Item — HN Reader

> The comparison is the unambiguous gains for society union labour organisation achieved through industrial history, which was a clear public good, and what is lost if there are no longer unions to defend those gains.

It's a loose comparison. I think vaccines are a much more clear public good.

> Stuff can go backwards and currently in the USA absolutely is going backwards, at a federal, state and commercial level. Unions, even in their flawed American form, are a force pushing back on that.

Ok... https://apnews.com/article/trump-chavezderemer-labor-secreta...

> You still need them. In just the same way that you still need continued vaccination to protect the gains made by vaccination.

I'm not sure we need them. I don't need one. But I do need vaccines and society at large to be vaccinated.

1 comments

It's a logical mistake to think anyone cosies up to a politician because of what they have already done to benefit them. It's much more about what they could be persuaded to do or not do, or worse, might do if they don't reach out.

In short the picture there is not what you suggest. Unions have notable concerns about the current administration, and about trends in state governments which are going backwards.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/may/01/us-surge-efforts...

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-workers-rights-wa...

https://cwa-union.org/trumps-anti-worker-record

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/12/twists-and-turns-t...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/19/how-unions-p...

https://betterinaunion.org/project-2025

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/excl...

It doesn't matter what the media publishes, it matters what blue-collar former democrats vote and they vote Trump. You are claiming that unions are what push the country forward, you claim the current state is the country is regressing, and yet union members voted for Trump. And they did so despite Trump's anti-worker record.

Your view doesn't match reality.

> You are claiming that unions are what push the country forward

Again, no, you are rather mischaracterising what I said. I have certainly argued that unions did in the past push the USA forward in terms of labour rights and worker protections — you only have to read about the history of the AFL-CIO to know that this is true. You have most of your few workers rights because of collective action (and as a country you have lost job security you could have had by falling for Reaganite cartooned claptrap about unions).

But at this point it is not about forward progress, particularly; workers need unions to push back against regressions more than anything else. Those regressions are happening. That is what I have said.

> you claim the current state is the country is regressing

You think it is not?

> Your view doesn't match reality.

Or… Trump misled and lied to underinformed voters? Again? Pretty sure I could find you links from 2024 where he promised not to get the USA into wars and promised to keep prices down. But what's the point?

Also some of those links I shared were union pages, and one of them is a White House document literally announcing the elimination of collective bargaining power for federal workers, so, no, it is not just the media.

Here's another:

https://mnaflcio.org/news/trump-champion-workers-his-anti-un...

My view, I think, matches the reality of 2026 pretty well. You have an anti-union government which is committed to rolling back union power and has already done so. I can't change how blue-collar voters acted against their own interests when tempted with populist baubles (which is a time-honoured tradition), but their dubious vote doesn't particularly validate your argument or invalidate mine, does it?

You can think what you like, though.

> Again, no, you are rather mischaracterising what I said.

Ok then let's characterize it better. Are unions today a force for pushing the country forward?

> you could have had by falling for Reaganite cartooned claptrap about unions

I'm not arguing against unions. Just to be clear.

> Or… Trump misled and lied to underinformed voters? Again?

There's a saying I think. Have you heard it? A very famous person once said it:

"Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again."

I think voters, regardless of political party, know pretty well what they're voting for. That includes Trump voters. I don't think he lied to them, he said in many ways exactly what he would do if elected to office and he has tried to in many ways to fulfill those campaign promises. It's just that while some policies are arguably harming workers, those workers or those who voted for Trump (which was a majority of the country by the way) cared about other issues (immigration, COVID policies, whatever) than they do the issues you think they should care about.

> Also some of those links I shared were union pages, and one of them is a White House document literally announcing the elimination of collective bargaining power for federal workers, so, no, it is not just the media.

Well there are two problems with this. The first is that union leadership statements are not the same thing as union members voting. The second is that of course unionized federal workers would be against the federal government dissolving their unionized workforce. Other unions don't face quite the same level of existential crises or dissolution by fiat.

> https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/17/key-facts...

> when tempted with populist baubles

Right, like the DSA ;) ?

Politically, if you wanted to pin me down more accurately I'm against all populists. MAGA, Socialists, Communists, or otherwise. I really don't have a problem with unions, I just think the points you are making are incorrect.