As this election made clear, a lot of Americans are angry. They feel left behind by the economy, and isolated and unheard in our democracy. Some of this frustration is understandable—wages have hardly budged in decades, inequality is near record levels, and money dominates our political system (and those who don’t have much of it are usually ignored by politicians). That’s a recipe for frustration and alienation, and President-elect Donald Trump seized on it.
Trump promised economic security in part by scapegoating people of color and immigrants, and his supporters took the bait. Now we’re facing an administration that will make it exceedingly difficult to protect Americans’ basic rights—especially as its policy prescriptions “to rebuild the working class” prove hollow.
The long-term solution to current political and economic dissatisfaction is to give workers a productive way to advocate for themselves, not reassert race-based class structures. That means it’s time to rebuild unions.
Unions—more than any other organization—give people a real say in the economy and in politics. They help raise wages, reduce inequality, and boost economic mobility. But even more importantly, unions help people feel their own agency. They provide workers—particularly those with less education and lower incomes—with the means and opportunity to stand up for themselves and participate more fully in our democracy. Union members are much more likely to vote, take political action, join other groups, and be more charitable.
Unions serve as an alternative source of power that workers control—not the government, and not the wealthy. That’s why they’re one of the first things that authoritarian leaders go after.
President-elect Trump has proclaimed that he “loves” so-called “right to work” measures, which weaken unions by cutting their funding and membership. Trump’s victory will likely embolden right-wing opponents of organized labor who see a chance to weaken unions nationwide, just as they recently did in Wisconsin and Michigan. These reactionary measures will need to be fought with unified progressive support.
Typically, countries seeking to stay on a democratic path strengthen their labor movements. It was true in the aftermath of fascism and World War II in Germany and much of Europe, and more recently in South Africa in the aftermath of apartheid.
But in the United States, the union membership rate is at its lowest point since 1935. Polls show that a majority of workers would like to join a union, but our labor protections are so weak that it carries real risk.
Trump does not speak for the working class, he is non-union, he is pro-big business, he is all for Donald and what is good for Donald’s wallet and for those in the elite class who praise him for his policies that favor them. He will lie and tell you he is for the worker, but that doesn’t make it so. Trump’s actions speak clearer than his rhetoric, his anti-American policies, anti-environment policies, anti-health and safety policies, his anti-woman’s choice in health care policies, his policies favoring the banking industry which will take us back to the abuses by the banking industry and credit card companies, the elimination of first time home buyers credits, his favoring the TheoFascionalist Republican Party’s attempts to take away your health care and obstruct any invitations is the past 8 years to improve it in a bi-partisan effort. Trump is not for the American worker, Trump is for Trump and the Wall Street elite, big business, and anyone who praises the Donald.