Source: Catherine Fisk, OnLabor blog, November 18, 2016
From the end of Reconstruction up through the election of 2016, political elites have done a masterful job convincing the white working class that they do not share a common interest with nonwhite workers. They used regional differences to political advantage by convincing Southern and rural voters that Northerners, urbanites, and intellectuals disdain them. The task for labor and the left now is to make sure that the 2016 election is the last time that happens. Rather than demonize those who voted for Trump as bigots, labor should take their economic demands seriously. Labor should seek common cause among all people around the economic issues that animated the vote for change. White voters in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin put Trump in office because he promised to improve their lives. When he doesn’t deliver on his populist promises because his policy agenda is entirely about cutting taxes and freeing corporations from all labor regulation, labor must remind middle class and working class voters of all races and ethnicities that corporate interests are dominating a Trump Administration….
Related:
Donald Trump’s Supreme Court will be a real threat to labor — and that’s going to hurt the Democrats
Source: Amanda Marcotte, Salon, November 17, 2016
Nice work, Rust Belt! Trump’s high court is almost certain to undercut labor organizing and workplace rights