Bernie's Campaign Is Showing Solidarity with Striking Workers Like No Other 2020 Candidate

[Donkees]

By Rex Santus May 23, 2019

Excerpt:

It’s not uncommon for members of the 2020 Democratic field to show up to picket lines or tweet out their support to striking workers. But Bernie is taking labor solidarity to a new level by tapping into his campaign’s massive listservs to mobilize support for striking workers. It’s an extraordinary and possibly unprecedented move, according to labor historians and union organizers.

The Vermont senator's presidential campaign sent geo-targeted emails Tuesday to supporters in or around 10 cities throughout the U.S. to support striking McDonald’s workers, according to the campaign. Employees at the fast-food chain are staging one-day walkouts and other work actions to fight for a $15 minimum wage, union rights, and workplaces free of sexual harassment.

“This definitely sets a new bar for politicians who want to earn labor's support. We've seen Democratic politicians join workers at high-profile protests and on picket lines for years, especially during election seasons, but those appearances have sometimes felt very transactional in nature,” said Ethan Miller, a longtime union organizer and secretary-treasurer of the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, IFPTE Local 70, which organizes workers at nonprofits in Washington, D.C.

“We're building the largest volunteer army in the nation not just to win the Democratic nomination, but also to mobilize people to show up in key fights where people's lives and livelihoods are on the line," Claire Sandberg, Bernie 2020 National Organizing Director, said in a statement to VICE News. “We are proud to uphold Bernie’s commitment to workers, and we will continue to activate our supporters and urge them to join picket lines across the country to support the fight for a strong labor movement."

Bernie has also used his campaign data to rally supporters for Delta, Wabtec, Amazon, General Motors, Disney, and Nissan workers, as well as Los Angeles teachers, according to the campaign.

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/evyavk/bernies-campaign-is-showing-solidarity-with-striking-workers-like-no-other-2020-candidate

Link to tweet

[Uncle Joe]

1. I like the pic on the article in addition to the substance.

?crop=1xw:0.7729xh;0xw,0.2271xh


Thanks for the thread Donkees.

[Donkees]

2. I prefer not using photos of his injured face

[Uncle Joe]

3. I view it as both a sign of toughness by Bernie and as a pictorial symbol of how

unions have received black eyes since the days of Reagan and yet still persevere coming back even stronger today.