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(A daily series to counter the mainstream media narrative that the Republicans are going to take back the House and Senate. They are not.)
There is one group no one is paying much attention to leading up to the Midterms. It is a large segment of the electorate that is newly active, intensely motivated and whose numbers should tip the scales against the Republicans.
Who are these voters that are going to keep the Senate and the House in the hands of the Democrats? They are a group so huge, and yet, despite their numbers, they are unable to make campaign contributions to candidates, and they own no media, no corporations and hold few elective offices. Which almost guarantees they are being ignored by the press, pundits and pollsters during this all-important election.
These are the people who clean your buildings, make your coffee, ship you your packages, flip your burgers, care for your parents, serve you, drive you, fly you, wait on you, test you for Covid, give you a flu shot, pick up your garbage, fix the leak in your bathroom, babysit your kids, pop your corn, change your oil, stock your hardware and deliver that nice hot pizza to you.
They are the working class.
They are called “blue collar.” The image the media gives of them is that of the beaten down and angry white factory worker they refer to as “Lunchbucket Joe.”
But this is an old and out-of-date depiction. The truth is that, in 2022, the majority of the working class, i.e., those who make the least amount of money, are young, of color and women. And for the past year, thousands of them, scattered across every corner of the country, across every job sector, have been in revolt, quietly building momentum to organize their co-workers. And in recent months, as the Midterm election was on the horizon, they have exploded into a full-scale revolution.
The result: Hundreds of workplaces across America have now been unionized in the largest such movement in decades.
There are thousands of new union households thanks to numerous successful organizing drives. In the first half of 2022, out of 837 union elections, there were 641 victories (that’s a 76.6% success rate). And as of this June, there were already more new card-carrying union members in 2022 than were achieved in all of 2021.
It is a historic rise of unionizing activity across 45 states, and it dovetails with the vast majority of the American people (71%) saying they support labor unions — more than in any other year since 1965. The year your great-grandfather retired.
Much of this shift has occurred thanks to young people. There is now a new generation of dispirited young adults who see they will likely never own their own home. They feel permanently tethered to unfulfilling jobs and they carry a crushing student loan debt that they may be saddled with into their forties or fifties.
When Covid swept in, and the country locked down, a spark ignited within this new working class. For the “non-essentials” as they were called, it was fueled by their abrupt loss of income, with no protection or safety net to fall back on. For the “essentials” it was born while serving on the frontlines — risking their lives to keep the country functioning. But the flame that was lit inside them was the same: Despite being the majority of this great country, and the backbone of this great country, the fact was that this “great country” saw their jobs as expendable. Their lives were expendable. They were being exploited. And as the deadly pandemic raged, they all struggled to survive while the rich got richer.
So this new generation did what Americans do — or what we used to do — they banded together to create real job security, benefits and a livable income for themselves.
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And as they continue to fight back against unfair labor practices, with new local unions being founded, the momentum keeps growing.
Consider what’s happened:
As NPR reported at the beginning of October, “So far, more than 300 Starbucks stores in close to three dozen states have had union elections — a stunning number, given not a single company-owned store had a union at this time last year.”
Even more stunning — there’s an 82% success rate! As of last week, 248 Starbucks locations across 35 states voted “YES!” to unionizing.
But it’s not just Starbucks. In the past 2 months we’ve seen employees from Chipotle, and Trader Joe’s break through the barrier; a second Apple store vote ‘yes’. Even Congressional offices are unionizing — Andy Levin’s (D-Michigan) office was the first to unionize, followed by Ro Khanna (D-California) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), with 7 more petitions filed. And 800 Amazon employees at a warehouse in Albany, NY are voting THIS WEEKEND!
And petitions continue to be filed — in the past month employees from Lowes and Home Depot locations, 625 nurses at one of the largest hospitals in Kansas, and 300 T-Mobile employees all announced their intent to unionize.
Last week the National Labor Relations Board released their annual report — union representation petitions increased 53% this year!
And in 3 weeks, adding a “right to unionize” amendment to the state Constitution is on the ballot in Illinois.
“We are up against a lot of opposing forces,” 23-year-old newly card-carrying union member, Atulya Dora-Laskey, from Chipotle, told the Washington Post, “and at the same time, we are realizing there are more workers than there are people who are exploiting us. That’s the ultimate advantage. Through unionizing, we’ve seen that power.”
And guess what? On November 8th this new working class will vote with millions of other workers who hopefully will soon join their revolution to build the future they are fighting for. They know they need to elect a Congress that stands with the working class, side-by-side. As the pundits continue to predict victories for Republicans, no one seems aware of the massive wave of new labor that is about to sweep them away.
Venti anyone?
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ICYMI:
Mike’s Midterm Tsunami of Truths:
Truth #1: The Campaign
Truth #2: Even a kid from 4th hour Trig class can beat this crowd
Truth #3: The Haters, the Bigots and the Supremacists Always Lose in the End
Truth #4: Introducing The Whackadoodle 10
Truth #5: Trump is not the Big Bad Wolf. But he is very afraid of You.
Truth #6: The Easy-to-Digest Republican Party Platform
Truth #7: Biden, Don’t F**k with Me
Truth #8: If you’re not registered, you can’t Roe, Roe, Roe the Vote!
Truth #9: Why will we win? Because the American people hate fascism.
Truth #10: Meet Blake Masters, Whackadoodle No. 9
Truth #11: 147 Reasons We Will Win on November 8th
Truth #12: Biden just gave us a boost and a toke.
Truth #13: Women. That’s it.
Truth #14: If the Mainstream Media Thinks There’s a Chance We May Be Right about Roevember, Watch Out.
Truth #15: Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, Whackadoodle No. 8
Truth #16: As Alex Jones has now been fined a billion dollars for his lies, that is nothing compared to the punishment other Republicans are going to get on November 8th.
Truth #17: Early Voting, Mail-in Voting, Dropbox Voting — These Were Made for Libs, Hard Workers, Book Readers, Artists, Busy Parents, Slackers, and Progressives like us! In other words, The Majority!
Truth #18: The Good Queen vs. The Mad King
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