What is the best way to build working-class power when labor’s leverage over capital is near a historic low? With private-sector union density at just 5.9 percent, the structural weakness of the labor movement imposes severe limits on progressive political possibilities in the medium term. Rebuilding labor must be a central priority of any long-term strategy. But even the most innovative organizing efforts — alongside promising tactics like ballot initiatives or worker cooperatives — cannot, on their own, deliver a major shift in class power.

Such a breakthrough requires favorable political conditions and a large working-class base that sees the value of both unions and strong government programs to expand economic security. In other words, labor organizing cannot succeed at scale without a supportive legal and political environment — one created by majoritarian coalitions capable of enacting reforms, confronting corporate power, and proving to a skeptical working class that progressive governance delivers. That kind of transformation will take years, even decades. But in the short term, building political power for working people — especially in purple and red states — is essential.

To make this possible, progressives must prioritize an economic populist approach, led by credible — ideally working-class — candidates and anchored in durable local infrastructure, particularly in the regions where they have struggled most.