Nation Magazine Contributor Malcolm Harris joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed his article, “We Can Thank the Wobblies for the Biggest Labor Story of the Year,” which details how efforts by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to organize Starbucks nearly 20 years ago contributed to the recent union wins versus the coffeehouse conglomerate.
The article explores why the anti-establishment tactics of the IWW, or Wobblies as they are called, are ideally suited to organize lower wage workers like employees at Starbucks and Amazon, at least compared to mainstream trade unions.
Harris said the state of union organizing in America is at a unique time considering the headline to his article, published in March, is already out of date, as the recent union win by workers at the Amazon Staten Island Fulfillment Center now stands as the biggest labor story of the year. While the Amazon workers did not receive help from the IWW, the Amazon Labor Union used similar grassroots tactics, he explained.
Unskilled and low wage jobs will require a more unconventional approach than the trade union organizing playbook, Harris explained. These campaigns will need to be led by the rank and file, an approach that will become increasingly prevalent in the labor movement as more lower wage workers seek the benefits of unionization, he added.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about this topic.