A nuts-and-bolts guide to organizing your workplace from a longtime labor activist.
The Covid, climate, and cost of living crises all hang heavy in the air. It's more obvious than ever that we need radical social and political change. But in the vacuum left by defeated labor movements, where should we begin? For longtime workplace activist Ian Allinson, the answer is clear: organizing at work is essential to rebuilding working-class power.
The premise is simple: organizing builds confidence, capacity, and collective power - and with power, we can win change. Workers Can Win is an essential, practical guide for rank-and-file workers and union activists. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, Allinson combines practical techniques with an analysis of the theory and politics of organizing and unions.
Allinson offers insight into tried and tested methods for effective organizing. It deals with tactics and strategies and addresses some of the roots of conflict, common problems with unions, and the resistance of management to worker organizing. As a 101 guide to workplace organizing with politically radical horizons, Workers Can Win is destined to become an essential tool for workplace struggles in the years to come.
'Drawing on years of experience, Unite activist Ian Allinson has written an organising handbook that will be invaluable for rank and file organisers and trade union professionals alike. He offers timely, concrete analysis and advice that will be an aid to activists across the trade union movement'
Kim Moody, author and founder of 'Labor Notes'
'A must read for every trade union activist'
Lyn-Marie O'Hara, Glasgow equal pay striker
'A vital resource for anyone serious about taking part in trade union work at any level, and also extremely useful for anyone working for positive change in their community'
Brendan Montague, editor of 'The Ecologist'
'This book is just brilliant. It is not only packed full of invaluable advice and practical tips for anybody organising in the workplace, but it is also hopeful. Crucially, it offers an accessible political analysis of why it is so important for working class people to build power in the workplace and beyond, demystifying the process as it goes'
Laura Pidcock, National Secretary of The People's Assembly