No shortcuts
by Jane McAlevey · first published 2016
5mentions
4recommended by
4HN commenters
2020–2026first – last mentioned
100% recommend
"The crisis of the progressive movement in the United States today is so evident that nothing less than a fundamental rethinking of its basic assumptions is required. Today's progressives now work for professional organizations more comfortable with the inside game in Washington, where they are outmatched and outspent by special interests. Labor unions now focus on the narrowest possible understanding of the interests of their members, and membership continues to decline in lockstep with the narrowing of their goals. Meanwhile, promising movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter
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A great book is No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey[1]. She specifically goes over history, organizing tactics, analysis about why some unions succeed vs others that don't, as well as how to…
on “Thousands of Google’s cafeteria workers have unionized” ↗Check out "No Shortcuts" by Jane McAlevey. Great book about creating a tech union, and it gives background on how other industries did it (and often where they went wrong)
on “Ask HN: How is the remote vs in-person trend looking?” ↗Resources maybe, but not necessarily experience. Very little actual organizing has been done over the past several decades. McAlevey's book No Shortcuts is worth a read on this front. Also, the RWDSU is not affiliated with the Teamsters. This is a different (and much better-resourced) union looking to step up and do the work better.
on “The Teamsters announce coordinated nationwide project to unionize Amazon” ↗No, this still doesn't matter. Just still waste of time of time caring about what journalists think over activating the local community into your cause. Go read "No Shortcuts" by Jane McAlevey to understand what effective organizing is.
on “Micropayments as a reality check for news sites” ↗To answer your question, probably not. For a fuller answer, I'd read this breakdown by Jane McAlevey, who wrote the extremely well-sourced "No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age" about the importance of actual organizing, rather than just trying to drive an approval vote: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/bessemer-alabama-...…
on “Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama” ↗