As Go Unions, So Goes America

Power concedes nothing but to collective action.

Michael Podhorzer
Sep 03, 2024

The contrast couldn’t be more striking. On one side: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris walking the picket line with striking UAW workers, and Harris launching her campaign in Milwaukee declaring her support for the freedom of working people to join unions. On the other side: Trump and Elon Musk gleefully cackling about firing striking workers, as Musk and other plutocratic Trump supporters hope for the Federalist Society (FedSoc) Supreme Court justices to declare the entire NLRB, if not collective bargaining itself, unconstitutional. As this post will show, their hostility to unions is a prerequisite for the success of their broader political project.

First, you may have heard that public support for unions “has been increasing” – but you probably haven’t heard just how big a deal that is in the context of the last 15 years. Since the Great Recession, we’ve seen the credibility of, and approval for, just about every major institution plummet – yet we’ve seen support for unions increase.


SNIP
There’s more. Look at the change from 2009 to 2023 in this Gallup polling question on unions. Respondents are asked whether they think unions “mostly help” or “mostly hurt” a list of things, including union workers, non-union workers, the US economy, and union companies. It’s not surprising that nearly everyone (almost 80%) believes unions mostly help union workers. What is striking is two things: (1) a substantial majority of Americans (roughly 60% in both cases) also believe that unions mostly help the US economy and the unionized companies; and (2) the “mostly help” numbers have increased substantially across the board since 2009 – but most dramatically for “US economy” and “non-union workers.”
https://www.weekendreading.net/p/as-go-unions-so-goes-america

Harris will crush Trump.