A victory for working folks
For the first time in 40 years, workers in a southern auto plant voted to unionize. On Friday, April 19th, hourly workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers (UAW). It is no coincidence that the US has the most pro-worker President in living memory. And Biden's Scranton cred has given American workers the belief they will be listened to.
The result was not close. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that oversees unionizing votes, announced that 73% of the 3,600 workers at the plant who cast ballots had voted to join the union. There was an 84% turnout among eligible voters.
Kelcey Smith, a worker in the paint department at Volkswagen summed up the general tenor of the worker’s victory:
“This election is big. This is the time; this is the place. Southern workers are ready to stand up and win a better life.”
Workers are beginning to realize the anti-union propaganda blared out by the owner class — and echoed throughout the plutocrat-friendly, right-wing mediasphere — does not benefit them. For too long, many working-class voters have placed more trust in politicians sponsored by big business than in people they elect to represent their economic interests.
For the sake of their paycheck, labor should nurture its newfound clarity.
How we got here
Political wisdom has it that Reagan’s popularity soared when northern white working-class joined their religious southern brothers to flex their bigoted, states’ rights muscles — while America kicked Soviet ass. Real men embraced guns, God, Old Glory, and the GOP. And the Democrats became a refuge for rainbow flag-waving, social warriors, minorities, and pantywaisted, atheistic, America-hating quiche eaters.
The rich people party attracted poor people who believed they were one break away from wealth. Workers voted for pro-management policies. People living paycheck to paycheck voted to reduce taxes on inherited wealth. And the lunch-pail crowd self-emasculated by embracing ‘right to work’ laws.
Car manufacturers opened factories in the non-union South. And workers rejoiced as they snapped up jobs that paid them less than their unionized peers in the Rust Belt. Everyone was happy. Ownership repeated the profits. Workers rejoiced that the Kochs were shielding them from government overreach and socialism. And any doubts about the arrangement were salved by pastors assuring their fleeced flocks that Jesus loved them.
But things began to change. In 2023, Unions showed signs of life. The media noticed. Even the capitalist bible, the Wall Street Journal, had something to say. At the end of the year, they reported: “The Big Wins by Unions in 2023“ Although you may not be able to read it, as the capitalist bible is behind a paywall.
The future
The outlook for US trade unions is not rosy, but 2023 produced some optimism. Overall, the percentage of workers in unions ticked down to 10% — less than half of the 20.1% in 1983. But there were some solid wins. Unions themselves enjoyed a long-term upward trend in approval (with some year-to-year variation).
As Investopedia reports:
- United Autoworkers members won pay increases and other concessions from Detroit automakers after a first-of-its-kind simultaneous strike against the big three companies.
- Workers from at least 385 Starbucks locations have voted to unionize since an organizing drive began in 2021 despite fierce opposition from the company, although the coffee retailer has yet to agree to any contracts with members of the Starbucks Workers United union.
- Screenwriters won pay raises and restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence after striking against Hollywood studios.
- Unions got support from the administration of President Joe Biden, who calls himself “the most pro-union president in history.” That included a new federal labor rule that makes it easier for contractors and employees of franchises to form unions.
- Unions have been growing more popular in recent years. As of August, 67% of people had a favorable opinion of unions according to a Gallup poll, down from 71% in 2022, which had been its highest since 1965.
The reliably pro-business Supreme Court did its bit to thumb the scales for the economic aristocracy. In 2018, SCOTUS’s five conservatives decided, in Janus vs. AFSCME, that public employees no longer had to pay dues to unions if they worked under a union contract but were not union members. Note: It will not get better soon, as Amy Coney Barrett has replaced Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
SCOTUS’s decision does not prohibit unions from organizing. But it hits public sector unions in the finances. Why would an employee pay dues for union protections when they could get the same protections without paying for them?
Mind you, those workers should consider that if every public employee thought that way, public sector unions would go away. Meanwhile, at the same time, Trump and his crew are giddy at the thought of firing government employees.
Which brings us back to politics.
How people feel about unions depends on their party affiliation. 74% of Democrats think unions are good for workers. 55% of Republicans think they are not. I wish the survey had asked those GOPers — and the 25% of Democrats who agreed — why they thought unions were a detriment to the worker.
Unions are not perfect. But before the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) American workers were not guaranteed a minimum wage or overtime pay. Their impact is obvious when you plot union membership against wealth distribution. As membership grew, the workers shared more of the national wealth. As it declined, the rich roared back.
The UAW’s unionizing drive in Tennessee panicked Gov. Bill Lee into reassuring Big Business he would fight to protect their profits, no matter how many people got hurt. He announced — along with five other southern governors: Kay Ivey (AL), Brian Kemp, (GA) Tate Reeves (MS), Henry McMaster (SC), and Greg Abbott (TX) — that he would resist a living wage and reasonable benefits for working stiffs.
Taking it to the polls
Anti-abortion activists have energized pro-choice women (the vast majority) and like-minded men (not enough) to turn their backs on Republican rights strippers. They have repeatedly told conservative politicians to feck off. Will anti-unionism start to convince some workers that conservative politicians do not give a damn about them either?
It is time for American workers to wake up and realize that permission to be a bigot — if that is what informs their vote — is not worth the price of depressed wages.