Writing
Organizers with substantial, direct experience in the field have an entirely different focus than authors who have not been involved in campaigns: we focus on how the work gets done (methods), and how to win.

Nurses celebrating their hard won contract

Getting to Contract: Negotiating and Winning Against the Odds: Workers learn governing power through high-participation negotiations. That’s also how they can get employers to the table.

Whether a union is new and independent or long-established, the questions of how to negotiate, and how to get to the bargaining table, represent strategic choices. Workers can’t begin the process of realizing the concrete gains that will lead to a better life—from ending torturous scheduling to achieving real cost-of-living wage increases to obtaining the health care and retirement plans everyone deserves—until they secure a first union contract. Read More

UC workers on strike

Time to Turn Up the Pressure on the University of California Decision-Makers: There's one clear and urgent path to victory

As a member of Local 5810 of the United Auto Workers, I can’t think of a more momentous month in our union. The massive University of California system is as important to the country’s political economy as General Motors was at the UAW’s industrial peak. Read the complete article here >>                 Read More

Canadian strikers

Labor’s Winning Weapon: Two Canadian unions show why the supermajority strike is the key to worker power

The bus drivers, station attendants, maintenance crews, cleaners, and transit safety workers walked off the job in a strike that lasted four days with 100 percent unity. Not a single worker crossed the picket lines. The timing couldn’t have been better—and it wasn’t an accident. How workers prepare one another for strikes is crucial to their strength and success—the ATU members ratified a great contract last Thurs. Read More

railroad

Rail Workers, Nurses, Teachers Are Fighting From the Bottom Up: When will their supposed national leaders—in unions, and in the Democratic Party—get serious?

As with the moment last year dubbed “Striketober,” promises of massive labor action by national unions didn’t live up to the hoopla, with the few real wins coming out of bold moves taken by rank-and-file workers. It’s high time to reframe the expectations American workers should have for our quality of life, the quality of our national union leadership, and the Democratic Party. Read More

You Voted To Form a Union. Now What? video

You Voted To Form a Union. Now What? (video): Jane McAlevey explains 3 core principles that can help workers win better contracts, faster.

You won your vote to start a union.. Now comes the hard part. Negotiations aren’t easy. A year after workers vote to unionize, more than half still don’t have a contract. After a year without a contract, management can push to legally dissolve a hard-won union. Reaching a good contract matters—so how do we get there? Read More