Enjoy Labor’s Tailwinds—but Don’t Forget to Keep Rowing!: What lessons should workers draw from the recent rapid-fire union election victories? Winning an election, whether it’s for a union or a political candidate, is just the first step.

• February 19, 2024
• Posted in Class Struggle, Labor Movement, Mobilizing, Organizing, Strikes, The Nation, Unions

The tight labor market signaled by the Great Resignation—when so many workers took individual action, leaving jobs and employers they hated—has converged with other economic and cultural trends to create a unique set of conditions that support union organizing. From Trader Joe’s to Apple to smaller, regional chains and one-off kitchen shops, workers have been turning individual indignation into collective action to change the quality of their work lives by staying put and transforming their workplaces rather than hopping between shitty jobs. Read More

Interview With Jane McAlevey with Kate Lappin of Public Services International: Jane discusses her perspectives on organising and winning

• December 22, 2023
• Posted in Class Struggle, Interviews, Labor Movement, Strikes, Unions

Kate Lappin, Public Services International Regional Secretary Asia Pacific, talks to Jane on the sidelines of PSI Congress. Read More

UAW And The New Era Of Labor Empowerment w/ Jane McAlevey: Jane McAlevey explores what we can learn from the UAW’s incredible militancy, and addresses the biggest errors she sees facing modern unionization attempts.

• November 3, 2023
• Posted in Class Struggle, Interviews, Labor Movement, Strikes, Unions

https://janemcalevey.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/The-State-Of-Labor-After-The-UAWs-Victory-_-Jane-McAlevey-_-TMR.m4a Jane McAlevey walks through her insider perspective on the evolution of the labor movement over the last three decades, with the Chicago Teachers Union’s election of Karen Lewis in 2010 marking a major turning point in the raising of worker expectations across the US, planting the seeds for a renaissance of worker action over the next decade, before the Pandemic slammed a brief lid on growing discontent, ramping up the pressure on the working class and resulting in the post-COVID explosion of labor action across the US. Read More

How Jane McAlevey Transformed the Labor Movement: The renowned organizer and theorist has a terminal-cancer diagnosis. But she has long been fighting the clock.

• October 17, 2023
• Posted in Class Struggle, Interviews, Labor Movement, Mobilizing, Organizing, Origins, Strikes

(excerpts…) Organizing is not an art of telling people what to do, McAlevey explains, but of listening for what they cannot abide… McAlevey has become not just an expert organizer but a social scientist of organizing’s methodology. She has written four books that have become touchstones for a new generation of labor leaders. Read More

The UAW Decided to Use a Novel Strike Strategy. It’s Working.: The UAW’s “stand-up” strike strategy, which targets portions of the Big Three simultaneously, was a gamble. But the approach has worked so far...

• October 4, 2023
• Posted in Class Struggle, Jacobin, Labor Movement, Mobilizing, Organizing, Strikes, Unions

  (excerpt) First, bargaining is very public. Members know what’s happening at the table, which is novel enough. The tradition in North American labor relations has long been to bargain in private; members are brought in when an impasse or a tentative agreement is reached. Employers prefer it this way. GM CEO Mary Barra confirmed this on September 29 in her statement on negotiations, asserting that “serious bargaining happens at the table, not in public.” Read More