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A 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.
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.
Price: $95.00
Pages: 336
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
18 February 2025
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520394902
Format: Hardcover
“In this wired age, the opportunities are boundless for worker-to-worker communication, building power directly in the workplace. Blanc well summarizes how powerful these tools are and the opportunity they present to build union power from the ground up.”
"A compelling case not only for organizing millions more workers into the labor movement but for doing it in a way that could help them build power in their unions and in their workplaces."
"Nearly 60% of workers in America say they would support having a union where they work, yet only 11% have one. This thoughtful book uses recent organizing at Starbucks and other companies to discuss ways to close that gap. The central thesis is that to get to the necessary scale existing unions need to invest far more resources in supporting organizing led by workers themselves."
"We owe a debt of gratitude to Eric Blanc for We Are the Union, and for his continuing outspoken activism in support of labor organizing. . . . We Are the Union gives us rich stories of worker-initiated organizing, in many cases leading to dramatic victories."
"In We Are the Union, Blanc examines the relatively new concept of worker-to-worker unionism, arguing for the necessity of a new model of unionization that relies on the workers themselves to unionize rather than paid, full-time union organizers. . . . Blanc’s straightforward approach makes this an excellent read for researchers at all levels."
"Inspiring examples of workers fighting back and winning on both fronts."
“Blanc’s lively and lucid book, . . . is an analysis of changing organizing models that should be of interest to not only labor activists, but also sociologists of work, social movements, and organizations broadly.”
"Blanc's scholarship is dependable, his writing tight with an eye towards craft . . ."
Eric Blanc is Assistant Professor of Labor Studies at Rutgers University, an organizer trainer in the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics, and director of the Worker to Worker Collaborative.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Prologue
Introduction
PART ONE: ANALYSIS
1. Defining Worker-to-Worker Unionism
2. Organizing on a Dispersed Terrain
PART TWO: EXAMPLES OF VICTORY
3. Three Worker-to-Worker Wins
4. Many Ways to Win (Beyond First Contracts)
5. Starbucks Workers’ Big Breakthrough
PART THREE: HOW TO WIN BIG
6. Which Model Can Win Widely?
7. Tactics to Win Big
PART FOUR: DRIVING FORCES
8. Government Policy
9. Digital Tools
10. Youth Radicalization
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Survey and Interview Methodology
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Prologue
Introduction
PART ONE: ANALYSIS
1. Defining Worker-to-Worker Unionism
2. Organizing on a Dispersed Terrain
PART TWO: EXAMPLES OF VICTORY
3. Three Worker-to-Worker Wins
4. Many Ways to Win (Beyond First Contracts)
5. Starbucks Workers’ Big Breakthrough
PART THREE: HOW TO WIN BIG
6. Which Model Can Win Widely?
7. Tactics to Win Big
PART FOUR: DRIVING FORCES
8. Government Policy
9. Digital Tools
10. Youth Radicalization
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Survey and Interview Methodology
Notes
Bibliography
Index