Bernie Sanders Is Making a National Issue of This Strike
Democrats and progressives need to focus on what the United Electrical union calls the “first major US manufacturing strike of the Trump era.”
By John Nichols YESTERDAY 4:52 PM
Excerpt:
When 1,700 members of United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America Locals 506 and 618 struck at the sprawling Wabtec locomotive plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, Tuesday morning, they got an immediate show of solidarity from one of the most prominent political figures in the United States.
Sanders promised to “provide my full support and solidarity to the workers at this plant to ensure that they achieve a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement.” And he has done just that, using his considerable social-media presence and public appearances (including a CNN Town Hall event Monday night) to focus attention on what he has described as a struggle that has meaning for “working Americans everywhere.”
Democrats once went out of their way to align with labor, following the lead of Franklin Roosevelt, who declared two years into his presidency that “It is now beyond partisan controversy that it is a fundamental individual right of a worker to associate himself with other workers and to bargain collectively with his employer.” As the years passed, however, the party’s presidential contenders grew more cautious about throwing in aggressively and consistently with unions as had FDR and the Democrats of the past.
The example that Sanders is setting is vital, not just for his 2020 campaign but for all the Democrats who are contending for the nomination. Union struggles are essential, not just for Democrats but for the fight for economic justice in a country where the gaps between CEO pay and worker salaries, and between rich and poor, has reached epic proportions. As Sanders says, “We will not have a decent standard of living for our people and the political strength that we need unless we build and grow the trade union movement in this country.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-erie-wabtec/
Bernie Sanders joins striking federal contract workers during a rally in Washington, DC. (AP / Sipa / Olivier Douliery)