For the better part of the last century, the relationship between the Democratic Party and the labor movement has changed little. It appears set in stone, with no amount of neglect or disrespect or, increasingly, outright hostility from Democrats able to affect much more than private grumbling from labor.

And for nearly that long, labor’s left observers and participants have described it as a relationship gone sour, often in hopes that labor would call the whole thing off. Historian Mike Davis called it a “barren marriage;” a more common characterization is that of an “abusive relationship.”

Perhaps such observers should work on some new metaphors. But overblown analogies are understandable: with the rise of a strong neoliberal wing over the last several decades and an increasing number of Democrats no longer even feigning to be troubled with placating unions — once seen as a central constituency for the party — or a broader agenda of equality and social justice, unionists and their partisans have grown increasingly exasperated at party policies that look more and more like those of Republicans.