This is huge for a number of reasons, but I’m particularly struck by the industrial-style scope of their organizing. The wall-to-wall union organizing model—in which *every* worker at a shop is included regardless of job title—is the future (and should already be the goal!). https://twitter.com/alphabetworkers/status/1346050124544233473
By now, as the job market and the nature of work itself has fractured into a million different pieces, it makes more and more sense for labor to abandon insular craft guild thinking and embrace the industrial model, whether that looks like the IWW’s One Big Union or something new
To break down what I mean here: say you work in an office, and you’ve decided to unionize. Organizing using the wall-to-wall model means that the union will include you, your direct coworkers, AND the cleaning staff, receptionists, and mail room workers. EVERY worker is involved.
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Every worker contributes to the final product, whether that’s a website or a skyscraper, and they all deserve union representation. As 20th century organizer & factory worker Matilda Rabinowitz once said, “I never saw anyone make a whole corset.”
Yet that’s not how it works today. Most unions are split into bargaining units specific to job title, and industrial organizing is unfortunately not the default. Wall-to-wall organizing may be rare, but as @AlphabetWorkers have shown, it doesn’t have to be—we can change that! 💪
You can follow @GrimKim.
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