Turning the workers movement around

I just returned from a weeklong book tour in the U.K. and The Netherlands where worker militancy and organizing was in the air. One of my talks was canceled due to the London subway strike that followed on the heels of a national postal strike and a strike threat by train workers at the same time as a train strike in France. During my visit the second-largest teacher union, the National Education Union (NEU), which I have consulted for, voted to strike this winter.

It seems that everywhere we look, worker militancy is on the rise. But this didn’t just happen. It’s been a decades-long effort frequently by self-organized workers and rank-and-file members organizing against the wishes of established unions.