Announcements 📜
Employment Opportunity!
Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) is hiring a staff organizer! Midwest location is strongly preferred, but remote work is a possibility. This would be an INCREDIBLE opportunity for anyone looking to make a real impact on the labor movement. Find more details here. Applications close July 24, 2024.
EWOC Book Club
Join EWOC’s Labor Book Club! We’ll be kicking it off by reading Hamilton Nolan’s book, “The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor,” which explores the course of the American labor movement (and EWOC’s role in it!). You’ll get to meet other volunteers monthly for guided discussions and share any insights in the meantime on Slack, and a book talk by the author will follow at the end of the sessions! Fill out this form to indicate interest. We’ll be meeting to discuss the first part of the book in August.
Upcoming Events 📆
September! EWOC Foundational Training Series for Workplace Organizers
Wednesdays, September 4–25, 2024, 8–9:30 p.m. ET / 5–6:30 p.m. PT
In four 90-minute weekly sessions, you will learn how to approach your co-workers, build a team of organizers among them, and develop a campaign. You will meet other workers who are organizing and learn helpful tools, practices, and principles for winning workplace improvements and getting a democratic voice over your working conditions. We also welcome those who are interested in joining EWOC as a volunteer and supporting other organizing workers! Space is limited to 120 participants, so register here today!
Worker Cooperative Startup Webinar
Wednesdays, first Wednesday monthly, online
Next meeting: August 14, 2024, 3–4:30 p.m. ET / 12–1:30 p.m. PT
The U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) holds monthly webinars to teach folks about starting their co-ops. The next webinar is August 14, and more information is here. The USFWC also has a large amount of resources on the growing worker co-op movement. There is a Union Co-ops Council to coordinate how worker co-ops and unions can work together.
The Socialism Conference 2024
August 30–September 2, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois
EWOC is thrilled to endorse this four-day conference featuring dozens of participatory discussions, lectures, and workshops organized by groups from all over the country. COVID-19 safety policies will be applied, and masks will be provided for those who do not have one. A number of sessions from the conference will also be live-streamed virtually so that those unable to attend in person can still join us. Visit Socialism Conference 2024 to learn more and register today.
EWOC in the News! 📰
Here’s where we celebrate EWOC campaign wins and EWOC mentions in the press.
Huge Win! Jewish Family Services in St. Louis won their union! They’ve been organizing for over a year and faced immense union busting. We’re so proud of EWOC’s St. Louis local EWOC organizer, Emilia Hinckley, and all the worker-organizers who made this possible! Instagram: @jfsworkersunited
The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee Helps Demystify How to Organize (KKFI)
Checkout this fantastic radio interview with EWOC’s Daphna Thier, Diego Ramirez from Trader Joe’s Union at Essex, and Kelly Baker, a worker-organizer from Jewish Family Services in St. Louis. The 19-minute segment starts from the 4:40 time marker to 23:45.
Greenlining Institute in Oakland is organizing with UAW 2103! Congratulations to East Bay Workplace Organizing Committee (EBWOC), our Oakland and surrounding area EWOC local. This is the 11th workplace that they’ve supported in going public since this EWOC local was created in September 2022. Follow Greenliners United on Twitter/X: @gluuaw
A Labor of Luck (kernelmag)
An inspiring story about how Code for America workers used worker-centered tactics and a little bit of luck in bargaining their first contract written by EWOC volunteer Jacky Alcine.
Unite & Win in the Wild!
EWOC’s new organizing handbook, “Unite & Win”, has been spotted at Cafe Con Libros Press in Pomona, California! Not only do they have a great community fridge, they’ve been a hub for local Palestine organizing. Instagram: @cafeconlibrospress
Tag @organizeworkers in your socials if you see #uniteandwin in the wild!
The instagram account for New York Live Arts Workers Union has officially gone live! Kudos to EWOC organizers Harry August, Debra Bergen, and Liz Stone. Follow them on Instagram, and sign their petition demanding recognition! Instagram: @nyliveartsunion
Centre College’s Facilities Management Department strikes for higher wages (Lex18)
Supported by EWOC’s Matt Littrell, facilities workers at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, went on strike for one day over air conditioning during the summer, upgraded equipment to replace decades old supplies, and a living wage that tracks with inflation. Support their strike fund here!
Supervisors win 15% pay rise after months of negotiations (Varsity)
Workers at Cambridge University, who previously won their first raise through an EWOC supported campaign last year, have continued to organize on their own and just won a 15% raise!
Jane McAlevey, an incredible activist, scholar, and icon in the labor movement has passed away. EWOC partnered with Jane on a call last summer, where she talked to EWOC volunteers about strategies for getting a first contract – a crucial question for our audience and for new organizing. Interviewed by the co-author of her book, “Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations,” Abby Lawlor, Jane shares her aggressive and surgical strategies for winning over anti-union leaders and pivoting the campaign when it’s time for a first contract. We also assembled a cohort of EWOC folks to attend her celebrated organizer training sessions, Organizing for Power.
Earlier this year in April, Jane announced on her website (JaneMcAlevey.com) that she was halting all work and turning to home-based hospice as she neared the end of her years-long battle with terminal cancer. Despite these obstacles, Jane was seen in the studios of “Democracy Now!” discussing the Chattanooga Volkswagen win, Shawn Fain’s appearance at Labor Notes’ conference this year, and lending her voice to other relevant labor topics.
In this remarkable interview (“Democracy Now!” Interview, Part I and Part II), Jane shares her history as a life-long strategist and an “accidental author.” Most notable is her trajectory from getting arrested and dropping out of undergrad as a young student activist — where she led the student government and ultimately won in their demands for the entire SUNY university system to divest from apartheid South Africa — and later publishing her PhD dissertation in a 2016 book, “No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the Gilded Age.”
Our hearts are with her family and everyone in the labor movement who was inspired by her life. Jane had “endless faith in the ability of workers” to “beat the power structure” and found strength in knowing that her work will go on. We are all so honored to continue in the fight! Organizing for Power will be holding an online memorial for Jane McAlevey on Saturday, July 27 at noon ET. The following are tributes to Jane written by close colleagues:
Organize, Teach, Fight: Jane McAlevey, 1964-2024 by Eric Blanc (Labor Notes)
We’re in a Class War. Jane McAlevey Actually Acted Like It. by Alex N. Press (EWOC)
World of Work 🌍
What Do the Recent Supreme Court Rulings Mean for Labor Rights? (EWOC)
There’s been a good amount of concern online and within the labor movement about what these recent SCOTUS rulings – Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Jarkesy and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo – could mean for the NLRB and the department of Labor. Check out our explainer blog, which lays out what the decisions say and what it could mean for our future organizing efforts.
Project 2025’s extreme anti-labor agenda is an attack on unions and the entire working class (Media Matters) A comprehensive look at how Project 2025 plans to target labor and roll back gains that have been made by the current administration’s NLRB.
How Unite Here Plans to Double Organizing Spending and Save Democracy (Hamilton Nolan) An interview with UNITE HERE’s first female president, Gwen Mills, and their renewed commitment to new organizing.
DC coffee chain lists CEOs and Uber lobbyist as baristas to halt union drive (Guardian)
Compass Coffee in Washington DC is accused of hiring 127 additional people, who are friends of management, ahead of a union election in a spectacularly blatant display of union busting.
Daimler Case Study (UAW)
This case study from UAW outlines the strategy and tactics used by workers at Daimler Truck to secure major economic gains.
The UAW’s federal monitor twice pressured the union to back off its call for Gaza ceasefire, then launched an investigation (Drop Site News)
Bombshell reporting reveals that the federally appointed monitor, tasked with overseeing the UAW, is overstepping his jurisdiction and seeking retaliation over Palestine-Israel politics.
AFT4Palestine campaign just launched with a mission to encourage the American Federation of Teachers Union (AFT) to stand with Palestine. National Education Association (NEA) members are also organizing their union to support a ceasefire and a free Palestine. Instagram: @educatorsforpalestine_nea
Labor Unions Call On Biden To Halt Military Aid To Israel (HuffPost)
Seven unions laid out their demand in a joint letter a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address Congress.
New on Our Blog and Other Labor Resources 💻
What are the benefits of being in a union? By Bill Barry
Discussions revolving around union organizing usually revolve around better pay, benefits, and paid time-off. Find out what else can be gained from an enforced union contract.
How Will the 2024 Election Impact Labor Law? By Daniel O’Rourke
Presidential administrations and their appointed NLRB affect labor law through their politically influenced interpretation of it. Here’s a look at how the past three administrations interpreted and affected labor law.
Climate Justice at Work: Training 5 (EWOC)
EWOC’s Climate Justice at Work training video is now available on YouTube! Find out how you can make demands for the safety and health of yourself, your co-workers, and your community.
Guide for Hearing Officers in NLRB Representation (NLRB)
This 240-page guide describes how hearing officers should run pre- and post-election and ULP hearings, what questions to ask, and how to apply the law. A very good reference for anyone anticipating a hearing or wanting to learn more about them.
ILR Labor Action Tracker (cornell.edu)
If your local is interested in learning about campaigns or union activity in your region, check out Cornell’s Labor Action Tracker. You can also report actions and literally “get them on the map.”
Strategic Corporate Research involves digging up your opponent’s funding, revenue, and ownership structure to identify the right target for a campaign. If you’re interested in this type of research, check out the following resources:
This Week in Labor History 📚
JULY 25
1877: Workers stage a general strike — believed to be the nation’s first — in St. Louis, in support of striking railroad workers. The successful strike was ended when some 3,000 federal troops and 5,000 deputized special police killed at least 18 people in skirmishes around the city.
Solidarity,
Team EWOC
