An Observation About Local Elections

In the US political arena, workers have no voice.

 

Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

GED/HEO

6-4-22

 

Here’s a classic example of how the class question in suppressed in US society and the reactionary role of identity politics in doing so.

 

We have elections coming up on June 7^th and the local paper in my small town has an item on four candidates for county supervisor. The first candidate I glance at I am told will be “The legislatures first ever Black lesbian and Jewish member.” To her credit, she does say her program goes far beyond her personal identity. She is also a nurse and believes this gives her a “better perspective than most on how to bring about affordable health care”.

 

She says a lot of nice things but not really much about how to win them. And here’s an important aspect of this particular candidate. She is also vice president for organizing for the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 (SEIU) that represents a lot of health care workers.  Local 1021 has 60,000 members in this area and SEIU nationally has 2 million members.

 

With a couple of other unions the Bay Area economy could be brought to a halt.  But there is no mention of this potential power. Aside from stating her position in SEIU, she never mentions unions or workers.

 

Another candidate  also “promotes herself as the first out lesbian to hold elected office in Oakland as well as spotlights her Jewish heritage.”

Like the previous candidate she supports a lot of the issues important to workers, health care housing the environment etc.

 

Then there’s another woman who I am told was the first African American City council member in my town and boasts of her business connections as the Co-founder of the San Leandro African American Business Council

 

Another candidate, an Asian American, pretty much stands for the same things, combatting homelessness, prison recidivism, for better education health services etc.

 

The other candidate wants to put the southern part of our county first, wants to lower sales taxes and instead raise taxes on the wealthy in San Francisco and Silicon valley. He wants to create jobs by encouraging more businesses “open up or stay here”.

 

There are other candidates that talk of “bringing us all together” and nonsense like this as if a candidate, and a candidate in one of the planets most powerful capitalist parties at that, can represent both labor and capital at the same time.

 

But to return to the employee of one of the countries largest unions. It is impossible in this climate to fight for the rank and file union member never mind the working class as a whole as a hired hand of the labor hierarchy. Without being rooted in the ranks and controlled by the ranks, open your mouth and violate the leaderships policies and your gone.

 

Reading about the four candidates, I don’t think the word worker was mentioned once and how the power of organized labor here in the San Francisco Bay Area coupled with and linked to our communities and the unorganized, has the potential to change the balance of class forces and is the only force that can bring about the changes that these candidates say they want and are fighting for.

 

There is nothing wrong with someone being proud of the fact that they are the first of their particular ethnicity, group, sexual orientation, color, religion or any other marginalized sector of the working class to succeed at something or pass through doors once closed to them. But more important is what they stand for and how they propose to produce the goods.

 

As candidates in one of the two capitalist parties or the other, and my area is overwhelmingly Democratic and the Democrats control the state legislature, it would not bode well for them to talk about labor’s power, the working class and how it is the working class through our position in the production of society’s needs that can bring about real change; the very change they claim they want.

 

Is it any wonder that millions of US workers not only don't vote but  have abandoned the electoral process entirely. The trade union hierarchy bear the responsibility for this situation as do people that work for them and carry out their pro-market concessionary policies.