We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning BigA riveting account of labor's bottom-up resurgence, providing a roadmap for workers, unions, and social movements to win widely. After decades of union decline and rising inequality, an inspiring wave of workplace organizing—from Starbucks stores to Amazon warehouses to southern auto factories—has thrust unionization into the national spotlight. By analyzing this surge and telling the stories of the courageous workers driving it forward, We Are the Union makes a case for how to overcome business as usual in both corporate America and organized labor. Eric Blanc shows that recent struggles have developed a new organizing model, worker-to-worker unionism, which builds scalable power by giving rank-and-filers an unprecedented degree of leadership. Through digital tools and ambitious campaigns, young worker leaders are turning the labor movement back into a movement—and they're winning. Rigorously researched and compellingly written, We Are the Union illustrates how this new grassroots approach can exponentially grow the power of working people to overcome economic exploitation, racial injustice, and authoritarianism at work and beyond. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Defining WorkertoWorker Unionism | 35 |
Organizing on a Dispersed Terrain | 50 |
EXAMPLES OF VICTORY | 67 |
HOW TO WIN | 153 |
Tactics to Win Big | 175 |
DRIVING FORCES | 207 |
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We Are the Union: How Worker-To-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and ... Eric Blanc No preview available - 2025 |
Common terms and phrases
action AFL-CIO Amazon approach bargaining baristas Bernie Bernie Sanders bottom-up build Burgerville campaign Chris Smalls Colectivo contract corporate coworkers crucial deep organizing Democratic digital tools economic employers established unions EWOC example explained Facebook fight full-time going grassroots industry initiative JFK8 Kate Bronfenbrenner Kim Voss labor law labor movement large numbers leadership leverage major momentum NewsGuild NLRB number of workers organiz Organizing Committee organizing model pandemic partners percent political rank and filers rank-and-file recent respondents Salwa SBWU scalable SEIU social media social movement unionism solidarity staff organizers staff-intensive staffing strategy strike struggle survey tactics targeted there's TikTok tion today’s Trader Joe's union drives union election Union Organizing union-busting unionization effort University Press uptick volunteer vote worker leaders worker organizers worker power worker-to worker-to-worker organizing worker-to-worker unionism Workers Union workforce working-class workplace organizing