Solidarity Unionism: What it is and what it isn’t

IWW won certification as the bargaining agent in 2013, but still has yet to negotiate a contract. The organizer was frustrated that so many people in the IWW were “solidarity unionism purists.” By that he meant that he didn’t think that the shop should have to rely solely on direct action; they wanted to sign a contract.

Solidarity unionism is not necessarily opposed to contracts . . . The difference is that with staff-driven unionism the staff negotiates and is responsible for the enforcement of that contract. With solidarity unionism the workplace committee would assume those responsibilities

An important requirement for solidarity unionism is that a committee is organized, and what determines whether or not their plan succeeds or fails mostly depends on the abilities of that committee; not on staff (staff-driven unionism) or a single charismatic leader (leader-driven unionism). Put even more simply, solidarity unionism is workplace committee-driven unionism.

For it to be organized through solidarity unionism would mean it was organized worker-to-worker. This was the organizer’s confusion.