Organizing Work

11/09/2023

Alex Riccio argues against a popular idea among the labor left

03/08/2023

The very legislation that gave workers the right to strike also ensured strikes would become less frequent

Nate Holdren explains how the very legislation that gave workers the right to strike also ensured strikes would become less frequent.

18/04/2023

This is how it's done: strike when a coworker is unjustly fired.

Notice also how it's bargaining for the common good in reverse. A boss with road rage tried to leverage discipline against a worker with the public by dragging her name through the mud to parents and the press. The union used straight industrial action affecting the public.

Employees called out of work Monday to support a fellow driver who was recently cited for what the school district viewed as unsafe driving.

02/12/2022

It is incredible that most left commentary on the rail bill is focused on the lack of paid sick leave and not the fact that it’s a deal imposed on the workers. Taking away their ability to vote freely on a deal established by their collective bargaining, backed by the meaningful threat of a strike, sets a brutal precedent. And yet most of the political pushback is either moralizing (“this is a sellout!”) or supposed pragmatism (“the point is to get them sick days”).

The left sees the working class as an object, not a subject. “Vote for us, we will impose a better contract on the workers!”

31/10/2022

Labor movement commentary is rife with both doom forecasts and sky-high optimism. Matthew Dimick pushes back against both

Matthew Dimick reflects on how strikes are measured and why workers strike.

26/10/2022

In honor of Mike Davis: this piece inspired by his pamphlet "The Stop Watch and the Wooden Shoe"

Marianne Garneau challenges the current focus on bringing back large strikes, arguing that the wellspring of labor militancy historically has been worker-led action on the shopfloor.

18/10/2022

"After the paper is signed [the employer] will only live up to it on condition that the union is strong enough to enforce it; and if the union is that strong, it doesn’t need the piece of paper."

An old pamphlet holds some contemporary wisdom, argues Marianne Garneau. A few months ago I was in a meeting with a worker I have mentored as an organizer. This is someone who came out of the Stard…

19/08/2022

"The question is not whether the Wagner Act was good or bad for the labor movement, but what kind of labor movement a statist regime of labor relations is likely to foster"

Matthew Dimick challenges the notion that the Wagner Act was a gift to labor power that was only later undermined.

30/06/2022

"We have a duty to look out for our coworkers and to follow the strategy that is most likely to produce a sustained committee capable of improving our working conditions in the long term."

An organizer and a worker describe a direct action campaign that won on demands but soon went awry because it hadn’t built a solid foundation.

28/06/2022

Our latest podcast episode takes a critical look at William Z Foster and his ideas about “boring from within” and the “militant minority”

https://organizing.work/2022/06/wobcast-william-z-foster/

25/06/2022

Hypothesis: Employers retaliate far more against legal union activity than they do against illegal union activity

21/04/2022

When workers learn how to organize their coworkers and exercise power on the job, they take that skill with them wherever they go

A cruise ship worker describes how he drew on previous union experience to organize a successful collective action to win shore leave.

25/03/2022

You can learn from organizing successes and sometimes you can learn even more from failures. Some smart reflections here from a worker-organizer.

The stumbling blocks to successful collective action are important to be aware of. Here, an IT worker relates a story.

23/03/2022

A bartender describes how she and her coworkers stopped tip theft and won pay stubs through a collective confrontation of the boss. Image © Kyle May via Wikimedia Commons. Describe the workplace. T…

09/03/2022

The things that are currently measured in the labor movement are almost entirely legal benchmarks -- canned metrics that are sound legal categories but empty politically.

Nick Driedger argues that most metrics by which unions are measured obscure what is really important.

12/01/2022

Delegating out tasks is crucial to building a strong, member-led union, and scaling up its power

Nick Driedger argues for the importance of delegating union tasks.

07/01/2022

In the latest episode of the Organizing Work podcast, a joint episode with Laborwave Radio, Marianne Garneau and Alex Riccio talk to Joe Burns about his new book, Class Struggle Unionism

In the latest episode of the Organizing Work podcast, a joint episode with Laborwave Radio, Marianne Garneau and Alex Riccio of talk to Joe Burns about his new book, Class Struggle Unionism.

29/11/2021

Alex Riccio argues that Joe Burns’ latest book is powerfully inspiring but short on details

Alex Riccio argues Joe Burns’ latest book is powerfully inspiring but short on details.

10/11/2021

In Sweden, the left labor movement defaults to calling for strikes. But what about building power in workplaces instead? argue these Swedish syndicalists

Rasmus Hästbacka and Kristian Falk of the Swedish syndicalist union SAC argue for a third path between the “consensus fundamentalism” of mainstream labor bureaucracy, and a “fixat…

18/10/2021

Here is what is really at stake with the IATSE strike vote and potential settlement

MK Lees offers context to the recent IATSE strike vote and potential settlement.