Bernie Sanders Just Released a Plan to Double Union Membership in His First Term
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evjna7/bernie-sanders-just-released-a-plan-to-double-union-membership-in-his-first-term
As most Bernie Sanders’s supporters probably know, union membership in the United States has taken a steep decline in recent decades, roughly 50 percent since 1983. More than any other candidate in the 2020 Democratic field, Sanders has galvanized voters around the promise for a revitalized organized labor movement in the United States, a vision that has arguably earned him a reputation as the furthest left candidate.
Wednesday, Sanders released 17 policy proposals for how he would encourage organized labor, publishing a sweeping “Workplace Democracy” plan that promises to double union membership in the United States by 2025 (which would be the end of his first term if he wins the presidency). Last year, union membership reached a historic low at 10.5 percent. “It was the trade union movement that built the middle class in this country, and it is the trade union movement that is going to rebuild the middle class in America once again,” his proposal begins, adding that “declining unionization has fueled inequality.”