The Main Street Moment

In the wake of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision, politicians are targeting working Americans as never before. As American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) President Gerald W. McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders show, efforts to crush what’s left of the working middle class and the American Dream are supported by those willing to stop at nothing to enshrine profits for the few at the expense of the many. But these forces vastly underestimate the power of Americans—union and non-union alike—united for economic justice and a vibrant democracy.

In fact, AFSCME’s leaders argue that the response to the unprecedented attacks on the rights of workers amid growing income inequality in the United States has triggered something extraordinary: the Main Street Moment. From Washington to Wisconsin, Americans are fighting back against the crony capitalists trying to undo a century of hard-won victories for workers. These Americans know that the best bulwark against economic calamity is organized labor. Unions brought you the weekend and the forty-hour work week; unions created the middle class. And now unions must save America from those who would sacrifice democracy for the sake of profit.