Sanders warns Biden: address working-class fears or risk losing to demogogue
Sanders warns Biden: address working-class fears or risk losing to demogogue
Sanders warns Biden: address working-class anxieties or risk losing election to demagogue
In an interview with the Guardian from his home base in Burlington, Vermont, Sanders urged the Democratic president to inject more urgency into his bid for re-election. He said that unless the president was more direct in recognising the many crises faced by working-class families his Republican rival would win.
“We’ve got to see the White House move more aggressively on healthcare, on housing, on tax reform, on the high cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders said. “If we can get the president to move in that direction, he will win; if not, he’s going to lose.”
The US senator from Vermont added that he was in contact with the White House pressing that point. “We hope to make clear to the president and his team that they are not going to win this election unless they come up with a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country.”
Sanders’ warning comes at a critical time in American politics. On Monday, Republicans in Iowa will gather for caucuses that mark the official start of the 2024 presidential election.
Biden faces no serious challenger in the Democratic primaries. But concern is mounting over how he would fare against Trump given a likely rematch between them in November.
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Biden is the most pro-union president we've had in years and he's responsible for the resurgence of unions. Bernie and all the commenters here seem totally detached from reality.
He then went on to apply pressure to the railroads in order to get them everything they wanted without striking.
The IBEW sums up his many accomplishments for unions:
Throughout his first term, President Biden has been a steadfast ally of unions and American workers. I am confident that support will continue in his second term. The Biden-Harris administration has consistently advanced policies that empower workers, created opportunities for everyday people, and promoted the well-being of working families. As a direct result of these efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has overseen robust economic growth, increased worker wages and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.
President Biden's dedication to unionism has spurred tangible wins for IBEW that will lead to good union jobs and stronger communities for decades. Without President Biden and Vice President Harris, we simply would not have the pro-union, pro-worker policies included in the American Recovery Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act. Significantly, President Biden’s strong leadership saved IBEW pensions – a benefit every worker should enjoy – through the enactment of the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Relief Act.
Within the first week of taking office, President Biden and Vice President Harris began appointing into the administration union officials who have dedicated their lives to advancing the labor movement's core principles and worker’s rights, including a card-carrying union member for Secretary of Labor and a chief counsel for the NLRB who supports collective bargaining.
President Biden has issued executive orders to reverse policies that have eroded unionists' strength for decades, including industry-recognized apprenticeship programs (IRAPs) and rules that gutted federal employees’ collective bargaining rights. And then the Biden-Harris Administration went on the offense: mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects, establishing the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, and ensuring that skilled American workers benefit from historic federal investments.
President Biden has a proven record of fighting to strengthen labor laws and protecting workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain, which has led to a resurgence in union membership and power of the labor movement.
https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2304/230425_IBEWEndorses
ALL of a union's power is in striking/the threat of striking, and it needs to be demonstrated regularly. Biden not letting the nation feel the pain of a railroad strike was a disservice to the union movement.
Not winning those concessions through a strike was a blow to the union movement. Daddy came and took away their privilege to fight back, spoke to the railroad, and got their ice cream for them... this time.
They need to have their own power 24/7/365 under any President, or they have no power at all.
How you win is just as important as winning. They need to be a peer that can stand up to the railroad with consequences at any time, or they're on borrowed time before the next encroachment.
Nope. You aren't looking at the bigger picture. The unions that were holding out were doing so to the detriment of the rest of organized labor. Had they continued to be allowed to do so, the economic consequences would have been a devastating PR blow to organized labor, as would the political consequences.
I have to wonder how many of you naysayers are actually involved in organized labor activism, given how out of touch you appear to be with how unions are actually thinking about the railroad strike. We, meaning organized labor, aren't on the same page as you at all, and while we don't doubt that you have the best intentions, at this point you're basically making yourself the enemy by elevating the odds that Trump wins reelection, which would be devastating to organized labor.
I fully expect to be downvoted by Lemmy's purist zealots, as frequently happens when I don't toe their extremist line or pretend to be who they think I should be as a union organizer and activist. But I'm the one down here on the front lines, not you fucking privileged cry-babies who are going to flip the table over if you don't have everything your way.
It's bullshit. With friends like you, working people don't even need enemies.
Go see how supportive of a union's right to strike for better pay and working conditions your enemies are, then.
Spoilers... nah I wont ruin it for you.
Remember what happened when the air traffic controllers tried to strike and shut down the country's airports? Anti-union sentiment, Federal Unions outlawed, a wound they still haven't recovered from. Biden was trying to avoid an outcome like this, quite astutely. If they had shut down the nations economy with a railroad strike he would have gotten the blame and unions would have been set back decades.
Either unions have the power to strike or they are begging beggars subject to the whims of capital.
You can't have both, and it isn't a Grey area. Biden chose capital in the case of the railroad.
I'll vote for the feckless crime bill passing, union busting piece of garbage to stave off Jerry Lewis Hitler, but he's part of the longer term problem with this country, and one of the OG neoliberals that surrendered the Democrat party to Reagan the oligarchs economically into today.
When union power gets large enough it won't matter if they're legal, Massachusetts teachers just did an illegal strike to great effect.
It matters if they're enshrined in law because in the grey area, under the right wrong administration, the means of state violence will start cracking illegal striker's skulls and calling it "rule of law."
Yes we know the Boomers are pieces of shit.
We aren't detached. It's not good enough. You may be happy with these tiny improvements to a bunch of issues, but we aren't. Nazis are back. Racism is in resurgence. The "economy" is strong for the most wealthy while more people are homeless, food insecure and unable to afford staples. Women have been forced backward about 40 years. Trans people are at a higher risk of violence. Corruption is out of control... But yeah... We're the ones that are detached.
Well yeah because y'all not voting is what let the guy who actually did all of that into office in the first fucking place.
I voted for Hillary. Now what's your excuse?
Congrats, you want a medal for paying the entry fee for getting to say shit?
You're bitching about things he's trying to fix. Blaming him for not doing what he's doing. A vote for anyone else will worsen all of those issues you listed.
I don't fucking care who's "trying". The fact is he's not trying hard enough.
You're congratulating a child who's being dragged kicking and screaming to the play... Democrats are pussyfooting around in the face of fascism.
Fucking wake up.
He's not a fucking dictator, he's subject to checks and balances and is limited by what he can actually do.
Sorry you didn't get everything on your wish list immediately, that's how democracy works, compromise and incremental change.If you want to defeat the fascist, support Biden! That's literally the reason he's running.
Thank you for being so pathetic at nuance that you assume my insult of Democrats means I won't vote for them over Republicans. Your brain is broken by the two party system.
Nowhere did I ever at all in any way defend or endorse Republicans. Try again.
You're clearly not supporting him when you're bitching about him on social media, regardless of who you vote for.
Sounds like this democracy you're claiming is so important is already broken then.
You're getting downvoted by Lemmy's far left extremists, but most of us rank and file union members know that Biden did what he had to do in a bad situation with no good options. Had he not stepped in and ended the strike, inflation would have continued to rise, the predicted "red wave" election would have happened, the country would have tipped into recession and Trump would be guaranteed a win in '24, all of which would be far more dire for working people.
Furthermore, it's simply an objective fact that Biden is by far the most pro-union president in modern times. Again, the consensus in organized labor leadership is that he did what he had to do.
These purists are acting like children who don't understand that democracy is about compromise, not getting everything you want.
Local 10 till I die!