Is labor still relevant to Democratic politics?

Via Atrios, I was taken to Digby's thought provoking post about labor's importance in this day and age to the Democratic party.

Digby in turn links to the ongoing discussion on Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Point Memo's Labor discussion board in the TPM Cafe. (Whew!... it's sounds more complicated than it is. Perhaps a flow chart? Atrios -> Digby -> TPM Cafe -> Labor page -> Post -> comments.)

Anyway, go check out the discussion here . The post suggest that Dems would be fools to ignore labor, but some in comments are suggesting that labor is no longer important to progressive politics.

I think labor support is critical, especially in our area, and nationally as well. What do you think?