State AFL-CIO to oppose Fung, meet with Raimondo

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The state AFL-CIO has voted to oppose Republican Allan Fung in the Rhode Island governor’s race and withhold an endorsement for Democrat Gina Raimondo - at least for now.

Raimondo, the general treasurer, and Fung, Cranston’s mayor, both addressed the organization’s endorsement convention Friday night.

The treasurer will meet in coming weeks with several of the federation’s unions, The Providence Journal reported. AFL-CIO President George Nee said the executive board will then make its final decision.

“I know we haven’t always agreed. Pensions were a tough issue,” Raimondo told labor leaders Friday, according to the paper. “I did the very best I could with a hard situation.”

Public-sector unions and retirees have sued over Raimondo’s 2011 overhaul of the state’s pension system.

Campaign spokeswoman Nicole Kayner said Monday she doesn’t yet know when Raimondo will have the meetings. She said the treasurer appreciated the opportunity to address the federation.

“She is proud of the 12 labor organizations that have already endorsed her campaign and she spoke on Friday night about her opposition to so called right-to-work laws that would undermine unions’ ability to stand up for their workers,” Kayner said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Gina will be a governor on the side of the middle class.”

Unions split their support ahead of last week’s Democratic primary. The state’s largest public-sector union - Council 94, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees - endorsed Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. The state affiliate of the National Education Association backed first-time candidate Clay Pell.

Raimondo acknowledged last week she has some outreach to do, and she noted that she called Nee and labor leaders at Council 94 and NEARI after her victory. She already enjoyed the endorsement of the building trades, and on Thursday she picked up the support of a food workers union that had backed Taveras.

In his remarks at the endorsement convention, Fung spoke generally about how he approached union negotiations in Cranston, saying “civility and respect” are a critical part of the process.

“We avoided much of what’s going on with the state litigation,” he said, according to The Journal.

Also Friday, the federation voted to oppose Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Dan McKee, who has angered some unions with his support of charter schools. It withheld an endorsement from McKee’s GOP rival, Catherine Taylor.