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Wednesday, April 24th, 2024

The stunning rebirth of the American labor movement

Author:     Robert Reich
Source:     AlterNet
Publication Date:     April 22, 2024
 Link: The stunning rebirth of the American labor movement
Stephan:  

It has always surprised me that so many working-class men and women vote Republican. Anyone who takes some time to do a few Google’s quickly discovers that the two things that created the middle class in the United States were the unionization of workers, and the federal programs after WWII that allowed veterans (mostly working-class men) to get financing to go to college, and to buy homes. And then particularly starting during the Reagan administration the Republican Party gutted those programs and restructured the tax system to grossly favor the rich who rented them as needed. The result is the grotesque wealth inequality that now plagues American society. Like everything else it is all going to get down to voting.

Members of the United Auto Workers in 2014. Credit: Creative Commons

On Friday, Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers union.

This is a truly big deal. The mainstream media — most of whom no longer have labor reporters — have barely mentioned it, but I believe it marks a major turning point for organized labor.

The victory in Chattanooga is the first successful organizing drive of an automaker outside of Detroit’s Big Three and the first major union victory in the South.

Volkswagen had told workers — in a very conservative Republican area — that the “UAW = Biden” and that the union would “turn Chattanooga into Detroit.” Six southern state governors attacked the union as a threat to “liberty and freedoms” and in a joint statement condemned the UAW’s push to organize in their states.

But the union and the workers triumphed anyway.

We are witnessing a historic rebirth of the labor union movement in America. Labor unions are not just an interest […]

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2 Comments

  1. Terri Quint on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 7:07 am

    You can thank Joe Biden for coming forward and recognizing labor for its absolute importance to this country! He was the first to ever join a strike line and has always supported labor. Finally, Americans are waking up to this—-especially the middle class that has been so neglected by Republican presidents. They are the heartbeat of America and must be strengthened and must be recognized for their essential being in this country. You would never get this from Trump who never respected any labor—-how many times did he refuse to pay them for their work?

  2. Albus Eddie on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 1:52 pm

    This is not even close to a re-birth. To foster unions in this country we need significant structural change starting with the empowerment of the National Labor Relations Board, the existence of which which is now being challenged in court. Further, there needs to be protections on the State level as well. Even in Democratically controlled States the percentage of non-governmental unionized jobs is low. This has to do with the 40 plus year bipartisan war on labor. Change the structure on labor relations, and you will change the outcomes. Fail in this regard and the current example will become just a blip, and window dressing for the Biden campaign.