An excerpt from “Reclaiming the Democratic Party for Working Families” by Bruce Raynor, former president of UNITE and and current president of the Sidney Hillman Foundation and Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, at The Nation:
A New Challenge: Republicans Competing for Working-Class Votes
One needs to look no further than these current Republican initiatives to appreciate an emerging shift by some elements of the Republican Party.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced labor law reform legislation addressing captive audience speeches and first-contract arbitration—two critical issues for union organizing.
Vice President JD Vance proposed a $5,000 child tax credit to ease financial burdens on families.
Donald Trump proposed ending taxes on overtime, Social Security benefits, and income below $150,000.
The Republican National Convention welcomed Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who—despite criticism from Democrats—used the platform to deliver a clear, anti-corporate, pro-union message.
Yet, despite these gestures, the new Trump administration seems determined to continue its assault on workers:
Revoking the $15-an-hour minimum wage for federal contractors.
Weakening standards that require only responsible contractors to receive government projects.
Illegally firing NLRB members to cripple the agency’s ability to protect workers, while Elon Musk challenges its constitutionality.
Breaking contracts with every federal union.
Raising prices through indiscriminate tariffs.
Appointing renowned union-buster Elon Musk to oversee reckless firings and union-busting of government unions.
President Biden was a true pro-union, pro-US manufacturing president. But now, voters see a Republican Party—not the Democrats—saying they are going to stand up for American jobs, embracing tariffs not just to protect existing jobs but to expand manufacturing.
So what exactly are Democrats fighting for?
Lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs or adding home care, dental, and vision coverage to Medicare?
Ending stock trading by Congress or billionaires’ dominating spending in elections?
Extending to all Americans the 30–40 percent Medicare prescription drug discounts on all prescriptions that veterans receive through VA-negotiated prices?
Raising the minimum wage or expanding overtime pay eligibility?
Raising taxes on billionaires and ending taxes on every working American below a certain income?
Free community college?
Stopping corporate price gouging or using tariffs to protect American manufacturing jobs?
The problem is: We do not know! The Democratic Party has failed to define a clear economic agenda for working Americans.
…A Call to Action
We hope our brothers and sisters in the labor movement will step up and lead—starting with a resurgence of organizing. That means deploying billions of dollars of the $18 billion in revenue and the $35 billion in assets currently sitting idle in banks and investments to target the large technology, healthcare, grocery, trucking, and manufacturing corporations undermining union wages.
Organizing is not just about the workplace—but also produces political change.
Union members vote more pro-worker than their non-union counterparts.
In Union, a labor-led project in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, proved that year-round economic education can significantly shift votes among former union members and working-class families.
Targeting anti-union, multibillion-dollar corporations forces politicians to pick a side.
Unions Must Demand More—From Both Parties
It is time—long overdue—for labor unions to challenge both Democrats and Republicans.
Unions should lead with a plan to:
1. Hold politicians accountable to an “economic contract for working families” and demand that any candidate seeking union support commit to it.
2. Deploy a minimum of $3 billion a year of the more than $18 billion of annual union dues and $35 billion in labor assets to major organizing efforts targeting corporate giants that suppress wages, cut benefits, and gouge consumers. This should include hiring 20,000 organizers (about $2 billion).
3. Immediately launch campaigns in key 2026 electoral districts to educate members and their communities on a pro-worker economic agenda.
4. Spark both an internal membership and national conversation on federally guaranteeing existing workers’ pensions and Social Security and stopping all union busting, including reversing the busting of federal union recognition and prohibiting the privatization of the Postal Service. Then leaders should ask union members to vote for a National Day of Retirement and Worker Security, supporting coordinated actions at union and non-union worksites across the country.
The future of work and working families is not a matter of chance—it is a matter of choice.
It is time for unions and Democrats to decide.
Read the entire article here.
