Union Perspectives

Meet the American Legislative Exchange Council’s little brother, the American City Council Exchange The awakening of the silent low-wage workers may be driven by the new American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is the group funded by the Koch brothers, who have bought state governments. The new Koch brothers funded organization, American City Council Exchange (ACCE) which has and intends to now buy local government. The anti-worker right wing has figured out that the biggest threat for a higher minimum wage of $15 to $18 is coming from the local level, cities and counties, which labor has known for a long time, but been slow to take advantage of. Cities are, in short, the home of the Democratic base and it is also labor’s base—the greater the population density the bluer they become. The anti-union GOP Koch brothers puppets also know this and the ACCE will hold its second annual meeting this summer on local labor issues, like minimum wage laws and collective bargaining. The...