Rank-and-file autoworkers democratized their union, elected president Shawn Fain, and won a landmark strike. Now they will have to win local officer positions, dominated by the old guard, to hold bosses to their word and maintain a fighting union.
By recruiting young radicals to the labor movement, the Rank & File Project hopes to build the base for a politics that can unify the working class around shared interests, & prioritize solidarity & workers’ rights within the workplace & outside it.
An essential thread uniting recent winning campaigns is that the top union officers were all directly elected by the members, a basic democratic right denied to many union members in the United States.
A Teamster organizer reflects on 2023, a year of labor upsurge: “Corporate America, you’re on notice — we’re not fucking around.”
After supporting screenwriters and actors through their monthslong strikes, film and TV crew workers with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are launching a reform caucus.
Today the UAW is making headlines for an energetic strike, helmed by new leadership that doesn’t shy away from the language of class war. It’s happening, in large part, because a small group of workers got together four years ago to reform their unio
More than a year after the Amazon Labor Union’s landmark victory at a Staten Island warehouse, Amazon still refuses to bargain with the union. Meanwhile, a reform caucus is pushing for the ALU to hold leadership elections.
If we agree that a revived labor movement—and more worker organizing—is essential to combat the far right or tackle economic inequality, then we can’t wait for union treasuries to open. It’s imperative to unite as much of the labor movement as possible with a broader Left to defend our entire democracy.
Socialists from many organizations took jobs in NYC transit in the 1980s. A new paper examines: What were the strategies that guided them? What did they accomplish? What caused the collapse of their union reform project? What are lessons for today?
Despite the ravages of deindustrialization, the United Auto Workers remain the US’s most important industrial union. Members recently elected a new leadership promising democracy, militancy, and an end to corruption. But change isn’t coming easy to the UAW.
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