Moving Forward Progressive activists and scholars discuss the political landscape and strategies for working with the new administration . The Bush administration, in its first appointments and executive orders, has made it clear that labor unions, and working people in general, will be primary targets.
Conservatives are worried about the improved political effectiveness of the labor movement.
At the same time, there is a growing sentiment in the labor movement that the rights of workers must become the focus of a new, broad-based civil rights movement. The labor movement, especially since the election of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in 1995, has given renewed emphasis to doing this, in part driven by the desperate recognition that it needs allies to defend its members and regain its ground. For example, in the summer of 1995, management at the Miramar Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica, California, attempted to decertify its employees' union. The new coalition not only has bolstered a key private sector union but also has breathed new life into the long-established community progressive movement. The labor movement has worked closely with new groups of clergy, academics, students and other groups to defend worker rights, fight sweatshops and improve community living standards.