's phone bank surveys, about 70 percent of the city's teachers back Mrs. Clinton, with 10 percent opposed.

We have a lot of African-American members who are torn, she said. There is a lot of pride about Barack Obama. But citywide it's overwhelming for Hillary.

The city's unions have largely stayed out of the Republican primary. The International Association of Fire Fighters has campaigned vigorously against former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in Florida and several other states. It has not campaigned against Mr. Giuliani in New York, with union officials believing that if he places poorly in the Florida primary on Tuesday, he might drop out before Feb. 5.

Firefighter officials say the union's New York City affiliate, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, is considering endorsing Senator John McCain.

Just one New York union has endorsed Mr. Obama, the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, which was the only union to endorse Michael R. Bloomberg when he ran for mayor against Mark Green in 2001.

Norman Seabrook, president of the union representing 9,000 correction officers, said he hoped his union would help Mr. Obama win just as it had helped Mr. Bloomberg. Unlike most union leaders, he waits until the last minute to do political mailings.

When you do a mailing to members long in front of an election, it just sits on the dresser, he said. It doesn't resonate with the person.

Within the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the parent of District Council 37, there has been some friction about its full-throated support of Mrs. Clinton. Some executive board members of the national union wrote its president to complain that it was undercutting Democratic efforts by attacking Mr. Obama unfairly.

In New York, District Council 1707, another division of the same union -- it represents 25,000 child care workers and home care workers in the city -- has bucked its parent union by remaining neutral. And five of its members are running as Obama delegates.

Hillary we see as a friend, and Obama's not an enemy, said G. L. Tyler, the union's political action director. Our members are open to vote for whomever they want.

Some union leaders are eager to maximize the involvement of their members during the primary to make sure their union's political muscles do not atrophy before November.

A lot of it is about continuing the activity of our members, said Mr. Fishman of the service employees union. We have 60,000 members. It's an exciting time, and everybody's watching.

[Illustration]PHOTO: At the District Council 37 union hall, Doris Carney makes calls in support of Mrs. Clinton. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL NAGLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. 27)