Democrats Seek to Impress Unions

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., speaks at the Service Employees International Union Political Action Conference in Washington, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Gerald Herbert - AP)

SEIU President Andy Stern said he expects the service employees' endorsement to be made no earlier than October. However, the union members' reaction to the candidates Monday will play a big part in that decision.

"If they're all split up all over the place, it'll be hard to imagine the leaders making a decision," Stern said. "If they had a very strong preference for one of the candidates in September, it would have a huge positive impact on our decision making."

SEIU is one of seven major unions that broke from the AFL-CIO in 2005 over internal disagreements on how best to build organized labor's membership and political clout. The unions have since formed a new political coalition _ Change to Win.

Only one of Change to Win's unions have made an endorsement: the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, which endorsed Edwards last month. The rest will meet in Chicago later this month to hear from the Democratic primary candidates.

___

Associated Press reporter Ashley M. Heher contributed to this story.

___

On the Net:

SEIU: http://www.seiu.org

Laborers: http://www.liuna.org

(This version CORRECTS SUBS graf 5 to correct that Edwards spoke in Washington, sted Chicago.)