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Workers love Donald Trump. Unions should fear him
Business | Labour under false pretences
Workers love Donald Trump. Unions should fear him
The president-elect is no friend to organised labour
Dec 17th 2024
It has been a banner year for America’s unions. In November 33,000 machinists returned to their stations at Boeing having won a 38% wage increase over four years. Their victory followed a seven-week strike that brought the plane-maker to its knees. A month before, 47,000 dockworkers walked out for three days at some of the country’s busiest ports. Teamsters union members at Amazon warehouses in New York are threatening a strike. ... According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, 29 stoppages involving more than 1,000 workers each began between January and November (last year’s total was 33, the most since 2000). The National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency tasked with resolving labour disputes, says petitions to hold a vote to unionise are up by more than a quarter compared with last year.
America’s unions are asserting themselves in other ways, too. United Steelworkers loudly opposed the purchase of US Steel, a rustbelt icon, by Nippon Steel, a Japanese competitor (both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have committed themselves to blocking the deal). This month a court blocked the merger of Kroger and Albertsons, two big grocers, putting some weight behind the Federal Trade Commission’s argument that the deal could weaken the hand of union workers, as well as raise prices. Despite—or perhaps because of—all this action, unions’ approval ratings are at their highest since the 1960s, according to polling from Gallup.
What will Mr Trump’s second term mean for this momentum? American conservatism is certainly edging closer to the country’s workers. Mr Trump has promised “historic co-operation between business and labour”. Yet his inauguration is also likely to bring unprecedented cosiness between the White House and billionaires such as Elon Musk. The populists and plutocrats that make up Mr Trump’s uneasy coalition have vastly different ideas about the future of the labour movement. American workers, unions and industry cannot help being caught in the middle.
Unions have notched some early wins. After the 2016 election, Mr Trump horrified organised labour when he nominated Andrew Puzder, a fast-food boss, as labour secretary. (Mr Puzder later withdrew.) This time he tapped Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a pro-union congresswoman. “It shows that he considers those interests a part of his coalition,” says Oren Cass of American Compass, a conservative think-tank. Sean O’Brien, boss of the Teamsters, who addressed the Republican convention in July, praised the choice. Some free-market conservatives are “losing their minds” over it, Mr Cass says.
{snip}
Workers love Donald Trump. Unions should fear him
The president-elect is no friend to organised labour
Dec 17th 2024
It has been a banner year for America’s unions. In November 33,000 machinists returned to their stations at Boeing having won a 38% wage increase over four years. Their victory followed a seven-week strike that brought the plane-maker to its knees. A month before, 47,000 dockworkers walked out for three days at some of the country’s busiest ports. Teamsters union members at Amazon warehouses in New York are threatening a strike. ... According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, 29 stoppages involving more than 1,000 workers each began between January and November (last year’s total was 33, the most since 2000). The National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency tasked with resolving labour disputes, says petitions to hold a vote to unionise are up by more than a quarter compared with last year.
America’s unions are asserting themselves in other ways, too. United Steelworkers loudly opposed the purchase of US Steel, a rustbelt icon, by Nippon Steel, a Japanese competitor (both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have committed themselves to blocking the deal). This month a court blocked the merger of Kroger and Albertsons, two big grocers, putting some weight behind the Federal Trade Commission’s argument that the deal could weaken the hand of union workers, as well as raise prices. Despite—or perhaps because of—all this action, unions’ approval ratings are at their highest since the 1960s, according to polling from Gallup.
What will Mr Trump’s second term mean for this momentum? American conservatism is certainly edging closer to the country’s workers. Mr Trump has promised “historic co-operation between business and labour”. Yet his inauguration is also likely to bring unprecedented cosiness between the White House and billionaires such as Elon Musk. The populists and plutocrats that make up Mr Trump’s uneasy coalition have vastly different ideas about the future of the labour movement. American workers, unions and industry cannot help being caught in the middle.
Unions have notched some early wins. After the 2016 election, Mr Trump horrified organised labour when he nominated Andrew Puzder, a fast-food boss, as labour secretary. (Mr Puzder later withdrew.) This time he tapped Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a pro-union congresswoman. “It shows that he considers those interests a part of his coalition,” says Oren Cass of American Compass, a conservative think-tank. Sean O’Brien, boss of the Teamsters, who addressed the Republican convention in July, praised the choice. Some free-market conservatives are “losing their minds” over it, Mr Cass says.
{snip}
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