direct unionism

Attractive hardcopy!

Submitted by Recomposition on Aug 5 2013 03:38

Announcement about some new pamphlets from Thoughtcrime Ink

Developing the IWW’s direct unionism politics

Submitted by Juan Conatz on Mar 7 2013 01:48

An article by Juan Conatz replying to some of the Direct Unionism discussion paper responses.

Wobblies and unfair labor practices

An article by Kevin S about the problems of using Unfair Labor Practice charges in IWW organizing.

No more double-edged swords

Submitted by Nate on Jun 12 2012 07:04

In this post I argue that we should build organizations that can't be used as instruments for enforcing capitalist social relationships.

Informal work groups and resistance on the sunrise shift

An account of an informal work group at UPS taking on a grievance with management.

On 'direct unionism'

John O'Reilly reviews some of the perspectives laid out in the 'direct unionism' discussion paper.

Direct unionism in practice: undermining service industry barriers to worker solidarity

This response is primarily written with the intention of facilitating an introduction to Direct Unionism for service workers who are very new to labour. We hope to participate in the DU discussion, and share with those interested how we have been affected by these conversations and also how we are practicing and implementing these ideas.

Navigating negotiations

Submitted by Nate on Feb 22 2012 23:34

Nate Hawthorne takes a look at how labor-capital structures of negotiation have changed in response to worker militancy and the state changing how it deals with what capitalists do. Along the way he gets into Joe Burns' new book, the ILWU-EGT conflict, the Occupy movement and 'direct unionism'.

Trade union factionalism and rank-and-file organising

Submitted by Phil on Feb 11 2012 12:07

Over the past year, it's become increasingly evident that the branch of the civil servants' union PCS I'm part of is beset by factionalism. In particular, the dominance of a ruling clique has been like a cancer which has seen people drop out of being reps, and even go off work with stress, because of the bullying occurring within the union. In my own rank-and-file approach to organising, I've butted heads with this problem on more than one occasion. This blog is a reflection of the issues at hand and an attempt to focus my own thoughts in terms of how to combat that.