Are Trade Unions and Their Members “Populist”?

Abstract

If in contemporary parlance “populism” stands for a social or political movement embodying otherwise unorganized and atomized anti-elite sentiment, then trade unionism is not populist. Labor organizations are anti-elitist, but they have a concrete program, a sense of social solidarity, a reasonably democratic leadership structure, and the capacity to exist once the fever or the election season has passed. Little of this is true of political campaigns and social insurgencies, including those of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, which have played such a prominent role in recent American life. A survey of some recent U.S. strikes, including those of blue-collar whites in heavy industry and white-collar teachers of multicultural hue, demonstrates the validity of this thesis.