To Stop Trump, Unions Need Joint Campaigns and a Shared Vision

History shows us that when authoritarianism rears its head, whether it takes root depends on the labor movement’s response. That’s why unions must be at the center of the burgeoning anti-authoritarian movement that’s on display in efforts to build a broader pro-democracy coalition under banners like "No Kings" and "Workers Over Billionaires."

But we have to be clear-eyed: our labor movement isn’t in fighting shape. Most of our unions do not have recent muscle memory of striking or taking confrontational collective action. We must build up to strike readiness through greater organizing and collaboration by large locals and labor councils, and through escalating direct actions involving members and non-members alike.

As Trump’s authoritarianism escalates, we have to broaden our tent to include labor-community coalitions. We have to draw on a range of tactics, like consumer boycotts, sickouts, and slow-downs. We need to reenergize union structures at the national, state, and local levels and line up political and contract demands.

And as Trump tries to snuff out an already-shrinking labor movement, unions have to pay attention not only to their role in defending society, but also to defending the rights of union and non-unionized workers under assault.

THE ANTI-LABOR TURN

The stakes for unions and society could hardly be higher. The Trump administration has eliminated union rights for a million federal workers with the stroke of a pen. That's 100 times the anti-union tsunami that Ronald Reagan unleashed when he locked out 11,000 striking air traffic controllers in 1981, often cited as a key moment in labor’s decline.

The union movement in the United States is fragmented and divided. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, in fact, gave the Trump campaign a big boost by appearing at the Republican National Convention in the midst of a contentious race, and has continued to tout alliances with politicians from the MAGA right.

Furthermore, despite some bright spots of organizing, our movement as a whole has not developed methods to reverse the staggering loss of union density over the last 40-plus years. Unions represented one in four U.S. workers in 1980, but today we represent just one in nine.

Nonetheless, a broad pro-democracy front will require significant labor participation. Unions remain one of the most durable, democratic, and internally diverse institutions we have. Members reflect a microcosm of society, with different races, religions, countries of origin, genders, and political views. Organized labor still represents 14 million members—and our pro-democracy forces have a better chance of winning their participation than our opponents do.

HOPEFUL EXAMPLES

Without shared campaigns and aligned goals, much of labor’s potential power goes underutilized. Currently, central labor councils at the local and state levels—and the AFL-CIO at the national level—are the joint bodies that bring together most unions. But they are almost always unable to mobilize the base of union members in the same way that large local affiliates of individual unions can.

Building power starts at this local union level, with a shift in orientation towards members and in service of collective interests. This is what the Chicago Teachers Union did from 2010 to the present, as we organized to win multiple strikes in our public and private sector divisions. United Teachers Los Angeles, the Oakland Education Association, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, the St. Paul Federation of Educators, and other teacher unions have followed suit.

From that foundation of revitalized locals, these unions have built more thorough, methodical organizing over years. California educator locals, for example, formed the California Alliance for Community Schools and launched the We Can’t Wait campaign earlier this year, with 32 locals aligning contract expiration dates across the state to push for more staffing, smaller class sizes, and better wages and benefits. The Twin Cities locals, meanwhile, have worked with SEIU Local 26, the workers’ center CTUL, and other allies to coordinate strikes and weeks of action.

When we’re at our best, local campaigns and national union organizing objectives fuel one another. During the high-water mark of unionization in the 1930s, the spade work of local and city-based campaigns was sparked and supported by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and when successful, buoyed international unions’ prospects for new organizing.

This approach is on display in the local and national efforts led by the May Day Strong coalition and the United Auto Workers (UAW) call to align contract expirations around May 1, 2028.

May Day Strong parlayed the momentum from this year’s May Day mobilizations into collaboration with the AFL-CIO to make Labor Day more than a barbecue. These “Workers Over Billionaires” demonstrations became a stronger challenge to the right-wing oligarchs’ takeover of government than we’ve seen on Labor Day in a long time.

RESUSCITATE OUR UNION STRUCTURES

Many of our union structures at national, state, and local levels can be repurposed and resuscitated. Our idea is to accelerate that process, because the stakes require it.

If we could bring together large locals within and across unions to align political and contract demands, that would make it possible to shift the balance of power in the country and significantly weaken the consolidation of the authoritarian right-wing bloc represented by the MAGA regime.

Dozens of local unions across different sectors have led over the last 10 years by investing in three critical approaches:

• Supermajority organizing, based on talking with and listening to every worker we represent, including non-members

• Bargaining for the common good, meaning fighting for demands in the public interest, like affordable housing, climate resilience policies, and racial justice

• Applying supermajority organizing methods to electoral work, including getting big numbers of members involved in canvassing, identifying neighborhood leaders, and building ongoing relationships between union members and other people in the communities where they work.

Historically, strikes in important industries have been key to strengthening large sections of the working class and raising workers’ expectations. These strategic industries have included railroads, mining, steel, textiles, auto, ports, and schools, depending on the era.

Labor actions could have a multiplier effect if taken together in key sections of today’s economy with some union density—like hospitals, airports, and the logistics, transportation, and ports sectors central to Amazon and the warehouse delivery system. Ripple effects could strengthen our bargaining power vis-a-vis the Trump administration, especially if these actions are connected to and inspire broader social forces.

Additionally, socially reproductive parts of the economy—meaning the sectors that are necessary to keep all the other workers working and train future generations of workers—have huge leverage and importance for most Americans when disrupted. Think K-12 schools, community colleges and trade schools, universities, hospitals, and public transit.

Joint campaigns around a shared vision could inspire further collective actions like electoral work, boycotts, protests, strikes, and contract fights, all of which have an impact on the public.

RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION

Which international unions are best positioned to build an even broader front, because they are opposed to the anti-union authoritarianism of the government, have enough social and economic power to disrupt the economy, and represent the multiracial working class?

Five of the 10 biggest internationals in the country can already be considered part of the progressive front, based on majority member support for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election combined with their development of political programs that reject the authoritarian turn. These include the three largest public sector unions—the National Education Association (NEA), AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers/American Association of University Professors (AFT/AAUP)—and two unions with a range of public and private sector units, the Service Employees (SEIU) and the UAW.