“As in Raising Expectations, McAlevey tells compelling stories of workers in action through a series of well-chosen case studies of recent labor movement successes, half-successes and failures. Throughout, she shows that when organizing efforts embrace worker involvement, leader identification and training, and take the time to build connections from within the workplace to the broader community, success is possible. Read More
On Monday, November 21st, I sat down with Brian Lehrer in the studio of WNYC. Listen here: Read More
Jane McAlevey author of No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, explains the distinction between organizing and mobilizing. Why organizing is reflective and face to face. Mobilizing after self-discovery. Why the Left needs to get back to back to basics organizing. The American South and organizing factory workers today. Read More
From Dissent: “In recent years we’ve seen many, many ideas and gimmicks and tricks put forward, each pledging to “save the labor movement.” Our guest this week, longtime organizer and sociologist Jane McAlevey, says that there are no tricks to it; in her new book, titled No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, out now from Oxford University Press, she studies winning labor and social movement campaigns, and argues that organizing—real, base-building organizing—is the only way to build real power for working people.” Read More
End of the day, this book is a bloody good read. Don’t be surprised if you open it after dinner and find yourself up til 3am, flipping the pages as fast as you can to find out what happens to a slimy gun smuggler turned professional union buster as exhausted shift nurses develop the courage to tell him where he can shove his intimidation tactics and blackmail. Read More