This post comes from the Hamilton, Ontario branch of the IWW. It describes a successful direct action campaign to recover a worker’s stolen wages, using the “solidarity network” model. A solidarity network is a group […]
Be the Union!
Luigi Rinaldi reflects on an organizing campaign at a grocery store in Rhode Island. This continues our series “Pushing Through,” which reflects on what it takes to develop an organizing campaign into a full-fledged union. […]
Health and Safety in a Solidarity Union
Martha Pierce describes how a solidarity union handled a couple of urgent health and safety issues. Staff at this workplace are organized under the IWW. The summer of 2018 wasn’t a smooth season for the […]
A March on the Boss, Won But Lost
This story, from a small restaurant with majority IWW presence, describes some strategic mistakes that were made around a march on the boss. To me, the story has a particular significance: it is an example […]
Do Solidarity Unions Need to “Go Public”?
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 […]
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 […]
The IWW Campaign at Whole Foods
Mike Hellman recounts the solidarity union campaign at Whole Foods in the Bay Area, which lasted from 2010-2014. Interview by Marianne Garneau. Tell me how and when you got involved. I was involved from 2010 […]
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 […]
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 […]