A Sad Day for Labor

It's Labor Day 2025 in America and it's certainly a tough time to be a worker. This year, Labor Day is not only held under the auspices of one of the most anti-union presidents in our history, but comes amid other major attacks on worker power including: inflation, Trump's foolish tariff war, and competition from CEOs desperately wanting to replace their work forces with AI.

Upon coming into office Trump immediately (illegally) dismissed Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the NLRB who’s term was supposed to last until August 2028.  Trump’s removal of Wilcox robbed the NLRB of the needed 3-person quorum to rule on any Labor Relations cases, and hobbled labor law enforcement across the country to the benefit.

Then, in the week leading up to Labor Day he announced a unilateral abrogation of government contracts with Federal unions. The effected workers include scientists and staffers at NASA, NOAA and the US Patent Office. This is only Trump’s latest attack on collective bargaining contracts, to date, Trump has nullified over 1 million federal Union contracts. While there are multiple legal cases from unions like AFGE running through the courts, the current virulent anti-union sentiment, especially at the highest levels of the justice system certainly gives only dim hope for legal protections to prevail.

These sorts of brutal and unrelenting attacks on organized labor are unfortunately unsurprising, following in a long line of actions from the Republican (and to a lesser extent Democratic) party and capitalist class weakening and undermining Labor.  Actions which have, for many decades, been largely successful in this country, with only the last few years under Biden as an exception.

As we fall from democracy into competitive authoritarianism, Trump, as an autocrat, has put these attacks into overdrive to eliminate one of the only potential major sources of powerful opposition to his administration. It’s no surprise that union/labor movements have been present in all the strong Western democracies of the 20^thcentury, nor that one of Hitler’s first actions was to dismantle the German labor movement.

Labor is on the back foot, but despite the constant onslaught of anti-worker propaganda unions are still very popular, with over 68% of the country in support. That professed support unfortunately doesn’t translate into similar levels of union membership, which is still extremely low. Increasing those numbers will be even more difficult as we see the legal protections and rights previously won by unions stripped away.

We are entering a time where workers can no longer count on legal protection for their rights. Only with the demonstrated power of unionized workers to withhold and control their labor, and thus the profits and production of the ruling class can worker dignity and  freedoms be protected.

Unions alone won’t not be enough to stop these new attacks on worker and Americans in general. We need to combine the power of unions with the entire consumer base of the United States, using our spending power along with our working power to create a one-two economic punch to force these authoritarians to begin to respect the needs of the people. Workers have fought and died in this country for the weekend, for the 8-hour work day, for safety standards and so much more. Our history shows that economic power, when wielded on behalf of the people can wrest power from the elites, and build a better life for all Americans. So, join us each Tuesday, in growing solidarity as we expand upon the labors of the workers and Americans who came before us and bring democracy back to the politics and economy of the United States. Don't shop on Tuesday!

#DSOT