He wanted it. He quietly lobbied for it. In the end, though, failed Democrat presidential candidate, US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), was tanked by his buddies in Big Labor who gave Sander’s chance to be Labor Secretary in a potential Biden administration a big thumbs-down.
Just two weeks after Sanders himself floated the idea that he would accept the position of US Secretary of Labor in a Biden administration, organized labor insiders are saying the Socialist Vermont Senator and twice-failed Democrat presidential hopeful has no chance of being offered the position. This was also confirmed by the Biden team.
Attention: Sources tell us that the AFL-CIO is not supporting Bernie Sanders for Secretary of Labor. They have another candidate in mind. Bernie was on picket lines before many of these labor rights were born. Another cold shoulder to Bernie from establishment Democrats. -R
— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) November 17, 2020
A number of high-ranking union leaders with intimate ties to Biden made it clear to the potential future occupant of the White House that they did not want Sanders as their voice in the Cabinet.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders both reportedly nixed Sanders’ chanced in conversations with Biden.
The two union bosses are pushing for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a personal friend of Biden’s and a one-time member of a construction trades union, to be the next Secretary of Labor.
“Democrats who aren’t complete imbeciles will be chastened by the close election results – Biden barely won, Republicans gained seats in the House – and will be less eager to push a radical agenda,” said one labor-management attorney who requested anonymity.
Other union insiders said their leadership felt that if Sanders were to be appointed and confirmed to the position he would push a radical far-Left agenda, which would lead to a clash with Biden and his ouster from the position creating instability for the unions at the White House.
