ASHINGTON - Al Gore met yesterday with top labor leaders while aides reached out to local unions around the country.
More of the unions Gore is counting on to boost voter turnout in November weighed in on his appointment Thursday of William Daley as campaign chairman, a development that the Teamsters called a ''slap in the face.''
As commerce secretary, Daley is the top administration lobbyist for the China trade bill, which organized labor opposes. Gore supports the legislation.
''We just can't seem to break through on the political importance of understanding how strongly working people feel on the trade issue,'' said Gary Hubbard, a spokesman for the United Steelworkers of America.
''The vice president - he does have our endorsement - but it's pretty clear that if he's not listening to us, he may not have the winning edge to succeed because it's going to be a very close race'' against likely Republican candidate George W. Bush, Hubbard said.
Privately, Democrats close to Gore said his team has acknowledged the mistake of not consulting with labor leaders before word leaked that Daley would take over the helm of Gore's presidential campaign from Tony Coelho, who resigned for health reasons.
Gore met at the vice presidential residence with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Gerald McEntee, chairman of the labor federation's political committee.
After an angry phone conversation with Gore on Thursday, Sweeney said yesterday's hourlong huddle was ''a really good session,'' said AFL-CIO spokeswoman Deborah Dion. The issue seemed to have been put to rest for Sweeney and McEntee, two of Gore's most ardent supporters.
Gore aides said he also wanted to meet with Teamsters President James Hoffa.
The Teamsters board, weighing whether to deny Gore its endorsement, meets next week with Bush and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.
By way of explaining Thursday's lapse in communication, Gore told reporters that Sweeney was the first person he tried to call about Daley. Aides said the vice president also asked for Hoffa's cell phone number. But both labor chiefs were in transit and unreachable, Gore aides said.
Daley, meanwhile, conferred with Commerce Department lawyers to make sure that none of his actions during his final month at Commerce would violate conflict-of-interest laws, department spokesman Morrie Goodman said. Because of these concerns, Daley was rethinking how involved he will be in lobbying the China trade bill in the Senate.
