A new interview with Vanity FairSenator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), warned Democrats to publicly support the growing labor movement or face defeat in the midterm elections.
Sanders said that the Democratic party is in dire need messaging since the unceremonious demise of the Build Back better Act last year. They must embrace a strong prounion platform if they want their chances of staying in Congress. the magazineBefore you leave for Support ralliesUnionization of Amazon workers in New York City and Starbucks workers in Virginia
Democrats have to decide if they’re going to “become a party which stands for the working class of this country” or if they’ll “remain a corporately controlled party beholden to [their] wealthy campaign contributors and to the corporate media as well,” Sanders said.
To choose the latter is to risk losing big in this year’s elections. “To turn your back on the working class, in general, is political suicide,” he said. Becoming “strongly involved in the labor movement” is, on the other hand, “the right thing to do,” he added. “It is also very, very good politics. And I think if the Democrats don’t do that immediately, they are going to look at a very, very bad 2022.”
Sanders has been a strong supporter of the labor movement. This is largely due to young organizers and grassroots activists. For his part, he’s created a unit within his office of about 10 staffers focused on supporting unionizing workers not only within headline-grabbing campaigns, but also in places like John Deere, Kellogg’s All universities in the country.
Sanders has been pushing Democrats to take greater action to support labor movements. He has been a frequent visitor to the United States. Call forPresident Joe Biden invites Amazon labor organizers and Starbucks employees to the White House cancel Amazon’s federal contractsUntil the union busting stops, refuse to work for the company.
Though Biden has pledged to be the most pro-union president in American history, he and the party, which holds a majority in both chambers of Congress, have so far fallen short of labor organizers’ expectations of the supposedly pro-union party. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO) Act, a comprehensive bill that would make it much easier for workers to form unions in the United States, has remained dormant in Congress. More than a yearAfter the House passed the bill in March,
The president of Amazon Labor Union (ALU), Recently, this trend was hugeFor successfully integrating the first Amazon warehouse in the nation, told Vanity FairCongress can and should take action. “They have to pass the PRO Act,” said ALU President Christian Smalls. “If they’re not going to pass the PRO Act, Biden needs to sign an executive order. Simple as that.”
Sanders had workedThe PRO Act provisions were to be included in Build Back Better Act. This bill could have escaped the filibuster but it was voted down by conservative Democrats in Senate. In his interview, he also expressed frustration about how the Democratic Party handled those major obstructionists within their ranks — chiefly Senators Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona).
The Vermont senator blamed Sinema, Manchin, and the party for being unable to move forward. But, he also said that Democrats should be more prepared in their response.
“How you handle Manchin, how you handle Sinema and the other conservative Democrats is one of the challenges that the Democrats have got to deal with,” he said. “But the current strategy is an absolute political failure.”
Sanders also had harsh words about Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos. If the senator were given a chance to talk to Bezos directly, “There’s nothing that I would say to him except, ‘You know what? We’re gonna take you on,’” he said. “You could either start responding to the needs of your workers, or we’re gonna fight you ruthlessly.”
