MK Lees and Marianne Garneau reexamine whether it is necessary for solidarity unions to declare themselves a union to the boss. This piece originally appeared at Libcom.org. Introduction In an election-driven workplace-organizing campaign, going public is a key step. The workers or union try to
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 (GSIs) and staff assistants at the University of Michigan. We
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 negotiation. On May 1, a hundred students entered the cafeteria
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 workplace where, among other problems, the boss won’t turn the
This is the second entry in our “Anatomy of a Campaign” series. We will be publishing it in two parts. What I love about Deirdre’s storytelling is the way it demonstrates how, in so many ways, work is our life: our social relationships, our mental
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 included, there seems to be the assumption that solidarity unionism
A checklist of things a workplace committee should have in place before petitioning for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. The IWW has a good track record when it comes to winning workplace elections. But what does it take to get from a