Teamsters boss praises Nader, takes aim at Gore

June 22, 2000
Web posted at: 6:22 PM EDT (2222 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sending a strong message to Vice President Al Gore, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa appeared with Green Party presidential hopeful Ralph Nader on Thursday and called for "all four of the major presidential candidates" to be included in televised debates this fall. "Over the past year, the Teamsters union has met with most of the presidential candidates," said Hoffa, calling for the inclusion of both Nader and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan in the debates. "We have had an open and honest exchange of views. The American people should have the same opportunity as we have had."

Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader

Under new guidelines issued by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, candidates must garner an average of at least 15 percent support across five national polls in order to participate in the official presidential debates.

"The two major parties have shut Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan out of the process, refusing to give them a voice before the American public," Hoffa said.

Both Nader and Buchanan have consistently polled in the single digits, well below the requirement. The Teamsters' 24-member General Executive Board, which is holding a quarterly meeting this week, invited Nader to address the gathering Thursday morning.

"Perish the phrase 'free trade,'" Nader said after the meeting. "There's no such thing as free trade with dictatorial regimes who keep costs down by brute force and lure U.S. companies to those countries."

Although there was no endorsement for Nader, Hoffa offered kind words for the well-known consumer-rights advocate.

"No one in the political arena speaks stronger on the issues important to American working families than Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader understands what globalization means -- money and jobs are going overseas."

Nader, 66, is expected to win the Green Party's presidential nomination at the party's convention in Denver this weekend. He also ran for president in 1996, but mainly as a protest candidate.

This time around, Nader is hoping to raise $5 million and get the Green Party on the ballot in all 50 states. Nader draws about 4 percent of voters' support, according to recent polls, although he enjoys particularly strong support in California, where one survey put him as high as 9 percent.

Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush is scheduled to address the board by telephone later on Thursday. Hoffa met privately with the Texas governor, as well as Gore, in April, and the vice president also met with the union's board last November.

The Teamsters and the United Auto Workers remained silent during the presidential primary season, while the 13-million-member AFL-CIO labor federation endorsed Gore for president.

Relations between the Gore camp and organized labor have soured in the aftermath of the unions' unsuccessful lobbying effort to defeat House passage of permanent normalized trade relations (PNTR) with China, a move labor leaders say will lead to a loss of U.S. jobs.

Both Gore and Bush voiced support for the China trade bill, while Nader and Buchanan, who bolted the GOP last year, ardently opposed it.

"There is no distinction between Al Gore and George W. Bush when it comes to trade," Hoffa said.

Gore further miffed labor earlier this month when he appointed Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, the Clinton administration's point man on PNTR, to head his campaign. At the time, Hoffa described the move as a "slap in the face" to labor.

"Al Gore, if I could give him any advice, he has to start coming up with a comprehensive program for labor unions .. and how we keep jobs in this country. Don't put a band-aid on it," Hoffa said.

Nader told CNN this week he didn't know whether the Teamsters would endorse him instead of Gore. "But I know they are very upset with the Clinton-Gore administration," he said.

The organization has been less than forthcoming about when, and if, it will make a presidential endorsement.

"Maybe we won't make an endorsement at all, that's a possibility. And there's a possibility we'll endorse somebody, but we're just not in a position to make that announcement now," Hoffa told reporters earlier this month.

Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said Thursday that the board plans to survey its members' preferences among the presidential hopefuls in the July issue of the union's monthly magazine.

Although labor unions have traditionally backed Democratic candidates, Bush has made little secret of his desire to secure the Teamsters backing.

Hoffa's predecessor, former Teamsters president Ron Carey, backed President Clinton in both of his presidential campaigns. But the Teamsters consistently backed Republican candidates Ronald Reagan and George Bush in the 1980s -- and was the only major union to do so.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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