How “Brother” Bernie Is Making Labor’s Day - CounterPunch

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How “Brother” Bernie is Making Labor’s Day
by Steve Early - CounterPunch
August 25, 2015



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If it wasn’t for the Democratic presidential primary race now underway, Labor Day 2015 might be just another annual occasion for union mourning rather than celebration.

American workers have lost far more battles than they’ve than won recently. Further legal or political setbacks could be on the way, thanks to the Obama Administration and U.S. Supreme Court.

This spring, President Obama, big business, and their Republican allies in Congress won approval for a “fast-track” vote on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), when that controversial free trade deal is ready for ratification. Labor critics predict the TPP will undermine workers’ rights, environmental standards, and efforts to regulate multinational corporate activity.

This coming winter, the Supreme Court may rule that public employers and unions are barred, by the First Amendment, from requiring workers who benefit from collective bargaining to help pay for its costs. This case, involving California teachers, could weaken public sector unions even more than the TPP will hurt private sector ones.

Because of such political threats, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Senator Hillary Clinton, would normally be taking labor support for granted, while waltzing toward a first-place finish in the 2016 primaries.

She might even be readying her general election pitch to union voters—namely, that any Republican in the White House would be far worse for labor. And unions would be encouraging their members to forget the many policy disappointments of the Obama era and the first Clinton Administration—despite the certainty of their being repeated under Hillary.

Fortunately, that familiar scenario is being upended by Bernie Sanders, a staunch labor ally. The Vermont Senator’s current detour into the Democratic primaries—after 35 years of political independence—is rocking the boat for Clinton and top AFL-CIO officials she was counting on to deliver key union endorsements sooner rather than later...

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More: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/25/how-brother-bernie-is-making-labors-day/