Unions of Our Own

Daniel Gross has been doing worker-led organizing and union-building for more than two decades, accompanying thousands of workers creating unions in their workplaces. Together with his co-workers, Gross helped found the groundbreaking IWW Starbucks Workers Union, which held power for over a decade at the coffee giant and helped revitalize a more inclusive labor movement.Gross has practiced labor law from a rank & file perspective and served on the board of the National Lawyers Guild and the Food Chain Workers Alliance. He is also the founding director of Brandworkers, the first worker center of immigrant workers in the metro New York local food manufacturing industry.With Staughton Lynd, he is the co-author of the classic Labor Law for the Rank & Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the Law as well as the graphic pamphlet, Solidarity Unionism at Starbucks, with illustrator Tom Keough. He is based in New York City.

"I have known Daniel Gross for over twenty years, and I have never met a more indefatigable and stubbornly optimistic organizer. Finally, Daniel has brought us Unions of Our Own, an immensely practical and accessible guide for building workers’ power. Daniel’s vast experience organizing with workers comes through in every page of a book that is sure to become an instant classic in an era of increasingly chaotic politics and economics. If your workplace lacks a union, this is the book to read with your fellow workers. If you are already a union member: read this book to expand your ranks and build more power from the bottom up."—Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook"Daniel Gross shares with us what he has learned through decades of experience as a worker and labor organizer. Thought provoking, in-depth, based on values."—Alice Lynd, coeditor of Rank & File: Personal Histories by Working Class Organizers and coauthor of Stepping Stones: Memoir of a Life Together"Unions of Our Own is the book I wish we had when we were starting our union campaign. It'll be right there with us as we train new organizers and beat back our Nestlé-owned employer. Internationalist, committed to workplace democracy, and unlike anything available to workers today, this book wrests back the full scope of unionism where it belongs: to those of us on the shop floor. Daniel Gross has written a practical guide for union organizing which is committed to a radical vision of how unions can transform society. Essential reading for anyone fed up with work and considering a member-controlled union to do something about it."—Alex "Gonzo" Pyne, barista and president of Blue Bottle Independent Union"Daniel Gross' Unions of Our Own is an important intervention into how we can organise at work today. Across different sectors and countries, in existing unions or building one from scratch, workers are experimenting with what forms of organisation can build rank-and-file power. This is coming up against both old and new challenges. Unions of Our Own provides important arguments and examples of how we can take these challenges seriously, while building organisation with solidarity at its heart. It is essential reading for anyone organising in a union—or wanting to start a new one."—Jamie Woodcock, author of Troublemaking: Why You Should Organize Your Workplace"Unions of Our Own is the book so many of us have been waiting for. If you are fed up at work and furious about the direction of this economy and the world, this book offers a new framework and philosophy for building real power within our workplaces to change our working conditions, and the world. Filled with concrete examples of worker-driven organizing, the book puts out there some of the key moves we made in building Rideshare Drivers United, a twenty-thousand-member, driver-centered organization. Daniel Gross has written both a compelling story and a clear road map for confronting authoritarianism—on the job and beyond. Read it with your coworkers. Then start building!"—Nicole Moore, Lyft driver and president of Rideshare Drivers United

• IntroductionEstablishing a connection with the reader, via the miseries of work - lays out the general framework. Includes some of Daniel’s experience at Starbucks and BordersPart 1 | Considering the Union JourneyWork Problems, Work SolutionsWork is daunting, don’t be daunted by organizing. It can be done!Organizing and Operating a Union at Your JobGeneral overview of what’s involved with a union & contrasting to mainstream union modelsPart 2 | The Foundational Building Blocks to a Union of Your OwnBuilding Block 1: Constituency | Choose Your PeoplePretty self-explanatory: who is it that you’re organizing? Building Block 2: Problem | What’s Most Painful?Grievances, shared and particular: race, gender, sexualities, status, etc. and how to build on them.Building Block 3: Solution | Solve Problems with Solidarity The importance of “an injury to one is an injury to all” how to tackle those questions among co-workers, minority organizing strategiesBuilding Block 4: Strategy | Power to WinBecoming coworkers with a sense of collective self; what are our goals, what does winning mean, and identifying strategiesPart 3 | The Sustainability and Growth Building BlocksBuilding Block 5: Mechanism | Hold Your Gains, Define Your CharacterHow to understand collective bargaining, cease-fire agreements, and issue-by-issue agreements, among others. Contrasting the cost / benefits of those for workers’ interestsBuilding Block 6:  Structure | A Union You ControlWhat a democratic union is, why it's important, and how to conceive of a structure that reflects the interests of the workers.Building Block 7: Funding | Resources to WinHow to conceive of the finances for your new unionBuilding Block 8: Metrics | Measure Your Model, Focus Your Work