This past Monday was Labor Day.

On every issue we organize around, labor is absolutely critical.

What is a Green New Deal if not “well-paid jobs to build clean energy infrastructure”?
Who fights harder for single payer health care than National Nurses United?
A universal childcare program won’t ever be sustainable if we don’t pay childcare workers a living wage.
Teachers unions aren’t just fighting for better working conditions; they’re fighting for better learning conditions for students.
Major unions have been some of the loudest voices in demanding a ceasefire.

Up and down every issue, we should be fighting both for and with worker collectives.

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, thinking, and celebrating about unions this week

1. The Roaring Twenties

Over the past 40 years (when Ronald Reagan was president), union membership has fallen drastically, with public support for unions dropping as well. But in the last few years, we’ve seen support for unionship rise dramatically, returning to its highest level since 1965, especially among young people, a whopping 90% of whom support unions! Alongside this, we’ve seen a frenzy of union campaigning, particularly by younger workers in public-facing service industries.

2. Minnesota's Labor Wins

Here’s just a quick summary of a few labor wins this year:

• Workers at Kim’s in Uptown Minneapolis vote to unionize
• Minneapolis park workers’ new contract approved after 3-week strike
• Baristas at Café Ceres in Minneapolis vote in favor of unionizing
• Guthrie Front-Facing Crew Unionizes with IATSE Local 13
• Twin Cities Half Price Books workers ratify first contract
• A wave of nurse organizing swept Minnesota this year

3. That’s one F we’d be happy to get

Commonwealth Foundation - an anti-union think tank so radical we’re not even going to link to their report to give it the views - gave Minnesota a D for our pro-union policies.

Instead, we’ll share this FDR quote:

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred

We welcome the hatred of think tanks who want to tear down labor unions and tear down the protections and wage increases they’ve won for so many workers.

Very similarly, VP candidate Walz recently vocalized his strong support for labor unions

“Republicans came up to me in one of my campaigns, and they said: ‘Tim is in the pocket of organized labor,’” he said.

“I said: ‘That’s a damn lie - I am the pocket.’”

4. As go unions, so goes America

This whole piece is gold, and we should all read it thoroughly, but we’re sharing its conclusion here:

“Healthy democracies require more than free and fair elections; they require citizens who have the chance to practice the habits of democracy. The benefits of unions to democracy accrue from allowing working people to organize themselves collectively and democratically to act on their own behalf.”

5. May Day 2028

As promised, every time we mention unions, we’ll remind you of the upcoming May Day 2028 date that unions like UAW are urging to negotiate their contract end dates for, organizing towards a general strike.

And that's a wrap!

Send us what you’re reading, watching and listening to.

Until next time,

Mattias Lehman (he/him)
Narrative and Communications Director