Democratic Party FINALLY realizes that it has a problem

Last week I posted this essay about how unhappy the AFL-CIO is about being taken for granted by the Democratic Party for decades.

“The time has passed when we can passively settle for the lesser of two evils,” reads the main political resolution passed Tuesday by the AFL-CIO convention delegates. Lee Saunders, chair of the AFL-CIO’s political committee and president of AFSCME, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, introduced the resolution. They lead the labor federation’s two largest unions. Convention managers yoked the resolution to another measure it also approved discussing a labor party, though not by name.

“For decades the political system has failed working people,” Weingarten said. “Acting on behalf of corporations and the rich and powerful, the political system has been taking away, one after another, the pillars that support working people’s right to good jobs and secure benefits.”

The two measures, adopted October 24, followed a late Monday-evening meeting of supporters of reviving the Labor Party idea. It attracted about 50 delegates to an upstairs meeting room at the convention’s lead hotel. Their contention: Both the Democrats and the Republicans are under corporate domination.

Lots of people who read my essay responded that this didn't mean much, that it was all for show and the Democratic elite won't be impressed.

I predicted that it was only a matter of time before the progressive insurgency and the labor unions worked together. My prediction came true.

The seven national unions that endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for president have come together to back Our Revolution—a national network created to continue the movement that grew out of the Sanders’ challenge in the Democratic primaries.
Currently there are more than 300 local Our Revolution formations in the U.S. and four State Committees (in Texas, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Maryland).
The unions—the Amalgamated Transit Union, the American Postal Workers Union, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, the Communications Workers of America, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, National Nurses United, and United Electrical Workers—have formed Labor for Our Revolution. The group’s purpose is to assist Our Revolution’s campaigns and continue to tap into Sanders’ campaign base to gain support for collective bargaining, contract campaigns, and organizing. The people behind the alliance believe that Our Revolution won’t succeed without a solid foundation in the working class and strong support from the labor movement.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) past president Larry Cohen, who helped lead labor support for the Sanders campaign, is now the Our Revolution board chair and a key leader of Labor for Our Revolution.

Well, guess what? The Democratic Party DID notice.

Flanked by union officials, Democratic leaders on Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive plan to overhaul federal law in a way that would strengthen the ailing labor movement and make it easier for U.S. workers to unionize.
...One proposal would ban states from enacting “right to work” laws, which give workers the option to stop supporting unions while still enjoying the benefits of representation. Other proposals include creating new penalties for companies that engage in union-busting and forbidding the use of permanent replacement workers during labor strikes. Another proposal extends collective bargaining rights to more public employees, including in states that have recently restricted them, such as Wisconsin and Iowa.
If that sounds like a wish list for unions, it pretty much is. As a pillar of the Democratic Party, unions have wanted for years to see mainstream Democrats push for major reforms to the law that would rejuvenate the ranks of organized labor. At the press conference Wednesday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka applauded the proposals, but also emphasized that many Democrats have taken their union support for granted.

Obviously the GOP will reject everything on this list, so like Medicare-For-All, there is no immediate danger of anything passing.
And even if the Dems win next year, there is always a good chance of the Democrats going back on their promises.

Nevertheless, the fact that this came out just days after the AFL-CIO started talking about leaving the Democrats shows that the Dems noticed, and got scared.
Between this and the progressive insurgency, the Democratic Party has a leftist problem it hasn't seen since 1968.
We are still early in this fight.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

The Democratic Party is well beyond saving at this point. They've had chance after chance over the past 40 years and they keep racing the Repigs right off a cliff.

I will say though that no one should trust anything that comes out of the mouth of Randi Weingarten. She'll side with the privatization hawks against the teachers if it means she can get a piece of the racket.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

@The Aspie Corner
Labor unions and Our Revolution are joining forces.

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@The Aspie Corner I agree. Dem party leaders are lying through their teeth. They have no intention of enacting any of this. They just want the unions back in the veal pen.

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bondibox's picture

@The Aspie Corner became the first on my block to sign up for the LABOR PARTY

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F the F'n D's

The Aspie Corner's picture

@bondibox The AFL-CIO and the Teachers' Union are beholden to sucking corporate dick for money, much like the donkey and elephant themselves. The bosses sold out their members to Billary without their consent, hence why I'll stick by what I said with regards to Weingarten's motives being suspect.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

delusional

n Nov. 9, 2016, about 12 hours after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat to Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, convened a conference call with her fellow House Democrats. Most of them were still back home in their respective districts and still in shock. Not only would Trump be president, but the Senate remained in G.O.P. control, and — despite rosy predictions from Pelosi and her party’s pollsters — so did the House.

Several members on the call later told me they expected their leader to offer some show of contrition, an inventory of mistakes made or, at minimum, an acknowledgment that responsibility for the previous night’s disaster began at the top. Already, Trump’s sweep of what had for years been Democratic strongholds in the Rust Belt had led to a fast-congealing belief that the party had lost touch with white working-class voters.

But Pelosi sounded downright peppy on the call, noting a few vulnerable House seats that the Democrats had managed to hang onto. As for those working-class voters, “To say we don’t care about them is hard to believe,” Pelosi insisted, according to a transcript of the call I obtained. “I have to take issue and say I don’t think anybody was unaware of the anger.” The Democrats weren’t out of touch, she said. They just hadn’t made their case clearly enough to voters — or as she put it, “We have to get out there and say it in a different way.”

“It reminded me of that scene at the end of ‘Animal House,’ where Kevin Bacon is standing in the middle of all this chaos, screaming: ‘Remain calm! All is well!’ ” Scott Peters, a congressman from California who was on the call, told me. “After telling us before that we were going to pick up 20 seats, and we end up with six, underlaid with Clinton losing, I had no use for that kind of happy talk.” During and after Pelosi’s monologue, Democratic representatives who were listening texted and called one another incredulously, but Peters was one of the few who spoke up on the line. “I think we’re missing something,” he told Pelosi. “We’re just not hearing what’s on people’s minds.”

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Socialprogressive's picture

@gjohnsit

and she's still delusional.

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I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right, and exercise.
But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.

snoopydawg's picture

@Socialprogressive

the powder is now 11 years old and I'm not sure if it has any potency left. She never had any intention of using it and if people thought that she pull it out after Her and the down ticket candidates lost, she certainly made it clear that she isn't ever going to use it.

"To say we don’t care about them is hard to believe," Pelosi insisted, according to a transcript of the call I obtained. “I have to take issue and say I don’t think anybody was unaware of the anger.” The Democrats weren’t out of touch, she said. They just hadn’t made their case clearly enough to voters — or as she put it, “We have to get out there and say it in a different way.”

No Nancy, we aren't waiting for you to say it in a different way, we were waiting for you to pass legislation that would have finally helped the 99% instead of your butt kissing the 1% when you held all 3 branches of government for two years. The fact that you didn't then and have no interest in doing so in the future is why so many people are angry and have demexitted and working on forming a new party.
We didn't want "better messaging", we wanted action.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

divineorder's picture

" The labor leaders who introduced the independent politics resolution, Saunders and Weingarten, are both members of the Democratic National Committee. "

http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/afl-cio-calls-for-a-break-with-lesse...

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

@divineorder
All of the Democratic establishment is feeling pressure, all the way down to the labor union leaders.

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GreatLakeSailor's picture

@gjohnsit

They're trying to get out in front of it so they can sandbag it. Weingarten gives a shit? I find that hard to believe. I agree that it is telling that she has calculated that she can no longer ignore the proggies. Leading left though!? Not so sure it is genuine.

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

@GreatLakeSailor lead or get the hell out of the way for labor leaders who, like the dems have steadfastly ignored the workers.

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glitterscale

smiley7's picture

@divineorder

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@divineorder Weingarten, as somebody said above, is utterly untrustworthy.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Meteor Man's picture

I'm glad that this push is happening and I wish them all the luck in the world. I just can't bring myself to the point of believing either party is capable of either reform or governance.

A sine qua non for effective governance is busting up The Military Industrial Complex and The Prison Industrial Complex. These two public/ private monstrosities are sucking the lifeblood out of our national treasury. They are also entwined in a death grip with America's financial Vampire Squid.

This will be an epic battle.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

snoopydawg's picture

@Meteor Man

anyone else find it funny when New York officials said that they will increase their surveillance tactics after the truck attack yesterday? They have spent billions on it and it doesn't matter how much more they spend on it, nothing would have stopped the person from using his truck to kill people.
Did you notice how quickly again that they decided that he was a lone wolf and that no more attacks are coming?
Heard anything new about the Vegas shootings lately? This fell off the news radar pretty quickly and they returned to covering the Russian/Mueller storyline 24/7.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Burn it down, blow it up. Surround it and attack it from every angle. Holding them accountable and making them lose is the only way for the people to win.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Ravensword's picture

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@Ravensword

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O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.

EdMass's picture

Flanked by union officials, Democratic leaders on Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive plan to overhaul federal law in a way that would strengthen the ailing labor movement and make it easier for U.S. workers to unionize.

Between this and the progressive insurgency, the Democratic Party has a leftist problem it hasn't seen since 1968.

People died for the cause then. Remember? Taking it to the streets? Nah.

A good lunch and a free stay at a nice hotel is all it takes to get people to show up.

Unions are not in the "correct" demographic.

This goes nowhere.

I'll bet you a $1

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

snoopydawg's picture

One proposal would ban states from enacting “right to work” laws, which give workers the option to stop supporting unions while still enjoying the benefits of representation.

While democrats have been twiddling their thumbs, the Koch brothers have been busy passing their right to work legislation in the many states that turned red during the Obama years.
Democrats can promise us anything they want because they know that there isn't any chance that it would pass.
This is why we saw so many corporate democrats jumping on the MFA legislation.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

this was just after the DNC purge and so many ToPpers were defending it.

Yep. If Democratic voters had wanted Bernie to be the nominee, he would have been the nominee. It’s been seventeen freaking months since Hillary clinched the nomination and we’re still having to listen to these tantrums about how the DNC didn’t ignore the will of the people and just make Bernie Emperor-For-Life. Ob-la-di, ob-la-da...

My reply

Clinched the nomination, but lost the election. What's your point?
Voters are tired of seeing the DP catering to lobbyists. They have no place in the DNC. This was a blatant slap in the face of people who wanted them to listen to their problems with them. Why is this so difficult to understand?

Today we learned that what we were saying during the primary was true. You'd think that people would eat a little crow after that came out, but instead, they doubled down.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

This should have been dome after Clinton got NAFTA passed.

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This should have been dome after Clinton got NAFTA passed.

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By all the things you say that you'll do
Though much concerned but not involved
With decisions that are made by you

But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
'Cause if you really want to hear our views
"You haven't done nothing"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxrzT8WNxDc

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orlbucfan's picture

DLCraporate can shove it along with their Turd Way pals. Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.