President Biden on Sunday night raised brows when he tweeted a video appearing to offer his full-throated support the unionization effort by Amazon warehouse staffers in Alabama — going further than all recent past presidents, on both sides of the aisle.
This is an almost existential moment both for unions as a viable counter to the decades long corporate assault on wages and hopefully what could be a better alignment of workers back into the Democratic fold. It’s been a terrible number of election cycles in which there has been a steady migration of Union members voting republican.
And as for as I can see, most of them are a lost cause.
And Amazon is the best company to go after.
I’m still pissed after seeing on The NY Times front page, an advertisement from Amazon pushing for the 15 dollar minimum wage. The fucking duplicitous propaganda from them speaks how much a malign force they are.
This is a powerful statement, well spoken. We need to have strong unions and an empowered working class to create the world we need going forward. If the workers can get organized and produce results maybe racist attitudes will be seen as counter productive to everyman’s interests.
Good. It’s about damned time.
Who is this Joe Biden of whom you write, TPM?
That tears it. The man is basically a Bernie bro at this point. He’s making it practically impossible for me to be angry with him anymore. What’s a leftist to do these days?..
As an old union organizer with socialist leanings this warms my heart. Good for Joe.
Alabama ranks 30th on percentage of unionized workforce (8.0%). Interestingly enough, Hawaii is #1 with 23.7% unionized.
^ I tried in vain to post that message moments after the article was posted. It’s a salient point considering the location of the Amazon center.
Biden’s move is a particularly “interesting moment” for a “fundamentally transactional politician,” said Erik Loomis, a labor historian at the University of Rhode Island. He noted that the Democratic Party has gradually moved into a fuller embrace of issues such as a $15 minimum wage and the labor movement in recent years.
“It shows just how far activists have pushed the Democratic Party over the last 10 years,” Loomis said. “He’s comfortable making that kind of a statement, knowing it’s going to be supported by the party.”
Democratic Party acting like the Democratic Party, news at 11.
Seriously?
OK then. Can we have Card Check like Obama promised now?
Biden’s move is a particularly “interesting moment” for a “fundamentally transactional politician,” said Erik Loomis, a labor historian at the University of Rhode Island.
What the flying eff does “fundamentally transactional” mean when applied to Joe Biden?
If it means that he makes deals, the statement rounds down to “politician who practices politics”, which is so banal to not even be worth the electrons to put the letters on the page.
And compared to The Former Guy, for whom everything is a zero-sum transaction? Give me a fricking break!
A Democrat who cares about organized labor? More traditional than “transactional”, I’d say.
Edit: Refreshing, but traditional.
If the Senate parliamentarian won’t allow $15/hr, you’re going to need to take it on yourself, folks.