Marc Kagan is the author of the forthcoming book The Fall and Rise and Fall of NYC’s TWU Local 100, 1975–2009.
Hundreds of thousands marched in the “No Kings” protests in New York City last weekend, as millions did elsewhere across the US. Organized labor’s marginal presence at the New York protests was emblematic of its anemic opposition to Trump more generally.
The Trump administration moved ahead last week with its plans to void the collective bargaining agreements covering hundreds of thousands of federal workers. The labor movement appears largely quiescent in the face of this historic union busting.
In 1970, US postal workers won collective bargaining rights with an illegal strike. If lawsuits to stop Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce fail, that kind of militancy may be the only way for federal workers to retain their own union rights.
Too many unions have responded to Donald Trump’s historic attacks on federal workers with little more than words. To beat back his anti-union assault, organized labor needs to break with decades of timidity.
The New York Times recently profiled life on the Amazon shop floor — chaperoned by Amazon management. Perhaps not shockingly, the result was a fawning portrait of work at Amazon that only a boss could love.
Trump will replace Anthony Kennedy with a ghoul. But nobody should shed any tears over his retirement.