United Auto Workers union members strike for improved compensation outside of the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023 in Toledo, Ohio. (Phillip L. Kaplan /The Blade via AP)
By Jim Miller | jmiller229@icloud.com
PUBLISHED: September 9, 2024 at 6:06 a.m.
Since the New Deal era, there has never been an election where the labor movement has more at stake than it does at present. While not perfect, President Joe Biden has been as strong an ally to unions as any president in recent memory. He has walked a picket line, passed legislation and economic policies favorable to workers, and brought the concerns of unions back into the forefront of American politics in ways not seen for decades.
More specifically, as the Center for American Progress has noted, the Biden administration has bolstered unions by supporting the United Autoworkers’ picket line, investing in good union jobs, holding corporations accountable, raising the pay of contract workers, supporting organizing, upholding the rights of employees on the job, giving fast-food workers a way to speak up against unfair working conditions and empowering federal unions.
It is an impressive list to be sure and, if not for the strong opposition of Republicans in Congress, much more could have been done to improve the lives and economic standing of ordinary folks. Yes, there are still many problems to be solved, but it is evident that it has been the priority of the Biden’s White House to uplift those who the economy has left behind for decades.
But, as the president’s standing in the polls and performance in debates and other public venues declined, it appeared that we might be heading toward a return to another Trump presidency which would spell disaster for working Americans despite the pro-worker optics of the Republican Party. Indeed, before Biden decided not to run for a second term, many activists inside labor were discussing how to survive the assault to come after a Trump victory.
Now, with a revivified Democratic Party and new energy in the grass roots, it appears the Harris-Walz ticket has a real chance to defeat the threat that another Trump administration represents to both the labor movement and American Democracy itself. While many commentators have shined a light on Trump’s most egregious statements about punishing his opponents and rolling back a litany of longstanding rights, less attention has been given to how a Trump administration would impact American workers and the union movement.
Even though Republicans have talked big about bringing back U.S. manufacturing and helping save the American dream, their track record is one of overwhelmingly favoring the rich and corporations at the expense of average folks. They have put a lot of work into dividing Americans across racial, gender, regional, religious, and cultural grounds by playing to fear and petty tribalism, but that has done nothing to put more food on the table or money in the pockets of working people. Fantasies of mass deportation and revanchist White male identity politics stoke anger while doing little more than afflicting the powerless while comforting the affluent.
In sum, Trump’s billionaire populism is a fool’s errand for working people. It will only do more to increase inequality and fuel the despair they cynically weaponize to promote the agenda of the power elite.
If you think this is an exaggeration, you need look no further than their policy agenda, Project 2025, which, despite recent attempts at disavowal, is the documented work of former Trump administration officials at the Heritage Foundation. Trump spoke at their conference and flew on fancy jets with them. They are his people.
What precisely does Project 2025 recommend be done to unions and American workers? The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations has broken it down to the essentials. As Common Dreams reported this July, the idea is to systematically eviscerate the labor movement by banning unions for public sector workers, replacing civil service workers with Trump loyalists, letting bosses eliminate unions mid-contract, allowing companies to stop paying overtime and states to opt out of minimum wage laws, getting rid of child labor protections and encouraging company unions.
In addition to this, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations has pointed out how Project 2025 recommends making it illegal for employers to voluntarily recognize unions, allowing companies to retaliate against union organizers, and adopting a wide range of other “pro-corporate policies that would drive up costs, put people out of work, endanger people’s lives and make it harder for working people to get ahead.” This agenda, the federation argues, “would be catastrophic for working people.”
This fall we can stop this from happening by voting and working hard for a brighter, more equitable future — a joyful, beloved community rather than a dark, dystopian dream.
Miller is a local author, professor at San Diego City College and vice president for the American Federation of Teachers, Local 1931. He lives in Golden Hill.