I mean, there are labor unions organizing new shops in the south. that hasn't happened since the 1970's, I feel.

the oil industry depends on a massive amount of internally displaced southern men from Kentucky to Mexico, any unionization of the southern region is extremely welcome, and affects the rest of the region, as is also the only way the USA will ever see any action on climate. none of the work is anything but massively fragile migrant labor.

I have talked to guys who quit working petrochemical manufacturing jobs that were non-union, but made near 90k annually with a GED--the problem being that, as at will contractors, they were really only working 6 months a year at the refinery.

They quit to work non profit gigs, and discovered PTO and sick days, and medical benefits for the first time in their lives.

so, i mean, bring back the OCAW if you want any capital discipline on Exxon at all. the US Senate is not cutting it
posted by eustatic at 4:57 PM on September 2 [1 favorite]

Once again going to plug the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee if you have issues in your workplace (or want to donate). I have seen several shops in the past few years look at the news, see successful strikes, and think, "hey we can do that!" without doing any of the legwork to learn state labor law or even to see if their coworkers agree. EWOC provides trained folks to sit with you and determine the best route. It might be forming a union, in which case they help guide you to which parent union would be appropriate. It might be a quick fix, like coaching to talk to the boss.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:27 PM on September 2 [1 favorite]

In my opinion, the labor movement needs a concrete way to harness this energy beyond traditional shop unions.

I know a lot of people who are pro-labor organizing and have time, energy and money to devote to the cause but workplace organizing isn’t a good fit. Some are freelancers or contractors, some are retirees or students, some are management, some work in environments they know are not receptive to organizing, some don’t have the skills or personalities needed to organize a union.
posted by smelendez at 5:30 PM on September 2

END ACT 10 is what I wrote on the "what's the biggest issue facing labor?" board at LaborFest today. It had a lot of decorations when I strolled back by the board a few hours later to get to roll call.
posted by humbug at 5:40 PM on September 2

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