UE Political Action Updates

This morning, long-time UE ally Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the College for All Act, a bill which will implement the UE demand that Congress “pass laws implementing free public higher education and student loan forgiveness for all.” The legislation drew praise from UE members who work in higher education.

As a rank-and-file union proud of our democratic traditions, UE condemns the voter suppression bill passed in Georgia last month, as well as the hundreds of similar bills being pushed in state legislatures across the country, overwhelmingly by Republican politicians.

President Biden grabbed headlines on his first day in office by first asking for the resignation of, then firing, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Peter Robb. Biden has also reversed Trump executive orders which curtailed the rights of federal workers and their unions, and has suspended the implementation of a rule issued by the Department of Labor on January 7 which would have made it easier for employers to classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees.

Our nation is at a crossroads. Forty years of continued assault on working-class living standards have eroded working people’s faith in government. Corporations have attacked wages and benefits, destroyed good jobs, busted unions, and devastated whole communities through plant closings. Meanwhile, politicians of both parties have pursued privatization and deregulation, doing their best to turn government from an instrument for the public good into an opportunity for private gain — for themselves and their wealthy friends.