A growing movement to break from Republican orthodoxies to carve out a distinctly pro-worker platform has gained traction over the last few years. This idea—that the GOP ought to assert itself more fully as the “pro-worker party”—was solidified when Donald Trump chose J.D. Vance as his running mate and invited the president of the Teamsters union to speak at the Republican convention.
Voters will likely welcome the new GOP priorities, which are in many respects shared by Democrats and even our friends across the Atlantic. But let’s be clear: An agenda that empowers American workers through unionization and employment protection policies will come with trade-offs. The question is how much the GOP can do without diminishing America’s greatest advantage: the dynamic nature of its labor market.
