On Sep 26, 2007, at 12:40 PM, Eric wrote:
> Can someone remind me again why unions are so vital to leftist
> politics? As far as I can tell, really existing unions are actually
> retreating from politics, toward the national interest and away from
> any sort of working-class mutual aid. I know this is not a new
> development, but after the UAW deal, it seems like it might really be
> useful to evaluate the left's undying faith in the anachronistic
> political form called the union.
What else do you propose?
I don't see how we can have any kind of serious political awakening from the left without unions being at the center of it. They still have considerable resources and power, which they obviously don't use except to promote Democrats. But their potential is enormous. And it seems no accident that the decline of the left has gone along with the decline of organized labor.
I'm still awaiting suggestions about what the UAW could have done against a sick GM. There's the Labor Notes answer, "More militancy! More rank and file power!," but it still doesn't address the fact that GM's North American operations are a wreck. The U.S. auto industry seems like it's run by a bunch of morons, who've failed for the last 35 years to respond to Japanese competition. But that's the world the UAW has to deal with. What should they do?
Doug