Member-only story
Unions make workers strong. The PRO Act makes unions strong. So why isn’t Congress passing it?
This piece was originally published on July 25, 2021 in my Substack newsletter. Click here to subscribe.
This is a story about striking workers in Kansas.
This is a story about the importance of unions.
This is a story that got rejected by three different editors.
This is a story about how working people are fun props and caricatures in media narratives about — depending on their skin color — “inner city violence” and “generational poverty” and “welfare queens” or the “forgotten America” and “white working class” who cling to their guns and their God and their religion and who put Donald Trump in office and then violently tried to keep him there.
This is a story about how when those same people stand up for their rights, it is “too niche,” or “done before,” or not worthy of a response.
This is a story about striking workers in Kansas.
This is a story about the importance of unions.
This is a story that began last month, when Frito-Lay workers at a Kansas plant went on strike. They have a list of grievances that would shock even Upton Sinclair. They are complaining about “suicide shifts,” which see workers…
