If you’re not a patron you can get the full episode by visiting patreon.com/workstoppage and support us with $5 a month.
In the first episode of a new series, we dig into the primary causes of the ongoing decline of union membership in the US, especially in private industry. While there are certainly spots of hope in movements like Starbucks Workers United and other grassroots union organizing drives, US labor union density has continued its long 40 year decline. If we want to rebuild the US labor movement as a fighting movement of the working class, we must understand the root causes of the precarious situation we are in today. In this episode, we look at some of the foundational issues behind the problems of the US labor movement, like the class collaborationist approach of “business unionism”, the refusal of major unions to address “controversial issues” like racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression, and an abandonment of the struggle for control of the shop floor. In future episodes, we will look at some of the key moments in the failures of business unionism from the height of raw union membership numbers in the 70s, through the losses of the Reagan era, to the long steady retreats of the Neoliberal 90s to today.
Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX
Follow the pod @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter, John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee.
Shop Floor Discussion 4 - Starbucks May 2022 PREVIEW
Ep 104 - Cops Have Always Been Strikebreakers
Ep 103 – Organize the Fruit Stands
Overtime Episode 15 PREVIEW - Why Rank and File? - Pt 1
UNLOCKED - Shop Floor Discussion 3 - Amazon Labor Union
Ep 102 – Unionized Coffee Shrines
Ep 101 – Retail Rising
Shop Floor Discussion 3 PREVIEW – Amazon Labor Union: Lessons Learned from JFK8
Ep 100 – Scabs Aren’t Seaworthy
Ep 99 - David Beats Goliath
Overtime Episode 14 PREVIEW - The Decline of American Unionism - Part 3
Ep 98 - Millions of Strikers Can’t Be Wrong
Overtime Episode 13 PREVIEW - The Decline of American Unionism Part 2
Ep 97 - Ferries to Nowhere
Ep 96 - Strike Breakin’ Ghost Trucks
Ep 95 – Union Democracy Gets the Goods
Shop Floor Discussion 2 PREVIEW – Colombian State Violence
Ep 94 - Working Overtime at the Hershey Prison
Ep 93 – Minor Leagues, Major Exploitation
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free