Biden Needs Unions to Force His Hand

Joe Biden did an extraordinary thing for an American president earlier this week: Without qualification, he the right of workers to form a union. Biden didn’t just weigh in on behalf of those seeking to unionize an Amazon distribution facility in Bessemer, Alabama. He also affirmed the importance of unions for all workers and for the good of the country. Conservatives and centrist media outlets often assume that the Democratic Party is “beholden” to “Big Labor.” In fact, the labor movement is the smallest it has been since 1900. And although Democratic presidents and members of Congress like labor well enough, they don’t exactly it. They usually have concerns other than supporting workers who are trying to organize or defend a union. Behind closed doors, many Democratic politicians, including Biden, tell union audiences what they want to hear. On Sunday night, though, the president’s video about the Alabama organizing drive ricocheted around Facebook and Twitter, the social-media-age equivalent of a national