Although I personally cannot pretend I don't find the Democratic Party's rightward lurch on policing and immigration to be a discouraging development in this 2024 presidential election campaign, I must confess that the battle against Trumpism hasn't produced *only* bad news and revanchist backsliding. In particular, I have found myself taking heart from, and finding joy in, the United Auto Worker's renewed commitment to fighting fascism and battling for the rights of all labor class Americans; as exemplified by union leader Shawn Fain's escalating war of words (and now labor board complaints) against Downmarket Mussolini and the billionaire bosses he works for.

https://jacobin.com/2024/08/uaw-fain-trump-musk-unions

The UAW Is Now a Chief Antagonist of Donald Trump

"The UAW’s filing is the latest volley in what has become an all-out war between the Republicans’ presidential candidate and one of the country’s most visible and increasingly militant unions. Shawn Fain, the union’s recently elected international leader, has repeatedly referred to Trump as a “scab,” citing the real-estate mogul’s history of crossing picket lines and stiffing workers employed on his development projects.

“When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean. When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean,” said Fain. “Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected. Both Trump and Musk want working-class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”

In terms of the election itself, the UAW's endorsement of Harris and Fain's willingness to go after Trump has obvious benefits for those who don't want to see Downmarket Mussolini return to the White House; not only is Fain free to say things that the Democratic Party's presidential candidate probably can't, but the UAW represents a massive bloc of the labor class voters in key swing states that Trump has to win over if he doesn't want the 2024 election to simply be a repeat of his loss to Joe Biden in 2020. Courting these voters is a big part of why Trump and the rest of the GOP have been engaging in an elaborate (and often embarrassingly half-assed) cosplay routine to portray Downmaket Mussolini, a billionaire conman whose catchphrase is literally "you're fired," as a friend to workers, and the Republicans as the party of labor; an approach most recently typified by inviting dipshit Teamsters president Sean O'Brien to speak at the Republican National Convention, and sending GOP Senator Josh Hawley out to walk a picket line with striking workers who did not welcome his presence. Given Trump's open hostility towards marginalized Americans, and non-white voters in general, he doesn't have a lot of paths to victory that don't involve tricking labor class white people to vote against their own interests by casting a ballot for him; a task made significantly more difficult by Fain's open contempt for Trump and the GOP nominee's insistence on going after Fain and the UAW on the campaign trail at every opportunity.

Moving beyond just the election however, Fain and the UAW's return to social justice organizing and opposing fascism provides hope for even greater benefits. The UAW has repeatedly called for an end to the genocide in Gaza, and Fain himself has worked to mobilize Christian workers around a socially responsible, undeniably progressive version of their faith unchained from whiteness and Christian Nationalism. In a recent ad targeting Trump, Fain signaled the union's support for a racially diverse America, LGBTQ people, and migrants, saying: "The dream of a man like Donald Trump is that the vast majority of working class people will remain divided. They divide us by race. They divide us by gender, by who we love, or where we were born. That's the game of the wealthy, divide and conquer." Indeed, Fain and the UAW's outspoken opposition to the billionaire class and the fascist right appear to be inspiring other unions to revive their legacy of pro-social justice speech and activism as well; in recent days the AFL-CIO reiterated Fain's argument that Trump is a "scab" and the Black Teamster's Caucus has endorsed Harris for president, even if puppets like Teamsters president Sean O'Brien haven't.

Of course, where we go from here remains an open question; this might all just be election rhetoric. But given Fain's willingness to speak truth to power, attack the billionaires, and especially the in light of the UAW's support for action on Gaza even if Democrats would rather not talk about it, I for one have hope that the UAW as an advocate for social justice is here to stay - no matter who wins the 2024 election.

On one hand, this is the kind of complex "labor issues" type of story you'll rarely find in modern, pro-corporate American media. On the other hand, sometimes even a complex story really boils down to precisely what you see in the title:

https://inthesetimes.com/article/uaw-federal-monitor-ceasefire-gaza-union

Why Is the UAW’s Federal Monitor Involving Himself in the Union’s Stance on Gaza?

"On Dec. 1, 2023, the UAW joined other unions in calling for a ​“ceasefire in Israel and Gaza” and announced that its executive board had voted to ​“form a Divestment and Just Transition working group to study the history of Israel and Palestine, the union’s economic ties to the conflict, and to explore how to achieve a just transition for US workers from war to peace.” The union explicitly tied this move to its social justice history, including ​“mobilizing against apartheid South Africa and the CONTRA war” and standing ​“for justice across the globe.”

The UAW announcement was politically significant, as the union has been a powerful messenger supporting President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. Biden made history by joining striking autoworkers on the picket line, while Fain has been steadfast in criticizing former President Donald Trump and rebuffing Trump’s attempts to present himself as a friend of workers. That the union took an antiwar stand implicitly critical of the president may have carried extra weight.

Of course, whatever positions the union might take on social justice issues has nothing to do with the mandate of a monitor appointed to ensure compliance with norms of financial and organizational probity. What’s more, the legitimacy of the monitor’s position depends on his own probity in sticking to his mandate, lest it seem a federal official is interfering in a union or other organization’s internal affairs or trying to influence it inappropriately."

As I mentioned above, this story is a little complicated in some respects because the reason a federal monitor was appointed to observe UAW activities (widespread corruption among the *previous* leadership slate and failing to act in the best interests of workers) has little to do with the *current* leadership's moves to return to the UAW to its social justice, class solidarity roots and make the union itself a force for positive change for the entire labor class in our society. The monitor's job here is strictly to make sure Shawn Fain and other UAW leaders are obeying the laws and following a federal consent decree designed to protect UAW workers from the type of corrupt, self-dealing activity undertaken by the *previous* leadership, who were all voted out and replaced with a reform slate lead by Fain. By all accounts, Shawn Fain is doing a wonderful job of representing UAW workers and his leadership has been wildly popular with members who have benefited from a current leadership group that actively fights for their rights against corporate power.

All of which then raises the question of precisely why *is* the federal monitor, who has no business telling the UAW what causes to support and how to support them, trying to pressure Fain and the rest of the leadership not to speak out about and take action on the U.S.-backed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza? Given that this has absolutely nothing to do with stopping corruption or enforcing good governance, the subject is quite clearly beyond his purview; something the monitor is no doubt aware of because while trying to pressure UAW leadership he keeps couching that pressure under the guise of concerns on a "strictly personal level." Of course, given the immense power the monitor currently has over the union and its activities, the very idea that he's acting on a "strictly personal" level is absurd; "personal" concerns in that situation are like a highway traffic cop telling you that although you weren't exceeding the speed limit, they have "personal concerns" about how fast you're driving - this is a pressure tactic designed to curb UAW support for ending the genocide in Gaza, nothing more, and nothing less.

Look, I know that establishment liberals would like everyone on the left to sit silently while they try to enable a genocide, by U.S.-allied Israel, against Palestinians in Gaza, but that simply isn't going to happen. The UAW's return as a force advocating for social justice, the rights of the labor class, and positive change in our society is objectively a good thing for everyone, no matter how much it pisses off genocidal freaks in the current U.S. administration; I sure don't hear bougie Democrat leaders complaining about Fain and the UAW actively coming out against Trump and highlighting the reasons a Harris administration would be far better for American labor - do you?

Quite frankly, the federal monitor's business in the UAW's affairs consists of acting as a watchdog against corruption and supporting good governance; on the subject of Gaza, he has no right to speak at all.