It’s Worker Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.

I’ve been reading several takes on what went wrong for Democrats in this election. And there’s one that actually resonates:

 

The party as a whole needed to do a better job centering the working class.

 

Before you furiously hit reply, look: I know Democrats have done a much better job for the labor movement historically, as well as recently.

• There’s a robust National Labor Relations Board taking on the likes of Starbucks and Amazon;
• Lina Khan and ilk at the Federal Trade Commission are fighting mergers among our increasingly monopolistic society;
• President Joe Biden walked strike lines, and learned from the rail strike to not cave to Chamber of Commerce pressure—staying out of big labor fights and ensuring UPS drivers and dockworkers had a chance for a good contract.

Republicans, meanwhile, have made no secret that they prefer tax cuts for the rich, getting rid of enforcement of worker rights, and kicking out a large immigrant workforce that keeps many industries (agriculture, for one) afloat.

 

The country’s union members saw that, passed the word, and voted overwhelmingly for Vice President Kamala Harris as a result.

 

But! Unionized workers are also only 11% of the US workforce. How about reaching the other 89%? For instance:

• Raising the federal minimum wage.
• Better protections from states, like ours, that are trying to roll back health and safety standards for workers.
• Actual movement on price gouging, because prices remained high, pressuring low-income folks. (If I had to read one more tone-deaf story about how inflation was “easing”….)

When people don’t think you’re doing anything to materially help their situation—whether that’s actually true or just perceived to be—they will turn to the other guy. That’s actually good news for Dems, since if nothing changes under President Donald Trump (or, even more likely, things get worse), they’re in a good position to win back the White House in four years.

 

Will they just go back to their old ways when they do? Or will they build a new coalition starting now?

 

Resistance is brewing, particularly among the young, multiracial working class, who already largely find a home in Dems’ progressive policies (as we saw in ballot measures across the country this election). But none of it matters if politicians don’t understand the rent is too damn high.

 

What do you think would win over the working class in Iowa? Email me here.

All this talk of getting organized made me remember I had yet to read this book I picked up at last year’s Labor Notes conference in Iowa City. And it was a quick and easy one!

 

“Secrets of a Successful Organizer” might seem like a book exclusively for folks trying to organize their coworkers at their job. And it absolutely is that book. But it’s not called “Successful Union Organizer” for a reason—there are lots of parallels that can be drawn between how to organize that type of union as well as organizing politically, around tenants’ rights, around civil rights, and more.

 

If you’re ready for action after this election, you might start here.

 

(Send me your book/movie/article suggestions here.)

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