Portside

This isn’t about power, It’s about control. Without a Union contract, they have all the control. You have the power. You just have to recognize it and use it. Let’s walk a new path for working-class people together in solidarity.

More and more workers across the South seek unionization. But they’re still forced to defy Republican officials who’d rather toady to wealthy corporations than support workers’ fight for a fair economy.

Workers at a Dollar General store in Holly Hill, South Carolina are taking a bold step by walking out on strike and discussing plans to unionize.

What did the campaign look like from the inside? Labor Notes writer Luis Feliz Leon spoke on April 13 with Joshua Brewer, the campaign’s lead organizer, from RWDSU’s Mid-South Council.

Ultimately the effort will require the dovetailing of internal worker organization at multiple facilities—like what Amazonians United is doing—with the power and resources of one or several national unions, like RWDSU or the Teamsters, for instance.

49,000 United Auto Worker members went on strike on Sept. 16 against General Motors, in the largest walkout there since 2007. While most plants are in the Midwest, they are also in Texas, Kentucky, Kansas, Tennessee and Missouri.

Despite a hostile labor climate and weak labor laws, workers in Tennessee still have power! They have pressured Target to drop a contractor that has been the subject of many lawsuits alleging racist practices, retaliation, and stolen wages.