Not long ago, I received a request for short answers to some questions meant to prod discussion in a reading group about the book No Bosses. I sent back answers and don’t know what became of them. Perhaps they will be more generally useful. The “back story” is that for some weeks I had been [...]
Since electing new leadership in 2022, Teamsters Local 135 in Indiana has completely changed the way it conducts negotiations. It’s using open bargaining to revitalize the local.
Under the previous leadership, a small bargaining team negotiated behind closed doors. Gag orders ensured that members would know nothing about negotiations until an agreement was presented for a vote.
Imagine sleeping each night above more than a million barrels of oil while navigating the open ocean, maneuvering through narrow channels, and passing beneath bridges in some of the country’s most congested waterways. The hours are long, the work is physically demanding, and the risks are ever present.
Solidarity among co-workers is your source of power against the employer. And one essential ingredient for solidarity is respect.
In the workplace we typically don’t experience respect—we experience coercion. No matter how much the boss may call us “partners” or claim “we’re a family here,” the employment relationship is fundamentally undemocratic: The employer makes the decisions, and workers are required to comply.
What does it take to unionize factories today, especially in the South? In the last two years, bus manufacturing workers secured first union contracts and a national master agreement across New Flyer facilities in three states.
Their strategy shows how, with pressure from transit agencies that buy the buses, union members from organized sites leading outreach to non-union workers, and fighting stewards on the line, workers can unionize plants across a whole company.