Boom Without Bust: Solidarity unionism for the long term

within the IWW, even though we have a critique of the mainstream, contract-servicing approach, many who believe in solidarity unionism still tend to assume longevity and stability require legal union recognition and a contract. The idea seems to be: “direct action is important, but if you want to make sure the union still has presence in the shop five years down the road, the only way to get there is to hold an election and put a contract in place.”

What does a long-term solidarity union look like in a single shop?

1. Consistent, Dues-Paying Membership
2. Rotation of Administrative Roles
3. Development, Growth and Inreach
4. Regular Meetings
5. A System for Taking Action on Grievances

What can the solidarity union model achieve?

1. Recognition: "In the first case, the workers forced the boss to recognize their organized power, in the second case, the state told the bosses they had to recognize a bargaining agent. One form of recognition was effective, the other was not, but proponents of NLRB elections usually have it backwards."
2. A Union Shop
3. A Grievance Procedure
4. Bread-and-Butter Gains
5. Other Shop Norms: Health & Safety, Weinfarten-type Rights, Shopfloor Meetings, Discipline and Just Cause Rights

Two things should be noted: 

First, benefits and working conditions have been getting worse for workers who are covered by union contracts. (It is a distortion to fault solidarity unions for not living up to standards even some of the largest business unions are failing to meet.)

Second, some of the biggest material gains that have been made in the last decade have been achieved by working outside of existing union infrastructure, essentially using the solidarity union model.

we need to stop thinking of solidarity unions as synonymous with that kind of initial, all-out war, for one thing because no group of workers can sustain that exhausting level of conflict for more than a year or two. It’s also a standard we arbitrarily hold solidarity unions to and not contract shops.

In reality, there is nothing wrong with a lull in a solidarity union as workers take a breather or regroup or quietly keep an eye on conditions, as long as they have a durable administrative infrastructure, and the ability to take action again, when necessary.

The bottom line is, we think it is more powerful to keep power in the hands of workers, rather than shifting struggles off the floor and into closed boardrooms, in discussions between company and union experts like lawyers and paid officers while the workers work now and learn the outcome of the grievance process later.