Labor and Politics in the 1980s

Abstract

American labor's contemporary political activities—lobbying, organizing election workers, raising political funds, and attempts to persuade members to vote for favored candidates—have not since the 1960s proved effective in influencing public policy in ways that labor favors. As a consequence, in the 1980s organized labor has turned to deliberate efforts to control the selection of the Democratic party's nominee for president. Whether the result will be a Democratic-Labor party contending for electoral and legislative victories or a politically weakened labor movement that is simply another minority lobby cannot now be predicted with assurance.

Illinois Labor and the Return to Class Politics

“…The futility of organized labor's effort throughout the 1970s and 1980s to marshal support for its favored social programs has suggested that unionized political action has not successfully mobilized a strong class vote (Donnelly 1978;Rehmus 1984;Clark 1998). Inspired in part by the political failures of the past twenty years, in 1995 an insurgency slate led by John Sweeney was elevated to the AFL-CIO leadership.…”