John O’Reilly reflects on this fundamental organizing tool, and how to do it right The one-on-one meeting is the quintessential tool of the organizer. The one-on-one meeting is used so frequently in organizing campaigns that […]
You Can’t Organize From The Outside: Stella’s
Patrick McGuire recounts a short-lived IWW campaign at a restaurant in Winnipeg in 2002, which has recently hit the headlines again as former staff blow the whistle on ongoing harassment. Interview by Marianne Garneau. Tell […]
Lessons from a Graduate Student Employees’ Union
Eric Dirnbach describes a successful contract fight at the University of Michigan in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, I was a member of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), the union of 1,500 graduate student instructors […]
Labor Struggles at The New School: Strike, Wildcat, Occupation
Arvind Dilawar, an independent journalist, reports on three different labor struggles at the New School in New York City during the month of May 2018, each using a different combination of direct action and formal […]
Stunts Aren’t Tactics
There is a crucial difference between pulling “stunts” on the boss, and deploying tactics: only the latter mobilizes collective power. There’s a moment in the IWW organizer training when we describe the scenario of a […]
What Solidarity Unionism Also Isn’t (A Reply to Don White)
Healthy debate is the lifeblood of progress, in unions too. Here, we have a spirited rejoinder to the last piece we published, by Don White: “Solidarity Unionism: What it is and what it isn’t.” MK Lees argues […]
Solidarity Unionism: What it is and what it isn’t
Don White clears up a common misconception: solidarity unionism is not just direct action. There is quite a bit of confusion around the definition of solidarity unionism. When I speak to people, long-time IWW members […]