The value in union membership in a consumer-centric economy is increasingly judged like any other service. Fewer members appear motivated by being part of a larger movement intent on remaking society. For the most part society has been remade in the image unions long fought for. After all, Obama delivered government healthcare, the missing apex of the progressive movement’s one hundred year project!
But, unexpectedly Obamacare hurts many people unions thought it would help, including their members. And, it appears unions can’t reverse this reality. Without dues unions are a declining political force. The president’s post-healthcare pivot to protecting the world’s climate at the cost of union jobs; a newly invented goal for progressives, is a non-starter with the rank and file. Who cares? Obama’s new progressives don’t really need union help any more. They’ve got hedge-fund billionaires ready to fund pursuit of the new utopian frontier – ending the use of carbon fuels!
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