{"id":193170,"date":"2026-02-25T14:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/193170\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:56:10","slug":"listen2workers-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/193170\/","title":{"rendered":"#Listen2Workers | The Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n February 25, 2026\n <\/p>\n

How winning people\u2019s trust involves listening to their challenges, ambition, ideas and stories.<\/p>\n

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\"StrikingStriking Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers in the rain outside the Anaheim hospital, on February 16, 2026.(Mindy Schauer \/ MediaNewsGroup \/ Orange County Register via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Donald Trump is tanking in the polls. But that public dissatisfaction hasn\u2019t translated into working-class people trusting Democrats to have their backs.<\/p>\n

When it comes to either party addressing their concerns about grocery bills, rent checks, pay stubs, retirement, their children\u2019s education\u2014the kinds of things keeping people up at night<\/a>\u2014working-class voters are still taking a \u201clesser of two evils\u201d approach.<\/p>\n

Having spent the last 14 years reporting on<\/a>, visiting, or advocating for working-class communities in every region, this status quo doesn\u2019t surprise me. Traveling the country you will hear a consistent message: \u201cThey [politicians] don\u2019t care about me\u201d; or \u201cThey only come around at election time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Above all else, winning people\u2019s trust involves sitting down with them and listening\u2014to their challenges, their ambitions, their ideas\u2026 their stories. It takes a certain intimacy to achieve that.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why in the wake of the 2024 election, when a stream of punditry and post-mortems asked how can Democrats reconnect with the working class?\u2014a coalition of state and national organizations (including my current employer, EPIC)\u2014launched the #Listen2Workers<\/a> campaign.<\/p>\n

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The campaign is built on a simple premise: Bring workers together with elected officials\u2014local, state, and federal\u2014and have authentic conversations. Ask workers about their lives, what is most pressing, their ideas for change. Listen, and then have a back and forth (no speeches) about what the legislator is hearing\u2014about policy ideas, commitments, remaining questions, how they can work together.<\/p>\n

Afterward, a coalition of organizations can help the legislator show their work\u2014through social-media-friendly clips\u2014so the public can see the commitment to working people in action, rather than political leaders simply talking about their commitment. If the party wants to shake the narrative among working-class people that they aren\u2019t committed, they must show the evidence. It comes down to the old adage, Show, don\u2019t tell\u2014if you want it to stick.<\/p>\n

Recently, Georgia House minority leader Carolyn Hugley hosted a #Listen2Workers forum<\/a> in Macon, moderated by Stacey Abrams.<\/p>\n

A group of about 25 racially diverse, union and, importantly, nonunion workers, from both urban and rural communities, talked about wages that no longer cover rent, even for full-time workers. A retired law enforcement officer who had no union said that his wage after 26 years was the same as the entry wage for NYPD officers, despite both risking their lives. A union leader talked about the absurdity of a $7.25 hourly minimum wage, and parents having to work multiple jobs, so they don\u2019t have the time they want and need for their kids.<\/p>\n

Others spoke about the quiet devastation of disinvestment. A second-generation brick mason described how vocational programs<\/a> were stripped from high schools, hollowing out both opportunity for young people and the skilled labor pipeline communities need. Many spoke of homes and lots that stand vacant, abandoned, while evictions rise. A gig worker explained that his \u201cboss is AI,\u201d with no job protections or recourse, and constant fear of being deactivated without explanation. A bartender said plainly, \u201cI don\u2019t want three jobs. I want one job. I want to live\u2014not just survive.\u201d The workers explored policy solutions ranging from rent stabilization to local banks providing entrepreneurs access to capital, to career pathways for young people, to tax revenues, to legislators showing up regularly, and much more.<\/p>\n

What tied these stories together wasn\u2019t ideology. It was lived experience\u2014and a shared sense that too many political conversations happen without the people most affected being in the room.<\/p>\n

As Abrams reflected<\/a> afterwards, \u201cPeople are hungry for solutions.\u2026 They are smart. They have clever, doable ideas. What they desperately need is someone who can listen to those ideas and help make them manifest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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State legislators across 11 states have now pledged<\/a> to take part in the campaign. In California, more than a dozen are sitting down for one-on-one conversations with workers in their districts\u2014care workers<\/a>, gig workers<\/a>, security workers<\/a>, trade workers<\/a>, and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Imagine if Democrats in red, blue, and purple districts across the country committed to doing this and explicitly tying a #Listen2Workers policy agenda to the stories they heard\u2014shaped by the very people bearing the brunt of policy decisions every day. That kind of politics wouldn\u2019t just move polls, it would help rebuild trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it all starts with listening to the stories. Those are the receipts\u2014for what people want, and how Democrats are responding to what they hear.<\/p>\n

Greg Kaufmann<\/a><\/p>\n

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Greg Kaufmann is a contributing writer for The Nation.<\/p>\n

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