The modern IWW has experimented with different approaches to organizing, including occasionally signing collective agreements. Nick Driedger looks at how these measure up against union contracts elsewhere.
Wobcast #7 – Peter Cole
Marianne Garneau interviews Peter Cole, author of Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly, now out in its second edition from PM Press.
Solidarity and Power in the Face of a Terrified Employer: The IWW campaign at Frite Alors
Frite Alors is a small restaurant franchise in Quebec with about ten locations. In 2015, an organizing campaign began at the Rachel Street location – one of the locations owned by the founder. Here, a […]
“Just go and shut it down”: A postal carrier on the struggle at Canada Post
An interview with a postal carrier in Canada. Their union, CUPW, is currently negotiating a new contract with Canada Post. After 37 days of rotating strikes and occupations, workers were legislated back to work this […]
You can’t litigate your way to a union: The IWW campaign at Boulevard Bingo
This story, about a strike at a bingo hall in Allentown, PA in 1992, was originally published in John Silvano’s Nothing in Common: An Oral History of IWW Strikes, 1971-1992. We are reprinting it because of its stark […]
Wobcast #1: Not The Standard Playbook
Introducing Wobcast! This is a podcast produced out of the Edmonton branch of the IWW. It is about workplace organizing, with a focus on solidarity unionism. In this first episode, Nick Driedger explains the difference […]
When and Why Did Unions Start Signing Contracts?
Robin J. Cartwright explores the historical origins of “workplace contractualism” in the U.S. — the predominant model of unionism, whereby workers and employers negotiate a contract. He notes that employers themselves pushed for the contract […]
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 […]
Boom Without Bust: Solidarity unionism for the long term
MK Lees and Marianne Garneau describe what a solidarity union looks like in the long term, and what it can accomplish. More to the point, they argue against the popular perception that contracts are needed […]