Skip to main content

labor Pre-Majority Unionism

Models for Building a Union When There's No Clear Path to a Majority or a Contract

United Campus Workers Rally,

Building a union is always hard work. But in certain workplaces, the task of winning union certification and a contract may not be viable for many years to come. Workers in those jobs may feel they have no options, but in reality there are age-old models of unionism they can pursue.

We’re calling this type of organizing “pre-majority unionism,” and we’re dedicating a whole section of the EWOC website to it.

Pre-Majority Unionism Defined

Why let your boss dictate whether or not you’re a union?

How the labor movement got into its current troubles and how pre-majority unionism can add another tool to rebuild worker power

Section 7 rights refer to the rights that workers in the private sector have to organize collectively. It’s part of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which only applies to the private sector. 

The main advantage to pre-majority unionism is the most important one of all: when it’s the only type of unionism available, pre-majority unionism is a valid, time-tested, and powerful tool that workers can pursue to win demands, fight for justice, and build the labor movement.

Analysis of historical and contemporary pre-majority unions. Regularly updated with new cases.

 

About the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is a project of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) to build a distributed, grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace.

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)