MAJOR Labor Unions SLAM Green New Deal, Would HURT Working Families
MAJOR Labor Unions SLAM Green New Deal, Would HURT Working Class. The AFL-CIO issued a letter to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey saying that the Green New deal would hurt millions of its members and they would not allow these issue to go unanswered. The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of labor unions and historically supports Democratic and leftist proposals.With so many major 2020 Democratic contenders signing on to AOC's Green New Deal it seems there is a major disconnect between what working Americans and the left actually wants and what high profile progressives think they want. Far left and social justice rhetoric seemingly creates a tiny bubble on social media where these politicians occupy and they don't actually think about working families and their needs.
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The largest organization of labor unions has just come out against Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal.
In a letter, the AFL-CIO says that the new deal will hurt millions of its members, and thus they are standing against it.
This is interesting when you realize the AFL-CIO typically spends money for Democrats and against Republicans.
So why then are we seeing so many of the top 2020 Democratic contenders supporting the Green New Deal?
There seems to be a divide between what the Democrats think Americans want and what Americans actually want.
We repeatedly have heard that the Green New Deal is wildly popular with everybody, but now the largest organization of labor unions is coming out against it.
I think one of the problems is that there are two different worlds.
Many of the Democrats are stuck in the Twitter bubble, where they think progressive policies are what the majority of Americans want, when they really don't.
Today, let's take a look at exactly what the AFL-CIO said, and then take a look at the issue of the tiny bubble of progressives who are dictating the Democratic Party's decisions.
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From The Daily Caller, Immediate harm to millions.
AFL-CIO tears apart Green New Deal.
The largest organization of labor unions in the U.S.
slammed the Green New Deal Friday for combating climate change by threatening the livelihoods of millions of Americans.
For those that aren't familiar, the AFL-CIO is the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
It is the largest federation of unions in the United States.
It is made up of 55 national and international unions.
together, representing more than 12 million active and retired workers.
The AFL-CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support of Democrats and liberal or progressive policies.
Back to the main story, the AFL-CIO sent a letter on Friday to Democratic New York Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, the two lawmakers leading the Green New Deal push in Congress.
The labor group demanded a larger role in crafting future solutions, slamming the current proposal as not achievable or realistic.
We welcome the call for labor rights and dialogue with labor, but the Green New Deal resolution is far too short on specific solutions that speak to the jobs of our members and the critical sections of our economy.
The letter, signed by 10 national labor unions on the AFL-CIO's Energy Committee, said, We will not stand by and allow threats to our members' jobs and their family's standard of living go unanswered.
The Green New Deal calls for an end to fossil fuel use and heavy investment in renewable energy technology, such as wind and solar.
Meeting the resolution's goals would require a massive restructuring of the American economy.
Recently, at South by Southwest, Ocasio-Cortez said, We should be excited by that.
But the reason we are not excited by it is because we live in a society where if you don't have a job, you are left to die.
And that is, at its core, our problem.
The letter by the AFL-CIO was tweeted out by Senator John Barrasso, saying,
The AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million workers and includes 55 unions, slams the
Green New Deal in a letter to Senator Markey and AOC. We will not accept proposals that
could cause immediate harm to millions of our members and their families.
In the letter, they say, As Congress considers a variety of potential actions to
address climate change, it is critical that the voices of American workers be
included in the discussion, especially those who are most at risk of job disruptions
and economic dislocation as a result of those actions.
All policymakers must fully engage labor in the deep discussion needed to understand our views on these critical sectors and the jobs of our members.
America's labor unions agree that climate change must be addressed, and we agree on the need to invest in the development and deployment of technologies like solar, wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, carbon capture and utilization, battery storage, and high-speed rail that limit or eliminate carbon emissions.
We know that the increase in natural gas production has lowered emissions in the power sector and provided a new source of construction and manufacturing jobs.
We must invest in energy efficiency in the industrial and commercial sectors, retrofits and upgrades to schools and public buildings, and to make our communities safe and resilient.
All of these investments must be paired with strong labor and procurement standards to grow family-sustaining middle-class union jobs.
The fact is that the labor movement has been working on these very issues for decades and have advanced several potential solutions over that time that could provide a basis for solid realistic action.
The AFL-CIO brought up an interesting point.
That for decades they have been working on solutions.
This flies in the face to something Ocasio-Cortez said recently, this story from the Washington Examiner.
AOC took critics of Green New Deal.
I'm the boss until you try.
In a quote, she said, like, I just introduced the Green New Deal two weeks ago and it's creating all of this conversation.
Why?
Because no one else has even tried.
Because no one else has even tried, she told moderator Reshma Sajjani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code.
So people are like, oh, it's unrealistic, oh, it's vague, oh, it doesn't address this little minute thing she added, and I'm like, you try, you do it, cuz you're not, cuz you're not.
So until you do it, I'm the boss, how about that?
It was a point I brought up in one of my second channel opinion videos, that Ocasio-Cortez is not the only person trying to solve these problems.
There are many people trying to solve them, and have been trying to solve them for a very, very long time.
The fact that Ocasio-Cortez omitted labor discussions from the process shows that she's not really connected with America's working class.
And this is reflected by the 2020 Democrats who are also supporting her Green New Deal without checking in on labor unions, have to say.
Shortly after they announced the Green New Deal, we saw this story from Newsweek.
Nearly every declared Democratic 2020 candidate supports Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal, while Trump mocks the proposal.
The story from Newsweek shows the huge list of candidates who are going to be running for the Democratic 2020 primary, and I'm not going to read it because it is extensive, but they point out, With the exception of Delaney, all those candidates have publicly backed the Green New Deal.
Delaney has in the past supported a carbon tax, again voicing his backing for such a move in a recent tweet.
We need something big done ASAP, he wrote.
According to Open Secrets, the AFL-CIO is a liberal organization with massive spending in the 2017-2018 cycle for Democrats and against Republicans.
I have to wonder why so many Democrats would support a bill that is opposed by the largest organization of labor unions who typically support Democrats.
But even outside of the AFL-CIO, we're seeing this story from CNBC.
Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal is not going over well at one of the year's biggest energy gatherings.
Energy thought leaders are largely dismissing Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal as unrealistic and politically divisive.
Climate talks at Sarah Week have largely focused on the kind of bottom-up, market-oriented solutions that Ocasio-Cortez dismisses as too conservative.
The industry is highlighting its progress reducing its carbon footprint, but the International Energy Agency says companies need to do far more.
So what we're seeing is that, from labor unions to the energy sector, people are trying to address these problems.
And it may be true that they're not doing enough, that the dominoes are falling too quickly, and we're not going to solve this problem soon enough.
It may be true that we do need some kind of Green New Deal.
But the bigger point is the disconnect between the actual working class in this country and the far left who claims to represent them.
It would seem that it's just not true.
I'm surprised to see so many Democratic contenders coming out in favor of a bill and they didn't even check with the AFL-CIO or other labor groups.
The far left in this country typically claims that they are here for the working class.
They represent labor.
But they really don't.
Many of these young people haven't actually had labor jobs.
Many of these young people tend to be affluent and progressive and don't actually know what working class Americans need.
It's been widely suggested that Trump won tons of support from middle America because many working class individuals lost their jobs due to free trade agreements.
While some have disputed this, many people believe that so long as unemployment is on the rise, especially in middle America, the working class will continue to support Trump and other populists who are fighting for middle America.
One of the reasons I often cite for this disconnect between the politicians and the working class can be exemplified in the Hidden Tribes of America report by a group called More in Common.
We can see that progressive activists make up only around 8% of this country.
According to the report, they say the progressive activists are the left wing, and traditional conservatives and devoted conservatives make up the right wing.
The right wing is substantially larger than the progressive activists.
Liberals, passive liberals, and the politically disengaged, as well as moderates, make up the exhausted majority.
I'd have to imagine that this group is going to include many people who are working Americans and are in labor unions, traditional liberals, for instance.
According to the report, progressive activists are more than twice as likely to make $100,000 per year, and I would have to assume that more likely represents white-collar workers, not blue-collar workers.
Back in October, we saw this story from The Atlantic.
While it's focused on PC culture, they do bring up an interesting point about the progressive wing of America.
They say, What does this group look like?
Compare with the rest of the nationally representative polling sample.
Progressive activists are much more likely to be rich, highly educated, and white.
They are nearly twice as likely as the average to make more than $100,000 a year.
They are nearly three times as likely to have a postgraduate degree.
And while 12% of the overall sample in the study is African American, only 3% of progressive activists are.
With the exception of a small tribe of devoted conservatives, progressive activists are the most racially homogenous group in the country.
While that story was about PC culture, they do bring up a very interesting point that I think pertains to this story.
Progressive activists, those who are very likely to be pushing the Green New Deal, are more likely to have degrees.
They're more likely to be making six figures.
They do not represent the working class families of this country.
What we then end up seeing, in my opinion, is a powerful and vocal minority who's very active in media and very active on social media, existing in a bubble.
Politicians see the information from this bubble.
They're not looking at what Americans actually want.
And so they decide to support the policies that don't reflect what Americans are actually trying to fight for.
The result?
The largest organization of labor unions will come out against you.
This shows that not only is the Democratic Party fractured, but they're not paying attention to what's happening within their own ranks.
Calls for impeachment from the far left, resistance from the moderates, and according to polls from Gallup and Pew, most Democrats want more moderate policy.
Unfortunately, so long as Democrats aren't paying attention to what's actually happening in America, they will likely continue to lose.
It's surprising to see this rift between the top contenders in 2020 on the Democratic side and labor unions who typically support them.
Something is happening and I think social media is causing huge problems for the left in this country that aren't being addressed and they're not paying attention.
They seem to be completely disconnected and if this continues, if you're to ask me, I see the Republicans winning time and time again because they're not paying attention to Americans anymore.
They're focused on this small fringe group of progressive activists who are vocal and tend to be much more well-off than the average American.
But let me know what you think in the comments below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
Do you agree with me?
Do you think the Democrats are disconnected?
Why do you think that labor unions are coming up against the Green New Deal?
Comment below.
We'll keep conversation going.
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