Social Movement Unionism & Labor Strategy
“Working for the Public Good: Organizational Dilemmas & Strategy in Public-Sector Unions”
Work and Occupations (2025) OnlineFirst: 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1177/07308884231165077
Abstract: Despite the success of “Bargaining for the Common Good”, only educators have used this strategy at scale in the public sector. Why are some workers more likely to strike and bargain over “common good” demands than others? This article compares two social justice-oriented union locals in Chicago to explore how workers’ collective resources and capacities for disruption vary within the public sector. Drawing on archival sources and interviews, I argue that workers’ strategies are mediated by organizational dilemmas, or the set of obstacles and opportunities that derive from three factors: how the state organizes public services, the nature of the labor process, and the structure of workers’ organizations. These dilemmas, in turn, shape how workers engage with traditional union tools and build social power.
“A New Collective Bargain? A Multicase Comparison of U.S. Labor Union Strategy“
Mobilization: An International Quarterly (2022) 27 (2): 149–168. https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-27-2-149
Abstract: Twenty-five years ago, a vocal faction of progressive union leaders, labor educators, and academics charted a new path forward for American labor unions. Proponents of “social movement unionism” sought to reverse unions’ flagging strength through redoubled organizing drives, street mobilizations, “public dramas,” and labor-community coalitions. While case studies describing this repertoire of contention abound, there are few systematic analyses that take stock of emergent union strategy. Based on an analysis of 76 case studies of union-led collective-bargaining campaigns, strikes, and political mobilizations, I argue that contemporary labor union revitalization is best understood not as a singular, movement-inspired struggle but as a mix of four strategies— sometimes competing, sometimes complementary—each espousing divergent visions for how to recapture social, economic, and political power. These divergent visions, in turn, shape how unions form alliances and construct class-based identities.
“Toward a Field of Labor Activism” (with Jeffrey J. Sallaz)
Work and Occupations (2023) 50(3) https://doi.org/10.1177/07308884231165077
Abstract: A recent upsurge in organizing by workers in the United States presents an opportunity to reconsider the state and fate of the US labor movement. We argue that the conceptual apparatus of strategic action fields offers a tool to contextualize this development. In particular, it shines light upon categorization struggles, delegation of labor within the field, relationships among labor organizations, and strategies to change the rules of the field-game. Interpreting the trends reported by the Worker Empowerment Research Network through the lens of field theory cannot predict the future but can make sense of present obstacles and opportunities.
Labor Conditions for School Food Workers
“Dishing Out Public Goods: School Food Workers and the Struggle to (Re)value Reproductive Labor ” (with Jennifer Gaddis, Reece Lyerly and Beth Katz)
Forthcoming in Labor Studies Journal
Abstract: Government-funded school food programs in the United States have recently expanded access to free meals and incorporated more scratch cooking with local ingredients, but school food workers (SFWs) have seen little-to-no improvement in their working conditions. Using focus group data from the national Understanding the School Food Workforce Study (2024-2025), we analyze the structural devaluation of SFWs and explore strategies for revaluing their reproductive labor. Lastly, we provide a case study of a Colorado union local that used collective bargaining and ballot initiatives to improve their working conditions and reshape the state’s school food system for the common good.
“Hungry for Good Jobs: The State of the School Nutrition Workforce in Wisconsin” (with Jennifer Gaddis)
Jennifer and I surveyed 166 school food authorities, conducted focus groups, and gathered other qualitative data collected at the 2022 School Nutrition Association annual conference to paint a holistic picture of job quality and compensation for school nutrition workers in Wisconsin. We were also fortunate to collaborate with three brilliant high school student activists from Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), the youth arm of Voces de la Frontera, and members of the Wisconsin Healthy School Meals for All coalition.
Labor Mobilization in Global Perspective
“Labor Mobilization (and Revitalization) in the 21st Century” (with Barry Eidlin)
In a chapter for an updated Wiley Blackwell compendium of social movements, Barry and I explore some of the major recent trends in the American labor movement in a global context. We begin by contextualizing the rise of “gig” work and non-standard employment schemes in the U.S. and how they compare to work arrangements across the globe. We then examine how structural re-configurations of work and the dominance of mega corporations affect workers’ collective identities and strategies of contention. We argue that contemporary labor dynamics are Janus faced; labor markets both push workers of the world together and pull them apart. This undulating flow of production has produced pockets of resistance, but these pockets lack sufficient coordination. We conclude with an assessment of labor’s puzzling inability to produce greater political openings for working people and allied movements for racial, environmental, and social justice.
“The Politics of Labor in the U.S. and Canada” (with Barry Eidlin)
Workers in the U.S. and Canada are more militant than they’ve been in decades, staging hundreds of strikes and work stoppages each year since 2021. But a puzzling contradiction is emerging: Despite a wave of labor unrest in both counties, there are fewer openings for policy reforms that favor the working class, such as expanded access to affordable housing and healthcare or increased labor protections. In this chapter, we briefly trace the arc of the party-class relationship in both countries. Given the different institutional legacies of class struggle in the U.S. and Canada, how did we arrive at similar crisis points in social democracy, where worker protests are more diffuse and decoupled from party politics? Although these dynamics are still unfolding, we offer some reflections about the contradictions of the current moment and the opportunities and constraints it presents for the labor movement and working-class politics.
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