With Trump’s impending return, rebuilding a fighting labour movement is more important than ever. Here @ericblanc.bsky.social and @radishresearch.bsky.social make the case for how unions can keep building in the Trump era: open.substack.com/pub/radishre...

"Sometimes going on the offense is also the best form of defense." Good insights and data from Chris Bohner @radishresearch.bsky.social and Eric Blanc @ericblanc.bsky.social jacobin.com/2024/11/labo...

The instinct of a lot of unions will be to retreat and hunker down and try to ride out the Trump years. That instinct will get us killed. Offense is defense now. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/lean-into-...

Trump's reelection brings challenges for workers, but the fight isn't over. Learn why labor can still thrive and why bold organizing is essential in @ericblanc.bsky.social & @radishresearch.bsky.social's piece for Labor Politics, now posted on @poweratwork.bsky.social: poweratwork.us/labors-resur...

Trump’s election doesn't have to mean the labor resurgence is over Unions actually organized more workers under George W. Bush than under Obama (mostly because labor seriously funded organizing in the early 2000s) Here's why unions can still go on the offensive today 🧵

Thoughtful & tough reflection on next steps for labor: "We can’t afford to turn down any of the 52 percent of non-union workers who say that...they would vote to join a union today..This effort will require unions to radically rethink their organizing strategy" www.bostonreview.net/articles/whe...

A friend sent me this piece by @radishresearch.bsky.social this morning - motivating read for how the labor movement can rise to the occasion in the face of four more years of Trump portside.org/2024-11-18/l...

Any suggestions for books/articles on public sector organizing in the 1960s and 70s? It seems relevant today - organizing under hostile legal conditions. Thx!

"It’s worth remembering that US labor’s current uptick began with the statewide teachers’ strikes that swept across red states in 2018 during Trump’s first term." An optimistic read in pessimistic times.

Time to organize!

Today @ericblanc.bsky.social and I co-published an article on why labor’s resurgence can continue. While Trump is preparing major attacks against labor, unions are actually well-positioned to continue their organizing and bargaining momentum. 1/ radishresearch.substack.com/p/labors-res...

Meanwhile in Manitoba, Canada - a province up north somewhere - the NDP passed a ban on scab labor, and improved card check procedures for union representation. 👇 (I've visited Manitoba many times and it's fun year-round, even in the arctic cold)

I cannot wait to read this 👇👇👇

I made a Labor History Starter Pack - who did I miss? go.bsky.app/3QqduGj

I wonder if Starbucks management breaks off the substantive bargaining with SBWU that's been going for abt a year? Election result changes the incentives.

As the election mercifully draws to a close, I’ve been tracking the polls to see how Kamala Harris is doing with union voters in swing states and nationally (but take the polls with a big dash of salt on a margarita rim). 🧵 1/

Got this dubious mailer from the Democrat aligned “Center for Voting Information” threatening to out me to my neighbors if I don’t vote (I’m voting!). It appears vaguely official, and that why I opened it. Shame is not an effective GOTV tactic.

Meanwhile in Canada, a country somewhere up north, union density is 31.5% in British Columbia, 26.4% in Ontario, 39.6% in Quebec… I need to finally read @eidlin.bsky.social’s Class Idea in US & Canada open.substack.com/pub/tparkin/...

Important article regardless of who wins in Nov 👇 "killing the 1935 National Labor Relations Act...would also mean the lifting of a host of restrictions on unions’ ability to carry out solidarity activism and effective economic sanctions. Are unions prepared for a return to ​“the law of the jungle?”

In a new Department of Labor filing, the AFL-CIO — a federation of 60 unions — reports that membership among its affiliates has increased by 452,124 in 2024. Membership increased from 13.0 million in 2023 to 13.5 million in 2024 (fiscal year ending 6/2024). 🧵 1/

NLRB fiscal year 2024 (Oct-Sep) annual report just dropped! 113,034 workers participated in union representation elections in 2024, up from 92,671 in 2023. In 2024, 93,768 workers won union rep. elections, up from 80,250 in 2023. Union win rate = 78.1% 🧵 1/

if you are joining bsky today, here's a a starter pack for accounts that post about unions, worker power, and the labor movement.

BREAKING: Ahead of the DOL release on 1/23, census data shows union membership up 135,000 to 14.4 million in 2023. The % of workers who were members of unions — the union density rate — was 10.0% in 2023, down from 10.1% in 2022. Read more at radishresearch.substack.com/p/breaking-u...

1/ One reason many U.S. unions need governance reform. From 2010-2022, organized labor spent nearly $9 billion on political activities and less than $1b on strike benefits. While this mismatch will improve in 2023, not enough. Details in my newsletter (radishresearch.org/newsletter).

How much do unions spend on strikes v politics? Are there signs that labor is staffing up? What’s the convention schedule for large unions? How many billions in cash does labor have for organizing? My latest on substack! open.substack.com/pub/radishre...

If you want the argument against direct elections of union officers/#1M1V, you can read the campaign materials put out by the UAW's Administration Caucus. They ran the union for 80 years and campaigned against #1M1V. 👇 web.archive.org/web/20211202...

My new piece for Jacobin examines the state of "one member, one vote" (#1M1V) at U.S. unions with new data on top union officer elections. Most union members do not have the right to elect their top officers directly, but they should. jacobin.com/2023/12/elec...

In October, 2.21 employees quit their job for each worker fired by their employer, that's down a smidge from 2.26 in Sept per today's #JOLTS. Labor leverage continues slide since Fed started raising rates, approaching pre-pandemic level.