The Democrats and Labor

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/opinion/the-democrats-and-labor.html

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To the Editor:

Re “The Emerging Democratic Agenda” (Op-Ed, June 5):

Jared Bernstein is right on the mark in his prescription for the ills of the Democratic Party. Yet even the progressive wing of the party has failed to seriously pursue an obvious path: strong and energetic action directed toward a revival of the American labor movement. What makes this difficult is the same thing that makes it necessary: the vigorous, even vicious, opposition of corporate America.

What is required is a sweeping change in the National Labor Relations Act. The payoff would be the energetic support of millions of workers who take control of their own destiny through the organizations that they control.

The stagnation of wages and the loss of formerly Democratic states in the last presidential election are a direct consequence of the weakness of organized labor. This can and should be changed.

HOYT N. WHEELERWEST COLUMBIA, S.C.

The writer is a labor arbitrator, retired management professor and the author of “The Future of the American Labor Movement.”