Hawkins Banking On Rank-And-File Union Support

While additional third party support is up in the air for Howie Hawkins, the Green Party gubernatorial candidate is banking on the backing of rank-and-file labor union members and those who feel alienated by the mainline Democratic Party to take away votes from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

He’s going to need all the support he can get if he wants to reach his goal of quadrupling the nearly 60,000 votes he earned in the 2010 election. During a stop at the Capitol Wednesday to announce his run, Hawkins attributed his votes from last time to upstate support—particularly that of state workers upset with Cuomo’s campaign rhetoric and residents of Onondaga County, where Hawkins lives. Hawkins said he sees potential in alienated public sector workers’ votes for this election cycle.

Asked about specific support he has from the labor community, Hawkins predicted rank-and-file members would get behind him, even if union leadership doesn’t publically back him. Hawkins, a Teamsters Local 317 member, highlighted NYSUT’s leadership change and the union’s apparent unwillingness to back Cuomo in his response. The Green Party had just 24,237 members enrolled statewide as of April 1. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 1,986,000 union members statewide in 2013.