In presidential election years, by Labor Day most US labor unions have long halted organizing, shifting their resources to elect a Democrat to the White House. Members are told having a Democratic president will give us — that is, union officials — access to politicians with whom they can negotiate over labor’s concerns.

This year is no exception. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, along with almost every union (most recently the Teamsters), urges members to help elect Hillary Clinton, in order to stop Donald Trump and protect what workers have earned. It’s a strategy that labor has employed for decades. And it’s one we have to abandon — not only if we’re going to make advances, but even if we are going to truly safeguard what has been won.

Just this year, the Sanders campaign so clearly showed labor activists and officials how to expand prospects for progressive change by challenging the bipartisan status quo and articulating a program for the real needs of working people. Bernie should have taught them that to win political battles and economic gains labor needs to argue for a new politics.