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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.
The book offers insight into tried and tested methods for effective organising. 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 organising. As a 101 guide to workplace organising with politically radical horizons, Workers Can Win is destined to become an essential tool for workplace struggles in the years to come.
List of contents
1. Introduction
2. Why organise at work?
3. Starting out
4. Servicing, advocacy, mobilising and organising
5. Choosing and communicating about issues
6. How to organise
7. Using your rights
8. Planning action
9. Industrial and direct action
10. Management mischief
11. Dealing with your union
12. Overcoming difficulties and limitations
Conclusion
About the author
Ian Allinson has been a workplace activist since 1991, working for a private sector employer which didn’t recognise a union for most workers, and where he led a number of strikes including the first national strike in the IT industry. He served ten years on the national Executive Committees of Amicus and Unite, and was a candidate for Unite General Secretary in 2017. He is currently industrial action coordinator on the executive committee of Manchester TUC, where he was previously President.
Colin Revolting’s cartoons have been published by New Musical Express and the Ramblers Association. Colin has twice been dismissed for organising at work – once in a large public institution and later in a small charity. He is still trying to organise at work, hence the pseudonym.
