Bernie Sanders Is Making Union Solidarity an Essential Theme of the 2020 Campaign

[Uncle Joe]

When working-class Wisconsinites took to the streets in February of 2011, as part of what would become a historic mass mobilization against the anti-labor policies of Governor Scott Walker, they had with little support from national political figures. Republicans were with Walker and Democrats, shaken by the party’s dismal showing in the 2010 midterm elections and the rise of the right-wing Tea Party movement, were even more cautious than usual.

But Bernie Sanders spoke up. “On Wisconsin!” declared the senator from Vermont, who immediately identified Walker’s assault on public employees and their unions as “part of the concerted attack on the middle class and working families of this country by the very wealthiest people in America.”

“These guys want to return us to the 1920s when working people had virtually no rights to organize or to earn a decent living,” explained Sanders, who argued that “There are a lot of folks out there who say, ‘It doesn’t impact me, I’m not a union guy, I’m not a teacher, I’m not a civil servant.’ Let me tell you how it does matter to you. Wages are going down in this country for everybody. When you destroy unions there will be no standard at all, nobody left to negotiate decent jobs for the middle class.”

Sanders took an unapologetically pro-union stance that was rare in a political climate when many Democrats were still clinging to neoliberal dogmas. A lot has changed since 2011, but Sanders continues to up the ante when it comes to debates about workplace democracy.

(snip)

https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-labor-union-speech-2020/

This is a good read.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Good to see Bernie again leading on another key progressive agenda item.

Thanks for posting Uncle Joe.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Uncle Joe]

2. Thank you InAbLuEsTaTe.

[George II]

6. How is he "leading"? As of 2017 (the latest calculated scores), the AFL-CIO has given...

....Senator Cory Booker a 100% score for the year and a 100% lifetime score. The only other candidate with a 100%/100% score by the AFL-CIO is Kamala Harris. Both have higher lifetime scores than Sanders.

https://aflcio.org/scorecard/legislators

[BlueFlorida]

9. He leads in slogans, platitudes and photo-ops. nt

[sheshe2]

10. Following.

I will follow where you lead.

Love Carole King.

[Uncle Joe]

12. Here is a larger sample of union grades for Bernie both in numbers and years.

https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/27110/bernie-sanders/43#.XKwOMphKiM8

[sheshe2]

3. Powerful Firefighters Union Has A Message For Joe Biden: 'Run, Joe, Run'

Powerful Firefighters Union Has A Message For Joe Biden: ‘Run, Joe, Run’

snip

The politically powerful International Association of Fire Fighters has a long and warm relationship with the former vice president, stretching back to his early days in the Senate in the 1970s. Even though the 2020 Democratic field is only just taking shape, the head of the firefighters union is making his personal allegiances clear.

snip

But it’s likely that the IAFF, which represents 316,000 workers, will be all-in this year if Biden files papers to seek the nomination to run against President Donald Trump.

snip

“We really think that we need someone like Joe Biden who will take that center-progressive ― but center ― lane, and who will be the candidate who can speak to workers [in] states like Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania, who can speak to the real working class,” Schaitberger said.

snip

The union’s affinity for Biden says a lot about the maybe-candidate’s appeal to centrists in a growing field, and the broader debate on the left about who’s best equipped to take on Trump: a deep progressive who excites the base, or a moderate who can appeal to conservative and middle-of-the-road voters turned off by the Trump presidency.

Read More: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-powerful-firefighters-union-has-a-message-for-joe-biden-run-joe-run_n_5c7ff32be4b0e62f69e8dee9

Good read!

[George II]

4. Thank you. Yes, Biden has been an advocate for workers, especially union workers....

....since he first arrived in the Senate in 1973 at the age of 30, when others were still trying to "find" themselves.

[sheshe2]

7. All these years, all his tireless work, they support Joe.

Yep. Joe knew who and what he was fighting for way back in 1973. He never stopped.

I love this quote.

“We really think that we need someone like Joe Biden who will take that center-progressive ― but center ― lane, and who will be the candidate who can speak to workers [in] states like Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania, who can speak to the real working class,”

Others, it takes them longer to"find" themselves.

[Snotcicles]

5. K&R. nt

[BlueFlorida]

8. Meh

Most of the unions will endorse Biden. Bernie has no history with the union movement and his railing against corporations makes union members nervous.

Union members work for corporations and derive benefits from corporations. They just want to extract concessions and perks from companies not destroy them with confiscatory taxation.

Also, union health benefits are some of the best in the nation. They don't want those screwed up with some half-baked and poorly thought out MFA.

Lastly, the "Green New Deal" is something unions are scared of - "eliminate fossil fuels" equates "eliminate millions of union jobs."

[George II]

11. "union health benefits are some of the best in the nation..."

If it weren't for union health benefits my brother would have died years ago. Medicare for All would wipe that out altogether.