The Democratic Party and the Labor Union Paradox
Democrats should love unions. But what happens when the relationship becomes complicated?
The Biden presidency has renewed a series of internal debates in the Democratic Party that had been subsumed during the years of resistance to the Trump administration. One of the strongest has been the party’s complicated relationship with labor unions. Democrats seem to love the idea of unions but have mixed feelings about how to help them. They have failed to unite behind a substantive program that would replenish labor’s strength in this country, such as the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act or a law lessening the impact of the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision.
At the same time, many Democrats have harshly critiqued decisions made by unions in various sectors. The party has struck back against union attacks on Joe Biden’s oil pipeline policies. Leading liberals such as Jonathan Chait have argued against the refusal of many teachers unions to support the resumption of in-person classes, especially after a CDC report urged school reopenings. These disputes pale in comparison to the liberal condemnation of police unions for supporting officers charged and sometimes convicted in shootings of African Americans across the country. The Democratic Party may be pro-union, but they are far from unequivocal support of the nation’s labor…