Rules to Win By book helps unions win their first contract

Abby Lawlor, co-author of Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss her time as an organizer and researcher. Lawlor then discussed the book she co-authored and shared some of the case studies and key elements of successful negotiations covered in the book. 

Lawlor, a Seattle-based labor lawyer, got her start in the labor movement at a young age, as she grew up in a union family. As an undergraduate student at Yale University, Lawlor discussed the power she saw from the unions that represent university workers, and that began shaping her path into the labor movement. She went to law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 2018, she got to experience effective strikes and negotiations by UNITE Here union members who worked at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco. Lawlor also previously worked for a decade organizing hospitality workers around the country, as well as a five-year tenure as a strategic researcher with UNITE HERE Local 8.

While at UC Berkeley, she connected with her co-author and UC Berkeley Labor Center professor Jane McAlevey. Their partnership lead to them producing the first of its kind book written for organizers, by organizers about organizing unions. The book provides the tools and resources to empower ordinary people to convert unionization efforts into a contract, Lawlor said. She believes the book offers a new negotiation approach based on transparency and Local member participation.

Six case studies were analyzed and discussed in Rules to Win By, and Lawlor touched on several. She begins with the Marriott workers' negotiations and explains how this action on the West Coast impacted hotel workers in Boston. Another case study she cited was the organizing efforts of nurses following the pandemic, as Lawlor spoke about the efforts of nurses in Massachusetts and Philadelphia to unionize. Finally, she reflected on the main takeaways discussed in the book: The key elements to a successful negotiation after a successful organizing campaign.

Listen to the show above to hear more about Lawlor’s book, and then be sure to pick up a copy of Rules to Win By here.