I think the more affluent, better-educated wing of the progressive movement often doesn’t really appreciate how critical the labor movement is to the overall health and viability of the left. If you haven’t worked in a union job, and you don’t have close family who work union jobs, then you might be oblivious. But the Republicans understand perfectly well, and they’re doing something about it:
Passing right-to-work in Michigan was more than a policy victory. It was a major score for Republicans who have long sought to weaken the Democratic Party by attacking its sources of funding and organizing muscle. “Michigan big labor literally controls one of the major political parties,” Dick DeVos said last January. “I’m not suggesting they have influence; I’m saying they hold total dominance, command, and control.” So DeVos and his allies hit labor—and the Democratic Party—where it hurt: their bank accounts. By attacking their opponents’ revenue stream, they could help put Michigan into play for the GOP heading into the 2016 presidential race—as it was more than three decades earlier, when the state’s Reagan Democrats were key to winning the White House.
More broadly, the Michigan fight has given hope—and a road map—to conservatives across the country working to cripple organized labor and defund the left. Whereas party activists had for years viewed right-to-work as a pipe dream, a determined and very wealthy family, putting in place all the elements of a classic political campaign, was able to move the needle in a matter of months. “Michigan is Stalingrad, man,” one prominent conservative activist told me. “It’s where the battle will be won or lost.”
If you don’t even know that the fight is going on or why it’s important, you can’t be much help.
“to the overall health and viability of the left”
I think this statement is flat wrong. It should be:
to the overall health and viability of the USA.
For what it’s worth, they’re not mutually exclusive. Many might even say they’re directly linked.
Reminder – without unions, we wouldn’t have the following:
Child Labor Laws.
40-hour work weeks.
Overtime pay.
Lunch, and other breaks.
Paid vacations.
Paid sick time.
Paid maternal/paternal leave.
Paid bereavement leave.
Etc.
If you like any of those, you HAVE TO support unions!!!
If you don’t, you’re either wealthy, or you’re a stooge.
A lot of the basic rights. An awesome resume. Unions are us.
I’m not sure why you locate the problem in “the more affluent, better-educated wing of the progressive movement”, unless you’re thinking of Wall Street faux-progressives (who are very faux indeed). It’s not the progressive wing of the party that’s been selling out labor ever since Carter’s time, or that’s pushing to fast-track yet another union-killing “free” trade agreement right this very moment.
Exactly. The progressives online with the exception of Yglesias who is neoliberal scum and so ocassionally gets off the reservation, all are very strong union backers.
I always loved that phrase, “right to work.” You don’t have a right to a living wage or safe working conditions, but by god you have a right to work.
Hell, even slaves have a right to work. It’s the one right they do have.
I think the more affluent, better-educated wing of the progressive movement often doesn’t really appreciate how critical the labor movement is to the overall health and viability of the left.
You mean like the Ezra Klein’s and Matt Yglesias’ of the world? It goes for the rest of their brethren in the TradMed too.
I may just be having a semantics problem here, because I’ve sure never thought of those guys as progressives.
If you don’t understand that Fight for 15 is not just about minimum wage but also about unionizing fast food and retail workers, you don’t know where the labor movement is heading. And unfortunately too much of the AFL-CIO leadership and their Democratic Party allies are uncomfortable with this new labor militancy and want folks who have been going on wildcat strikes to cool their jets and just do electoral politics. That is going to start putting some strains on the labor movement like it hasn’t seen since World War II. Now the AFL-CIO together are in the position the AFL was in during the 1930s–not wanting to rock the boat.
Established unions are going to have to start giving their members some reason to vote their pocketbook instead of their church values. In Michigan in particular union leadership has been complicit in the theft of union pensions even as corporations were receiving bailouts and the workforce was being restructured without labor protections.
Great comment! The fast food strikes are one of the very few things on the current scene that tempt me to be a tiny bit optimistic.
Rachel Maddow has been pointing this all out since Wisconsin.
My guess is Devos still has a major financial stake in Amway, regardless of whether he is actively involved. Maybe that is the place to hit him. Organize an Amway boycott. Lots of people have been burned by Amway’s approach to MLM anyway, and a coalition with the disgruntled could make sense. You have to try to hit them where they are not looking.
This union family thanks you for the mention!
I think it was Drum who has said that even though the single best thing for the left was Unions, it might be time to find another way. Not in lieu of unions, but along side them, since the glory days of unionization are not coming back and we need to get workers to organize.
Non-union associations, but of necessity. The possible if you will.