But the report is much more forceful about the benefits its authors say unions can bring to a strong abundance movement. Unions are a source of skilled labor and have some of the best training programs for the trades that building the country’s physical infrastructure requires. And, as democratic organizations, unions can also work to get more buy-in from the communities they’re in to make sure projects reflect community needs and that lawsuits and other objections don’t slow projects down. The quickest way to launch an abundance agenda that builds more infrastructure and housing, then, would be to get unions on your side early for any project or program.
More than that, though, any abundance agenda that doesn’t include workers’ representatives won’t benefit everyone. “What we saw in some of the more specific policy conversations … is that policymakers and academics who are in the mix in these conversations really aren’t centering the needs of workers or the participation ability of workers,” Andrias said. “It’s also important to have organizations participating in the public policymaking process that are focused on the rights of workers, making sure that working conditions are safe, that wages are fair, as well as increasing jobs and providing and building in an efficient way.” Otherwise, who is abundance for?
This comes at a time of renewed interest in rebuilding union power in the U.S. Earlier this month, New York State Assemblymember Claire Valdez, a candidate for Congress in New York’s 7th district who has been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, launched an agenda that would make it easier for workers to join unions and give them more power. “I think unions are essential, not just for winning on the affordability agenda and winning the material things that workers deserve, but for really building our democracy and fighting back against the people who want to strip us of our rights,” she said.
