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NotYourMom1966's avatar

What we are in right now is the biggest boss fight ever. And we are here, in part, because our national unions AND our locals have refused to treat politics as an organizing opportunity. Most unions, at all levels, only view politics as electoral horse races or lobbying at the legislative level. Labor leaders don’t talk about politics in terms of day-to-day impact. They fall in love with a Bernie Sanders as a savior, (and I like Bernie’s passion and politics), and still fail to bring that conversation and connection to the movement.

I say all of this as professional political staff (AND a union member) for a small education local that has been working hard for almost a decade to do things differently. Because rank and file are not connecting their political identity with their union identity. And until they do, like they did in the past, things will not change.

Labor *must* include political education along with organizing and bargaining campaigns. Labor leaders *must* begin to explicitly communicate and inoculate members about how the boss (whether it’s the CEO or the AG) is using white supremacy, sexism, transphobia, and xenophobia as a deliberate tactic to pit workers against each other, to distract us, so they can make bank at worker’s expense. Not every union member that voted against their interests is racist, and it is also true that many were susceptible to those racist arguments. This boss tactic is over a century old, and we are still falling for it.

Labor must also begin to talk about class - not as some ideological or intellectual argument. We need to stop saying “class war”, because people stop listening when we say that. We need to spell it out, and help folks connect the dots.

Every campaign- new organizing, corporate and contract - must have a political, non-electoral component.

And we had better start building bridges between public and private sector workers. Because us public sector folks? We know what’s coming. These mother fuckers have been coming for us for decades. We know what’s coming. And the trades have been less than willing to stick up for us (except the strike line, we all love a good strike line). After they come for us, they will come for you. And you won’t know what hit you. And if we’re gone, there won’t be folks left to help you when you are on the block.

It’s time for us to return to our militant past, where we internalized the concepts of mutual aid, defiance, solidarity and mutual aid. No more boot licking. No more silos. No more poaching. We can, and should be the home of resistance, refusal and hope. ✊

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George's avatar

Unionize every type of worker possible. This may be a golden opportunity for the labor movement because this crowd is really out to destroy organized labor but also to suppress labor brutality and broadly. This is very obvious. This will be immediate. The midterms will be the first chance to reverse this trend or at least stop it. Nonunion workers will get blasted. Union workers will be in continuous battle with this administration. For one thing get rid of union leaders who didn’t see this coming and did not endorse Harris and for another those who actually endorsed Trump must go. Even police and fireman unions will be under attack and they need a new direction in leadership and in strategy. No worker will be better off financially or in terms of working conditions. This is a bigot opening for unionization.

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