The return of the worker to the American political scene

Trump's popularity with the popular electorate, especially in the politically sensitive states of the Midwest, has led the Democratic Party to strengthen its ties with the labor movement. But the trade unions have also stepped up their actions on the ground. All the more confident that strikers often get satisfaction.

LaThe central place occupied by the figure of the worker in the speeches distinguished this presidential campaign from previous ones. Over the past half-century, one of the main achievements of neoliberal ideology has been to eclipse it from the American political imagination. It has been replaced by two other socio-economic players now easily identifiable: the consumer and the taxpayer, who make reference when it comes to defining the contours of public debate and the content of social policies. Both have even gained in importance as the symbolic presence and economic rights of the working class have receded.

At the same time as the methodical dismantling of worker protection, which resulted in stagnating wages, increased use of "casual" Labour, a reduction in benefits offered by employers and a weakening of the right to strike, it had become common practice in the United States to assess overall economic progress against the inflation of consumer rights (the right to choose, to obtain credit, to buy at any time, to buy at any time). To be delivered on your doorstep, etc.). The taxpayer, for his part, was regularly invoked to justify the contraction of social aid and the systematic rejection of all public expenditure whose purpose was not to promote "investment", that is to say private profits. The democratic administrations of James Carter, William Clinton, and Barack Obama encouraged this shift in rhetoric with almost as much zeal as those of republicans Ronald Reagan and George Bush father and son.

In 2021, however, the arrival of Mr. Joseph Biden in the White House marks a break that sets the tone of the campaign. By making it known at the beginning of his term that workers and the defence of their trade union rights would be a priority for him, the outgoing President brings the working class back to the fore. The observatory for the protection of human rights defenders, a joint programme of the international federation for (...)