This book review is also available in French, in Revue internationale du Travail 165 (1), and Spanish, in Revista Internacional del Trabajo 145 (1).

This book provides a fascinating overview of the development and spread of worker-to-worker organizing in the United States. It starts by defining the concept of worker-to-worker organizing, highlighting the importance of workers – rather than paid union organizers – taking the lead in organizing campaigns. The book also outlines the scale of the challenge facing US unions. The issues are not unique to the United States: the growth of employment in the service sector has increased the number of small, dispersed workplaces, which are difficult to unionize through conventional organizing approaches because they are risky and resource-intensive. Labour turnover is also often high in sectors such as retail and hospitality, which can make it difficult to sustain organizing campaigns.

The book then examines three central case studies of successful worker-to-worker organizing, presented in some detail in three core chapters. It identifies lessons that exemplify the advantages of worker-to-worker approaches over reliance on paid organizers. These lessons point to the central argument of the book, which is that organizing at the scale that is required to regain a significant presence in the US labour force cannot rely on expensive organizing campaigns run mainly by union professionals. Power must shift to workers, facilitated by online training and networking. The book concludes by analysing three factors external to the union movement that have contributed to the uptick in organizing and victories in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic: government policy, digital tools to train and connect workers, and a shift in the political values of young workers, who are – it is argued – more sympathetic to unions than previous generations.

Overall, the book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in contemporary US union organizing. Its discussion of the role of the state, albeit brief, is significant and unusual in US union analysis. The author makes a valiant effort to “guesstimate” the costs of the business model that places professional organizers at the centre of campaigns. Although the result is inevitably partial owing to data limitations, this analysis is convincing and a valuable addition to debates both in the United States and beyond.

Nonetheless, the book has some weaknesses. One is the lack of clarity about its intended readership. It is published by a prestigious US university press and unashamedly focuses on the United States, but its tone is less formal than might be expected and it includes some sweeping, unreferenced assertions that may be difficult for a non-US reader to follow. The intended audience becomes a little clearer in the conclusion, which directly addresses the reader in the second person and assumes they are a US worker seeking to organize. However, there is no hint of this earlier in the book, making it an unexpected turn and making the tone of the analysis difficult to follow in places. Moreover, if the audience really is the unorganized US worker, more attention could – and arguably should – have been paid to the risks of the proposed strategy. These are mentioned but not dwelt on. Worker-to-worker organizing transfers significant responsibility and risk from unions to workers. Participants in organizing campaigns can and often do lose their jobs. Many are harassed and bullied, sometimes with deleterious effects on both physical and mental health. Of course, that can also happen when paid organizers lead campaigns, and unions can invest in supporting workers who suffer these effects. Still, this is a real risk to the strategies and tactics proposed here and greater acknowledgement would have been helpful – especially given the change in the political context of the United States since the book’s publication.

Overall, the book provides valuable insights into developments in US organizing and raises important questions for organizers and union strategists more broadly. It certainly also offers academic value by shedding light on new trends in the United States – a country that has long been a source of learning for other labour movements around the world. This is an important and useful book that offers hope, poses new questions and explores innovative union strategies.

Melanie Simms

Professor of Work and Employment

University of Glasgow