Organizing to Win: New Research on Union Strategies

by Kate Bronfenbrenner (Editor)

At a time when the American labor movement is mobilizing for a major resurgence through new organizing, here, at last, is a book about research on union organizing strategies. Previous studies have focused on factors contributing to union decline, devoting little attention to the organizing process itself. The twenty chapters in this volume dramatically increase understanding of the range and effectiveness of new organizing strategies and their potential contribution to the revitalization of the labor movement. The introduction defines the context of the current organizing climate. Major sections of the book cover strategic initiatives in union organizing, overcoming barriers to worker support for unions, community-based organizing, building membership and public support for organizing, and organizing initiatives by industry or by sector. Individual chapters focus on topics such as organizing outside the NLRB process, the role of clergy, local labor councils, and rank-and-file volunteer organizers.

Genres: Labor, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner is an American scholar and academic administrator. Since 1993 she has been the Director of Labor Education Research at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Professor Bronfenbrenner obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1976, and earned her doctorate in 1993, both from Cornell University. She is considered a respected expert on labor union organizing and collective bargaining strategies, a reputation gained in part through her studies of anti-union tactics utilized by employers in NLRB-sponsored union organizing elections. She has also conducted research on the impact of outsourcing and offshoring on workers, wages, employment and unions, not only in the United States but worldwide.

Professor Bronfenbrenner is a member of both the United Association for Labor Education and the Industrial Relations Research Association.

Her late father, Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner, was a well known researcher in the field of developmental psychology.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always kinda tough to know how to rate these given the period of hindsight. There's some good lessons in here, especially from Bronfenbrenner's work focusing on the importance of rank and file organizing tactics that empower workers to run their own campaigns. Unfortunately, as with any book focused on organizing tactics, it is necessarily very of it's time (the late 90s). The 25 years that have elapsed since this book was published has diminished any optimism that the new leadership of the AFL-CIO and their supposed commitment to organizing may have brought at the time. Today, however, there are new points of optimism but not from the still conservative leadership of most major unions, but from insurgent worker led organizing drives at Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, and elsewhere. There remain good lessons to learn from some of the chapters here, but some are now hopelessly dated and some just completely overcome by changes in the labor landscape.

Worth reading but not the first text on organizing I'd point people to.

[Luke Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read at the time -- thoughtful. Somewhat screedy. Imagine this would be dated if I found it and re-engaged, but still interesting.

[Ian Collins]

somewhat useful. good snippets to think about