National Union of Healthcare Workers members endorse Hillary Clinton for president
Three hundred and fifty elected rank-and-file leaders representing 12,000 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers voted 75 percent to endorse Hillary Clinton for president of the United States.
Last October, NUHW leaders voted 72 percent to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, while Sec. Clinton garnered 17 percent. With Sanders out of the race and having endorsed Clinton, NUHW leaders have thrown their support behind Clinton.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 7 percent of the vote. Republican Donald Trump earned 6 percent. The remaining votes were divided among other candidates and “no endorsement.”
“Our members believe a Hillary Clinton administration is the best vehicle for advancing the progressive values and goals that were expressed by Sen. Sanders and embraced by NUHW members over the past year,” said NUHW President Sal Rosselli. “Sanders and his supporters succeeded in establishing the most progressive platform in the party’s history. Now it’s time to come together with Clinton and her supporters to implement that vision. The first step is defeating Donald Trump in November.”
NUHW’s endorsements are part of a bottom-up democratic process. Last year, the union’s Executive Board, consisting of elected rank-and-file members, sent questionnaires to every Republican and Democratic candidate. Union stewards reviewed the questionnaires and discussed the election at monthly steward council meetings at each NUHW-represented hospital, clinic and nursing home, and discussed the candidates with their constituent members in each facility.