Sanders warns Biden: address working-class fears or risk losing to demagogue
www.theguardian.com
Sanders warns Biden: address working-class anxieties or risk losing election to demagogue

In an interview with the Guardian from his home base in Burlington, Vermont, Sanders urged the Democratic president to inject more urgency into his bid for re-election. He said that unless the president was more direct in recognising the many crises faced by working-class families his Republican rival would win.

“We’ve got to see the White House move more aggressively on healthcare, on housing, on tax reform, on the high cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders said. “If we can get the president to move in that direction, he will win; if not, he’s going to lose.”

The US senator from Vermont added that he was in contact with the White House pressing that point. “We hope to make clear to the president and his team that they are not going to win this election unless they come up with a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of the working class of this country.”

Sanders’ warning comes at a critical time in American politics. On Monday, Republicans in Iowa will gather for caucuses that mark the official start of the 2024 presidential election.

Biden faces no serious challenger in the Democratic primaries. But concern is mounting over how he would fare against Trump given a likely rematch between them in November.

      • DarkGamer@kbin.social
        0·
        10 months ago

        He then went on to apply pressure to the railroads in order to get them everything they wanted without striking.

        The IBEW sums up his many accomplishments for unions:

        Throughout his first term, President Biden has been a steadfast ally of unions and American workers. I am confident that support will continue in his second term. The Biden-Harris administration has consistently advanced policies that empower workers, created opportunities for everyday people, and promoted the well-being of working families. As a direct result of these efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has overseen robust economic growth, increased worker wages and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.

        President Biden’s dedication to unionism has spurred tangible wins for IBEW that will lead to good union jobs and stronger communities for decades. Without President Biden and Vice President Harris, we simply would not have the pro-union, pro-worker policies included in the American Recovery Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act. Significantly, President Biden’s strong leadership saved IBEW pensions – a benefit every worker should enjoy – through the enactment of the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Relief Act.

        Within the first week of taking office, President Biden and Vice President Harris began appointing into the administration union officials who have dedicated their lives to advancing the labor movement’s core principles and worker’s rights, including a card-carrying union member for Secretary of Labor and a chief counsel for the NLRB who supports collective bargaining.

        President Biden has issued executive orders to reverse policies that have eroded unionists’ strength for decades, including industry-recognized apprenticeship programs (IRAPs) and rules that gutted federal employees’ collective bargaining rights. And then the Biden-Harris Administration went on the offense: mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects, establishing the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, and ensuring that skilled American workers benefit from historic federal investments.

        President Biden has a proven record of fighting to strengthen labor laws and protecting workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain, which has led to a resurgence in union membership and power of the labor movement.

        https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/23Daily/2304/230425_IBEWEndorses

        • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
          0·
          10 months ago

          ALL of a union’s power is in striking/the threat of striking, and it needs to be demonstrated regularly. Biden not letting the nation feel the pain of a railroad strike was a disservice to the union movement.

          Not winning those concessions through a strike was a blow to the union movement. Daddy came and took away their privilege to fight back, spoke to the railroad, and got their ice cream for them… this time.

          They need to have their own power 24/7/365 under any President, or they have no power at all.

          How you win is just as important as winning. They need to be a peer that can stand up to the railroad with consequences at any time, or they’re on borrowed time before the next encroachment.

          • DarkGamer@kbin.social
            0·
            10 months ago

            Remember what happened when the air traffic controllers tried to strike and shut down the country’s airports? Anti-union sentiment, Federal Unions outlawed, a wound they still haven’t recovered from. Biden was trying to avoid an outcome like this, quite astutely. If they had shut down the nations economy with a railroad strike he would have gotten the blame and unions would have been set back decades.