I’m writing this a few days after Election Day. The main emotions are still numbness melting into anger, but what I’m not feeling is disbelief. Voters showed this country it could elect Trump in 2016; why wouldn’t they do it again?
Trump hurt a lot of people in his first term in a lot of ways. Middle-class taxes went up. Thousands died under his shoddy handling of the covid pandemic, so badly that it’s still going on and trust in scientific institutions is nearly gone. The events of January 6 are still raw. People who are marginalized in a variety of ways — along race, orientation, class, gender lines — bore the brunt of those years. (Which is exactly what Trump voters want. For the right people to be hurt.)
I believe that the election of 2020 that brought Joe Biden to the White House made it easy for many to believe that we were back on track, that things were returning to normal (whatever that is), that the slow but steady progress we’ve seen over the past century would stop reversing and turn back toward the future.
But these things don’t happen on their own. And changes brought by votes can be undone by votes, or judicial decisions, or violence.
Voting is the very, very least we can do — but there is plenty to do off cycle.
It’s almost insulting to say that when I know the vast effort so many union members and their friends and allies put into this election. Knocking on doors, texting strangers, writing postcards and dropping lit are all the grinding chores of a campaign — time-consuming, effortful and vitally necessary to energize voters.
But when it comes to marking a ballot, it’s the bare minimum. And while it’s tempting to allow the feelings of anger, betrayal and despair bleed into the actions a person takes to feel better, we cannot allow the same politics of grievance that brought us here spill over into the work before us. Doing so would undermine the strengths we have and that we will need in the coming months and years.
As people look for a place to land during that time, some will gravitate toward the union movement, hoping for protections at work or even simply a community of like-minded people. It will be vital for us to be ready for them. The existence of the Labor movement itself is its strength. Its structure is full of gifts we can bring to our neighbors and communities as we organize around different issues:
• Solidarity. It may mean different things to different people, but when I walk in the door of a Central Labor Body meeting, I know that because we all believe in collective work for a better world, we can work more effectively. Knowing what solidarity looks like helps us foster it among people who are newly activated to work for change.
• Diversity. Race, class, ethnicity, religion, orientation, gender — the wide range of experiences, perspectives and goals are sometimes seen as a fragmenting weakness of the movement. But taken as a whole, this rich background must be seen as something that makes our community stronger — if we let it.
• A framework for organizing. We know different unions, crafts and trades have different philosophies about organizing. Some models work better than others in different environments. But as people look for answers and action, the organizing systems we are all a part of can help serve our wider communities.
It will be hard. It will be harder than in 2016. And even if only a few of Project 2025 ideas are implemented, it will change the social, cultural, economic, environmental and industrial landscape of this nation for decades.
Through it all, people we thought were friends and allies will be working against us. We’ve seen in happen already, and it will feel like things are falling apart. But there are so many more people who want a better world for all. We will be seeing new people who want to be a part of the work; there is a place for them here in the Labor movement.

— By Catherine Conlan, Labor World Editor and Manager