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To people responding to this saying "It's these damn union bureaucrats fucking it up again!" -- I get that, and there's a grain of truth to it... but I think it's important to understand *why* labor behaves as a junior partner to the Dem Party vs. fighting for the working class https://twitter.com/JonahFurman/status/1288159738887311360
It's not to defend these folks' lack of political courage. But the US is the only 'developed' country without a labor party!
Meaning our unions are in the same political organization as the bosses that they are supposed to be fighting.
Meaning our unions are in the same political organization as the bosses that they are supposed to be fighting.
So instead of fighting directly for the interests of their members, and expanding isolated workplace fights into bigger political fights, the unions jockey for position within the party so that they will have a vehicle that will *at all* represent their interests in government.
Union leaders in the Democratic Party see their current role as appealing to Joe Biden/the dominant wing of the party so that Biden, & those who actually hold power in the party, will mediate the power-sharing relationship within the party between bosses and unions.
There is a sense in which this *is* in the interest of their members, and they remember the Bad Old Days when every Democratic Party candidate was pro-charter, pro-privatization. Now at least you get lip service.
But it's so obviously a political dead end in the long term.
But it's so obviously a political dead end in the long term.
The sad paradox is, however, that this political strategy has been so unproductive, and has so failed to maintain any union strength within the government, that unions are now weaker than ever, and thus even more scared of breaking off into any independent political activity.
And I don't just mean that's why they won't say "Labor Party NOW!"
I mean even fighting for obviously beneficial policies like M4A, higher wages, things that give unions & workers more leverage against employers; or supporting candidates in primaries who advocate for the above.
I mean even fighting for obviously beneficial policies like M4A, higher wages, things that give unions & workers more leverage against employers; or supporting candidates in primaries who advocate for the above.
Anyway. I just think if you're going to look at the organized labor movement and figure out how to change its political behavior, it helps to have a full picture of how we got here, and why unions act the way they do. That's the first step.
