The ICWA Under Attack and Labor Union Decline

The ICWA Under Attack
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) requires that before private and public agencies place Native American children in foster care or with an adoptive family, they try to keep nuclear families together, or, if that fails, to place children with the extended family, their tribe, or a member of another tribe. The Goldwater Institute is now trying, in  the Washburn case, to overturn the ICWA. Many tribal members fear that if Goldwater is successful, it could undermine the legal scaffolding of Native American self-determination. [1]

"From the mid-1800s into the 1970s, tens of thousands of Native American children were taken from their homes, sometimes forcibly, and sent to government-run boarding schools, often hundreds of miles away. Intended to "kill the Indian...save the man," the schools prohibited students from speaking Native languages, or practicing tribal ceremonies." "Studies have found that when Native youth are connected to their culture and feel pride about it, they're more likely to have better grades and to attend college." "A 2011 investigation by National Public Radio found that 32 states were in violation of the IWCA." [2]

Declining Union Membership
"From its mid-20th-century peak in which about 35 percent of workers were in a union, organized labor has seen its numbers shrink to about 11 percent of all workers and around 6 percent in the private sector -- the lowest figures since the early 20th century, before industrial labor took off in the United States." "Moreover, the automation of countless jobs over the last several decades has led to fewer full-time positions, thus marginalizing the role that collective bargaining can play in creating a more equal America." Only about 8 percent of U.S. jobs today are in manufacturing, compared with about 24 percent in 1960. The 700,000 coal-mining jobs that existed a century ago have dwindled to 50,000 today, and the 650,000 steel jobs in the early 1950s are down to less than 150,000. [3]

Recognizing that recreating the large labor unions of the past is not a feasible undertaking,  Jane McAlevey, a labor union reformer, has proposed three models for progressive political activism today: advocacy, mobilizing and organizing. She and other labor reform leaders trying to resurrect labor unions as a force in the nation, have suggested that the new organizing fights, like the one in Seattle, be intensely local, not national. Andy Stern, former president of SEIU, and Eli Lehrer have proposed seeking state waivers in order to experiment with wage and hour rules, union organizational structure, and benefit provisions. The SEIU has put issues related to gender, reproductive rights and racial justice at the center of its programs.

ADDENDUM:
*A University of New Mexico economist has calculated that 250,000 New Mexicans could lose their health insurance coverage if the GOP's AHCA bill was enacted into law. The state could lose 31,792 jobs by 2026 through the enactment of the AHCA.

Footnotes
[1] Rebecca Clarran, "Our Children Have a Bounty on Their Heads," The Nation, April 24/May 1, 2017.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Rich Yeselson, "At Labor's Crossroads," The Nation, March 27, 2017.