The Progressive Wing

Bernie Sanders, at UCLA, highlights his longtime support for organized labor

Bernie Sanders’ first appearance in California as a 2020 presidential candidate was not at a mega-rally like the ones that defined his previous bid, but at a speech before sun-baked picketers in front of UCLA’s medical center.

The rallies will come later — Sanders has three scheduled this weekend in the state — but the show of solidarity with striking UC workers illustrated how the Vermont senator is seeking to align himself with organized labor, a bedrock of Democratic politics.

“I’m here today not as a candidate for president but as somebody who has spent the last 40 years of his life walking the picket lines for unionized workers,” said Sanders, sporting rolled shirtsleeves. He wore a baseball cap that partially obscured a bandage covering stitches he received last week after cutting his head on a shower door.

The picket line consisted of members of the University Professional and Technical Employees, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, which represents research and technical workers. The union has been in negotiations with UC for nearly two years, but sticking points have included wages and concerns over outsourcing. The strikers were joined Wednesday by members of another union, AFSCME Local 3299, which represents patient care workers and is also in contract negotiations with the university system.

Sanders blasted the University of California for acting like a “corporate-type employer,” and framed the workers’ demands as part of a larger labor struggle.

“What we are seeing all across this country is a war being waged against working people in America,” he said.

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Oregon House approves 10-year ban on ‘fracking’ for oil, natural gas exploration

The Oregon House approved a 10-year ban on fracking to explore for oil and natural gas.

Lawmakers voted 42-12 on Monday to prohibit the process, which injects high-pressure liquids into underground rock to extract oil and gas. The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration.

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Environmental advocates say fracking can contaminate groundwater and pose other environmental risks.

The Trump administration announced last year that it planned roll back federal regulations on the process, making it easier to frack on public lands.

New York, Vermont and Maryland have enacted fracking bans, and Florida and New Mexico are also considering outlawing at least some forms of the practice.

Fracking pollutes water, degrades air quality and worsens climate change. When we are in the White House we are going to ban fracking nationwide and rapidly move to renewable energy. Thank you @ORHouseDems for taking this important step to stop fracking. https://t.co/7Bc2jHHema

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 19, 2019

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Elizabeth Warren calls for an end to the Electoral College

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for an end to the Electoral College as a way to guarantee that “every vote matters.” Her comments came at a CNN town hall in Jackson, Mississippi, in response to a question about voter disenfranchisement.

“My view is that every vote matters. And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College,” she said, to enthusiastic applause. Warren noted that during the general election, “Presidential candidates don’t come to places like Mississippi. … They also don’t come to places like California and Massachusetts, right? Because we’re not the battleground states.”

Since 2000, Democrats have seen two of their presidential candidates, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, win the popular vote only to lose the Electoral College — and the election. Because most states distribute electoral votes through a winner-take-all system, candidates tend to pay much less attention in the general election to states that are either deeply Democratic or deeply Republican, focusing instead on the battlegrounds where the outcome is uncertain. The group FairVote noted that by November 2016, over 90 percent of the electoral activity in the campaign had taken place in just 11 battleground states.

However, moving to a popular vote system could negatively impact a different set of voters. Candidates would likely focus more on heavily populated urban areas and less on those who don’t live in cities.

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Warren also responded to a question about reparations — she did not definitively support direct financial payments as part of a plan but instead called for convening a congressional panel of experts to find the most effective solution to correct generational inequalities.

She also reiterated her support for an “ultra-millionaire” tax on wealth, for the green new deal and for breaking up the big tech companies.

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