There is a growing rift between the Democratic Party's two major supporters that is getting worse during this presidential election year.
Environmentalists are butting heads with labor unions, two powerful groups with deep pockets who generally support left-leaning candidates for office.
A New York Times story discusses the rift, which was brought to another level by the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The Obama administration said no the pipeline, which would have created several jobs. Environmentalists, however, celebrated the decision because of environmental concerns.
And with manufacturing in the United States still on the decline, environmental groups have more power, pull, and influence on the Democratic Party than unions do.
Working-class voters are also supporting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this year, so many of the blue-collar votes that typically go blue in the election are expected to be red in November.
Wealthy environmentalist Tom Steyer recently
joined forces with the AFL-CIO to form the For Our Future PAC, whose goal is to inspire people to vote for Democrats in the November election.
Other labor unions blasted the AFL-CIO's decision to partner with someone who they call a "job-killing hedge fund manager."
Laborers' International Union of North America president Terry O'Sullivan wrote a letter to AFL-CIO chief Richard L. Trumka, which the Times obtained.
O'Sullivan called the joint effort a "politically bankrupt betrayal" of labor union members.
"We object to the political agenda of the AFL-CIO being sold to a job-killing hedge fund manager with a bag of cash."
In another letter, the leaders of the seven largest construction unions in the U.S. called the partnership "headline-grabbing political expediency."
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