On Labor Day, A Working Families Party Strategy

By Julie Kushner and Rafael Navar In These Times
Our aim is to build an independent base of political power that can put forward our progressive, populist values and mean it. America actually needs a political movement that can say that increasing union density is a good thing, without blushing. One that knows that declining wages and eroding retirement security are not a “new normal” we must adjust to; that market solutions are not always wise; and that an increasingly financialized economy only benefits the top.

The Most Challenging Issue Facing Liberalism Today

Timothy Noah MSNBC
Most liberals continue to pay lip service to unions and their importance to the Democratic coalition. But in private, many will tell you that they have little use for them. Julian Zelizer, a Princeton political economist, argues that the marriage between liberalism and organized labor “took a terrible turn starting in the 1970s,” when global competition moved manufacturing jobs from the unionized Northeast and Midwest to the non-union South and, ultimately, abroad.

Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault; The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin

John J. Mearsheimer Foreign Affairs
The crisis shows that realpolitik remains relevant -- and states that ignore it do so at their own peril. U.S. and European leaders blundered in attempting to turn Ukraine into a Western stronghold on Russia’s border. Now that the consequences have been laid bare, it would be an even greater mistake to continue this misbegotten policy.

They Don’t Need a Majority To Get Things Done

Samantha Winslow Labor Notes
For 20 years workers at the Rocky Mount Engine Plant have worked with the United Electrical Workers (UE), using the minority union strategy to get management to hear their demands, address problems, and improve pay. They have fought for and won a wage scale, raises, and paid holidays—all through petitions, sticker days, and other group actions.