Organize!

Whether we are engaging in acts of resistance or creating new, alternative institutions, we need to create sustainable, democratic organizations that empower their members while also protecting against disruption. This section provides articles about effective organizing, creating democratic decision-making structures, building coalitions with other groups, and more. Visit the Resources Page for tools to assist your organizing efforts.

150 Young Organizers From The US Travel To Cuba Defying The Blockade

April 26, 2023 Zoe Alexandra, People's Dispatch. Organize! Cuba, Economic Blockade, Socialism, Youth Activism

Young organizers from across the United States have arrived in Havana, Cuba, to take part in a 10-day brigade organized by the International Peoples’ Assembly. During the brigade, the young leaders will meet with different sectors of Cuban society to hear firsthand about the impact of the US blockade and the experiences of the Cuban people in building socialism. They will also share experiences and challenges that they face as organizers against capitalism, racism, and oppression in the US. The brigade participants hail from organizations such as Black Lives Matter Grassroots, Black Men Build, Black Youth Project 100, the Palestinian Youth Movement, CODEPINK, Unión de Vecinos, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the People’s Forum, and others.

UFCW Convention: Reformers In Motion

April 25, 2023 Chris Bohner, Labor Notes. Organize! Democracy, Labor Movement, UFCW, Worker Rights and Jobs

The United Food and Commercial Workers is one of the country’s largest unions, with 1.2 million members in the U.S. and Canada, two-thirds of whom work in grocery stores. Like other unions, it has lost membership over the last decade, but it has managed to double its assets. Reformers in the union are asking why. The UFCW caucus Essential Workers for Democracy has proposed a slate of amendments to expand rank and file power in the union and put resources into organizing and strike action. The proposals will be considered at the union’s convention starting today in Las Vegas. The convention is held every five years.

Can Iowa Meatpacking Workers Take On Tyson?

April 25, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, In These Times. Organize! Iowa, Meat Packers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Gloria Ortiz’s parents spotted a sign one day looming over the fields of strawberries in California’s Central Coast. It was announcing $11-an-hour wages for meatpacking in Iowa. They had been picking strawberries for $35 a day. “So we came from Santa Maria, California, to this town, for Tyson,” Ortiz says. Her parents took jobs at the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, in 1994, just as the meatpacking industry was in a race to the bottom. In the 1980s, meatpacking companies had begun vertically integrating their operations to control the whole supply chain, from the farmers who raise the animals to the workers who kill them and package the meat.

Building Autonomous Mutual Aid As The Border Continues To Militarize

April 21, 2023 It's Going Down. Organize! Border Militarization, Mexico, Mutual Aid, Wars and Militarism

In this episode, we speak with someone involved with El Comedor, an autonomous mutual aid hub and organizing center in so-called Tijuana, Mexico, which was founded by anarchists and asylum seekers in 2018. From a previous report: El Comedor is currently one of the only places, if not the only place, serving hot meals everyday in Tijuana. Though “the caravan” is out of the news, thousands still pass through Tijuana on their way north hoping to escape violence. During our discussion, we speak about autonomous, mutual aid, and anarchist projects in Tijuana, Mexico as well as the rapidly militarizing borderlands. Under Biden, the US, and by extension, the Mexican and Canadian borders have continued to crack-down on refugees.

Society Of Authors Begins Campaign To Get Publishing Industry To Net Zero

April 21, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, Ecowatch. Organize! Books, climate crisis, Environment, net zero

Ah books… the solid feel of holding one in your hands — a portal into the thoughts and feelings of others. Taking it to the park or drifting off while reading before bed — a friend, a confidante, a teacher. An ancient practice that takes us back to a simpler time before screens. Books even have a unique smell — the smell of wonder. But books, like everything else made by humans, have a carbon footprint. A new campaign has been launched by The Society of Authors (SoA) to give authors support and ideas about how to talk with their publishers about the sustainability of their books. Called Tree to Me, the aim of the project is to help make sure authors are included in the drive to get to net zero in the publishing industry.

Internal Wells Fargo Document Reveals Angst Over Union ‘Resurgence’

April 19, 2023 Josh Eidelson, Portside. Organize! Banks, Labor Movement, Unions, Wells Fargo, Worker Rights and Jobs

Wells Fargo & Co. leaders are privately expressing increased concern that a years-long effort to unionize the bank’s employees could soon start notching victories — and have made plans to spend millions addressing the “pain points” that can fuel organizing efforts. The lender has seen “an increase in organizing activity” by employees working with the Communications Workers of America, according to an internal PowerPoint presentation viewed by Bloomberg News. That comes amid what it called a broader “resurgence” of US union activity. “Public approval of unions has increased,” the document reads. “And a new generation of employees with activist experience successfully unionized parts of major companies with no prior history of unionization.”

This April, Extinction Rebellion Is Building Up To ‘The Big One’

April 17, 2023 The Canary. Organize! climate crisis, Extinction Rebellion, Mass Action, United Kingdom (UK)

Between protest movements and striking trade unions and workers, the sight of organised people on the streets is once more becoming increasingly common in the UK. These protests and strikes are happening because the hardships we face are glaringly apparent and getting worse by the day – from the climate crisis to the cost of living one. Given their shared struggle, many groups are now working together to face these issues head on. That will be fully on display this April when Extinction Rebellion and others launch ‘The Big One’. According to the group itself: By joining the dots between the intersecting crises we face, the breadth and diversity of these organisations demonstrates that it is time to meet the urgency of the moment and unite people across the UK in demanding systemic change to tackle the interconnected crises of climate, cost of living, and politics.

Can Labor Seize Its ‘Movement Moment’?

April 14, 2023 Rand Wilson and Peter Olney, Stansbury Forum. Organize! Amazon, Labor Movements, Unions, Worker Rights

One measure of the labor movement’s relative power is the percentage of the workforce covered by union contracts. From a post-war high in 1955 of 35% in the private sector represented by unions, the percentage has steadily plunged—now to a low of only 6% . That low private sector number is buoyed to just over 10% by the higher percentage of unionized public sector workers. These dismal membership numbers hide the promise this moment holds for union organizing. Public support, resources, and organizing momentum point to some of the brightest possibilities for the US union movement in decades.

Minneapolis Letter Carriers Showed We’re Ready To Fight

April 13, 2023 Tyler Vasseur, Labor Notes. Organize! Letter Carriers, Minneapolis, Strikes, US Postal Service, Worker Rights and Jobs

Letter carriers got a glimpse of what a fighting strategy to win a strong contract could look like when 150 workers and supporters rallied in downtown Minneapolis April 2 under the banner “Staffing, Safety, and Service—Letter Carriers Need a Raise!” Members highlighted the root causes of the staffing crisis: mandatory overtime, pay that hasn’t kept up with inflation or with industry competitors like UPS, a toxic working environment at many stations created by bullying tactics from management, and overall poor working conditions that have led to huge attrition rates of new hires.

‘We’re Calling Bullsh*t’: Why Museum Workers Keep Unionizing

April 13, 2023 Mindy Isser, In These Times. Organize! Museums, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In late March, workers at Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum (PTM), one of the top ten ranked children’s museums in the country, voted to join the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees District Council 47 (AFSCME DC 47) Local 397. The landslide win (85% of workers voted to unionize) follows other recent union victories in Philadelphia— including at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA)— as well as at other museums and cultural institutions around the country. The win at the PTM marked the third museum union victory for AFSCME in the month of March.

Focus On What’s Strong, Not What’s Wrong

April 13, 2023 Eric Ortiz, SW Connector Organize! community building, Development, Minnesota, Sustainability

Everyone has a gift. That gift is a talent or passion. But not everyone gets to use their gift, talent or passion. Sometimes, people are not invited to share their gifts. We see this a lot. There is a problem. It could be big or small. Some people or groups are labeled as the source of the problem. They are called a nuisance, incorrigible, incurable or worse. They get cast aside, then forgotten. And the problem never gets solved. That doesn't mean the problem no longer exists. It just means "it's not our problem anymore." We may choose not to see it, but it's still a problem. This way of thinking is how we get unsolved problems and why we have the same longstanding issues that don't change.

2023 Southern Worker School: Organizing A Workers Assembly

April 11, 2023 Southern Workers Assembly. Organize! North Carolina, South, Worker Rights and Jobs, Workers Assembly

The Southern Workers Assembly is excited to share that we will be convening a Southern Worker School in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 21 through April 23. The theme of the spring gathering is “Organizing a Workers Assembly from A to Z.” The school will focus primarily on putting forward a methodology for developing workers assemblies, drawn from our experience on the ground, and the role they play in building a social movement oriented infrastructure to organize and express worker power in the South. This will constitute the majority of Saturday’s program, combining both political discussion and more concrete skills-based training.

New York Pre-K Workers Fight For Their Jobs, In Spite Of Their Union

April 11, 2023 Noelle Mapes, Labor Notes. Organize! New York City (NYC), Public Education, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

New York City, New York - Just days before school started last fall, 400 early childhood education workers in New York City were told they were being “excessed,” leaving their students in limbo. The workers sprang into action, and in January they won a short-term reinstatement. But they’re still fighting for long-term job stability as the administration of Mayor Eric Adams slowly dismantles his predecessor Bill De Blasio’s signature program, universal pre-kindergarten. And not only are they fighting the city—they’ve also had to fight their union, the United Federation of Teachers. With 180,000 members, the UFT is the largest teachers union in the country and a powerful force in city politics.

‘Strike Force’: Building The UPS Contract Campaign

April 8, 2023 Justin Alo, Labor Notes. Organize! California, Strikes, Unions, UPS, Worker Rights and Jobs

At Duke’s Hawaiian Coffee Shop and Deli in San Marcos, California, Friday mornings are abuzz with organizing talk—building unity among fellow Teamsters ahead of a potential strike at UPS. We began meeting in February, just a few of us. Soon enough, word spread about what we called “Unity Breakfast,” and the coffee shop filled up. At the first meeting, my co-worker Tim Peppers defined the main purpose: to educate members about the contract campaign and potential strike. We talked about how we are part of a movement much bigger than our own building, and why it’s important to build unity across our differences in seniority and classification.

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