AFL-CIO to endorse Hillary Clinton; CWA, nurses union staying with Sanders

WASHINGTON, June 10 (UPI) -- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will receive the endorsement of the nation's largest organized labor group, the AFL-CIO, as soon as next week, multiple media outlets reported Friday.

Politico and The Wall Street Journal reported the organization's political committee held a conference call, during which members voted to recommend the general board issue the endorsement at its next meeting on June 16.

The endorsement would end most but not all of the divisions in the organized labor movement between Clinton and her primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

While Clinton has enjoyed endorsements from enough trade unions to make for a majority of the nation's unionized workers, several unions had backed Sanders, including the National Nurses United and the Communications Workers of America.

Politico reports that the United Steelworkers and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers were holdouts, but eventually agreed to back Clinton. The CWA has not said whether it will switch its endorsement from Sanders to Clinton at some point in the future. NNU's political director told Bloomberg today that the union is still "absolutely committed" to Sanders.

Politico reports that Sanders' focus on labor-friendly issues in the campaign improved unions' place on the political map in 2016. Sanders forcefully opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a position Clinton eventually adopted after supporting TPP as secretary of state, calling it the "gold standard" of trade deals.

"We had to acknowledge that we had a big issue with the trade part of Clinton's history," United Auto Workers Secretary-Treasurer Gary Casteel told Politico.