Subject: [SocialistWorker.org] Why did labor fail again?
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View original article here:
http://socialistworker.org/2013/01/07/why-did-labor-fail-again
Comment: Sandy Boyer
======== WHY DID LABOR FAIL AGAIN? ===========================================
Veteran activist and WBAI host Sandy Boyer asks why unions and liberal groups
are once again tolerating Democratic compromises with the Republicans on
taxes.
January 7, 2013
WHEN BARACK Obama and Congressional Democrats passed the deal to avert the
"fiscal cliff," they inadvertently proved how politically powerless the labor
movement and its liberal allies really are.
After all the campaign rhetoric about taxing the rich, people making up to
$400,000 a year (the thresholds for joint filers is $450,000) won't wind up
paying an extra penny in income taxes. After all the talk about fairness,
it's working people who will hit with a big increase in the payroll tax.
Before the vote, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka twittered that it was "not
a good fiscal cliff deal if it gives more tax cuts to [the] 2 percent." The
entire panoply of liberal and progressive lobbying groups, including
MoveOn.Org, Credo Action, ColorOfChange, the Progressive Change Campaign
Committee and Democracy for America joined the AFL-CIO in opposing
compromises by the White House and Democrats.
The result of all this pressure: only three Democratic senators and 16 House
Democrats voted against the deal.
Labor and its liberal allies are rapidly running out of excuses for their
constant political failures.
In Michigan, they said they were taken by surprise when "right-to-work"
legislation was sprung on them at the last minute. This time, everyone knew
for months that a deal was in the making and when it would need to be voted
on--right down to the day and the hour.
In Wisconsin and Indiana, they blamed Republican governors and Republican
majorities in the state legislatures. When the federal budget deal came up
for a vote, there was a Democratic president and Democrats in control of the
Senate.
The uncomfortable truth is that the Democrats have nothing to fear from the
unions or liberals. Richard Trumka confirmed that after the budget vote when
he proclaimed: "The agreement passed by the Senate last night is a
breakthrough in beginning to restore tax fairness and achieves some key goals
of working families...A strong message from voters and a relentless echo from
grassroots activists over the last six weeks helped get us this far."
Democrats know that unions and the liberals will keep the endorsements and
the money coming, no matter how far right they move. In every election, there
will always be a Republican running who is even more right wing than the
Democrat, so the unions will faithfully go on supporting "the lesser evil."
As a result, the Democrats look more like the Republicans every day.
The unions could learn something from the LGBT movement and undocumented
immigrants who won concessions from the Obama administration. When Obama was
stalling on "don't ask don't tell" and marriage equality, some LBGT leaders
let it be known that they were considering cutting off contributions to the
Democratic Party. If the AFL-CIO tried that, the results might amaze them.
After the DREAM Act failed in Congress, young undocumented immigrants
continued to organize highly visible and very dramatic protests throughout
the country. Democrats began to worry that unless they did something soon,
they could lose Latino votes in the November elections.
In June, Obama finally issued an executive order allowing at least some young
immigrants to remain in the U.S. without the fear of being deported. Labor
leaders might have wanted to consider organizing these kinds of protests
against the budget deal before it was too late.
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WHAT LABOR needs now is a political declaration of independence. It would
start with mobilizing union members instead of relying on high-priced
lobbyists to whisper in politicians' ears.
Even today, there is a union local in virtually every good-sized city or town
in the country. These union locals could start right now to organize their
own local actions to resist the cuts in Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid that Obama and the Republicans are about to negotiate.
If labor begins a serious fight back, it would soon be joined by African
American and Latino organizations, the Occupy movement, churches, and other
progressive forces in the country. Otherwise, if the Democrats and
Republicans are left to their own devices, serious cuts in vital social
programs are virtually inevitable.
Even this won't be enough as long as the Democrats know that they can count
on labor and its allies to turn out the vote for all their candidates in
every election. As practical politicians, they wouldn't dream of making
concessions to groups that never threaten them. In crass electoral terms, it
will always be much more profitable to move to the center and the right.
With congressional elections only two years away, now is the time for labor
to serve notice that it can't be taken for granted anymore. If the unions
announced they would run their own candidates against at least some of the
Democrats who vote for cuts in the social programs working people need, they
could transform the political landscape.
Very few things focus a politician's mind like the prospect of losing office.
And very few things would capture the attention of the national Democratic
Party like the fear of losing seats in Congress.
Running independent progressive candidates might mean that some Republicans
would get elected. That would be unfortunate, but the alternative is the
emerging bipartisan political consensus that the needs of working people can
be sacrificed for the interests of the super-rich and multinational
corporations.
Many entrenched labor leaders would see a political declaration of
independence as a fate worse than death. They'd have to break off their cozy
relationships with Democratic politicians that they've spent years
cultivating. They would be challenged to redirect at least some of the
millions of dollars they've raised for political action, most of it destined
to be used to elect Democrats.
Most of all, they would have to redirect power and resources from the central
leadership to members and the locals. A nationwide fightback won't be
organized by a command from the unions' national headquarters. It would take
local leaders and members who have the power and authority to mobilize in
their own communities.
The Chicago teachers' strike, the Wisconsin Capitol occupation and solidarity
actions by the West Coast longshore workers have showed us that this kind of
labor movement is possible. We need to begin building it now because the
alternative will be a catastrophe for working people.
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