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Pouring money into politics and hoping for power has only resulted in the AFL-CIO falling by the wayside. It’s time for unions to go back to working for the workers For the political left in America today, the future is bright. The seriousness of inequality is now conventional wisdom. Socialism is no longer a political punchline. The popularity of unions is high <https://news.gallup.com/poll/241679/labor-union-approval-steady-year-high.aspx>. It would seem to be the best time in a half-century to revitalize the languishing labor movement. Yet with all of the political energy – and despite some high-profile successes – the labor movement as a whole still languishes. Why? Ideally, the labor movement, which represents the interests of everyone who works for a living, would be the strongest progressive force in the country. Its appeal is broader than that of any special interest or specific issue. It has the virtue of combining self-interest (it will raise your wages), public interest (it will rebuild a strong middle class), and pure righteousness (it puts power into the hands of everyone, not just a privileged few). The left should be led by labor, and labor should be led by a strong AFL-CIO. But today, neither of those things are true. The left is a wild coalition of causes, united most fervently not behind union leaders but behind a cast of political figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez> whose message of democratic socialism and economic equality is … exactly what the labor movement should represent. Unions have fallen so far out of the public consciousness that they have to rely on politicians to get their points across. That’s not good. Organized labor should be leading elected officials to the public, not vice versa. It’s hard to do that when scarcely a tenth of the work force you claim to represent are union members. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/25/americas-biggest-union-atm-democratic-party _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
