The fate of America’s unions and the fate of our middle class are inextricably intertwined. More than any other movement, the labor movement has worked to ensure essential benefits and working conditions for ordinary Americans, creating a long-term recipe for prosperity. Unions are the bedrock of the Democratic party, funding and supporting candidates who campaigned on the platform of the middle and working classes.

But are Democrats willing to hit back when unions are attacked? Barbara Ehrenreich, sociologist and author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, joins Rachel Maddow to discuss the absence and need for a populist economic dialogue on the Democrats’ campaign trail. 

—Anna Lekas Miller