'January 6 Was A Real Wake-Up Call': US Unions Fight To Save Democracy

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- Unite Here members from New Haven, CT and around the US rallied in D.C. as part of the Freedom Ride. Rev. Scott Marks (far left) of New Haven Rising & Local 34 leader Crystal Bates (3rd from left) were among those leading the march.
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- “Unions remain the only set of organizations in the US that can help prevent working-class whites from going conservative,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at Washington University. -

- January 6 was a real wake-up call’: US unions fight to save democracy,' The Guardian, April 5, 2022. Labor leaders view this year’s elections – and 2024’s – with special urgency, as a goal-line stand to preserve America’s democracy. Many union leaders used to pooh-pooh talk about saving democracy, according to Shane Larson, the Communications Workers of America’s director of government affairs. All that changed after the January 6 assault on the Capitol and after many Republicans pushed to overturn Biden’s victory in several states.

“Just a few years ago, some union leaders would complain, ‘Why are we focusing on these do-good democratic issues?’ They’d say we need to focus exclusively on labor rights and jobs, jobs, jobs,” Larson said. “Now no one is complaining about this at all. There’s a real recognition that the entire labor movement has to be involved in this effort, that we have to do something for our democracy or we can lose it.

“January 6 was a real wake-up call,” Larson said. “Part of our effort is to hold accountable a number of insurrectionists running for some of these offices.” He mentioned the Arizona and Georgia secretary of state races in particular. With their ability to mobilize tens of thousands of union foot soldiers, unions are one of the nation’s most powerful political forces, and labor leaders view this year’s election – and 2024’s – with special urgency, as a goal-line stand to preserve America’s democracy.

Traditionally focusing on presidential and congressional races, unions this year plan to focus far more than usual on state and local races – for instance, to prevent the election of secretaries of state and election commissioners who have embraced Trump’s “big lie” and signaled they might overturn their state’s 2024 vote results if the Democratic presidential nominee is ahead. Unite Here, the hotel workers’ union, is known for being one of the nation’s most politically active unions, and this year it has expanded its political ambitions – not just to elect worker-friendly candidates, but to help preserve America’s embattled democracy...
More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/05/us-unions-democracy-capitol-attack

https://unitehere.org/press-releases/unite-here-hospitality-workers-from-21-states-march-in-washington-d-c-alongside-black-voters-matter-for-national-action-in-front-of-senate-to-combat-voter-suppression-laws/



~ Unions are democracy in the workplace.