STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Tim Walz is making his first solo campaign stop today. He made a string of stops with Vice President Harris last week after she chose him as her running mate. Now the Minnesota governor is scheduled to meet with one of America's largest labor unions at their convention in Los Angeles, Calif. NPR labor and workplace correspondent Andrea Hsu is here. Andrea, good morning.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: I'm thinking about unions here as a kind of building block of the Democratic Party, so who's he talking with?
HSU: Well, the union is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. They have about 1.5 million members, mostly state and local government workers, but also cultural workers like people who work at museums and libraries and zoos. And of course, California is not a swing state, but these members have come to this gathering from all over the country, including from swing states. So this is really about building on the momentum, the excitement that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have been riding since each of them entered this race, really. And Walz is a former union member himself from his schoolteacher days. He's going to highlight everything Vice President Harris has done for workers and will continue to do if she's elected president. Here he was making a similar case to union auto workers in Michigan last week.
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TIM WALZ: It's very simple - she stands on the side of the American people and the American worker.
INSKEEP: OK, so what is the role of labor unions in the Democratic Party coalition in 2024?
HSU: Traditionally, unions support Democrats. And the members who show up at these events don't need convincing, but they're the people who can be out there doing the convincing. Here's what Walz told the auto workers at that stop in Michigan.
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WALZ: This is a bit of preaching to the choir, but the choir needs to sing right now.
(CHEERING)
WALZ: The choir needs to sing.
HSU: So for Walz, these events are like a rallying cry - like, go out and talk to your friends and neighbors. Get them on board.
INSKEEP: Well, what is Walz passing on as a message about former President Trump?
HSU: Well, both he and Harris are noting that the differences between the two tickets could not be greater. One supports organized labor and the workers who want to be a part of that, while the other simply doesn't. But, Steve, you know, Trump, of course, does have a base of support among some union workers. For example, I visited an aluminum foundry in northern Wisconsin last month in a solidly red part of that state. But he's been out there reminding people of everything Trump did while he was president to weaken unions, and especially government employee unions, like the one he is addressing today. And he's been warning about Project 2025. That's the blueprint for a new Trump administration that was pulled together by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. It talks about firing civil servants and replacing them with political appointees, even possibly banning public employee unions altogether.
INSKEEP: What do these unions think about Tim Walz?
HSU: Well, labor advocates have been thrilled with him. Last year, after Democrats in Minnesota gained control of both the House and the Senate, Walz signed this flurry of pro-worker laws aimed at protecting the most vulnerable workers in the state, including, you know, nursing home workers and Amazon warehouse workers. So in Minnesota, all workers now earn paid sick days, unlike much of the country. And in a couple years, they'll have paid family and medical leave as well.
Now, Republicans in the state have pointed to all of this as evidence of just how far left Tim Walz truly is. They're saying, look, he's not someone who's going to work across the aisle if he doesn't have to. And the Trump campaign has seized on this. They describe him as excessively liberal. Former President Trump, who likes nicknames, has come up with one for the Minnesota governor. He's been calling him Comrade Walz.
INSKEEP: OK. NPR labor and workplace correspondent Andrea Hsu. Thanks for the insights. Really appreciate it.
HSU: You're welcome, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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