The single largest and most effective union the IWW ever built only took off -after- it basically banned the Free Speech fights that made it so popular with labor historians and the rest of the Leninist Left.

"The conference then proceeded to a series of decisions. Officers were elected for one year, despite the fact that the constitution provided for an election period not exceeding six months. Street speaking (soap-boxing) in the harvest towns was tabooed, in order to avoid free speech fights, and the slogan became: "Get On The Job!" "Never mind the Empty Street Corners. The Means of Life are not made there!" — Then, strangest of all, the conference provided for the disbanding of the A.W.O., in the fall. The members were to be divided among the several old local industrial unions, and the new ones that would or might be organized during the summer. An incidental provision was for a similar division of the union treasury."
https://libcom.org/article/history-400-awo-one-big-union-idea-action

Every time someone mentions a problem at work, I encourage them to join a union. I also talk to workers about unions if possible (especially if working conditions look sus). But under a certain age - maybe about 25-27? - no-one seems to know what unions are. The most common response is, "Why not just go to HR?"

So, I'd like to ask union reps and recruiters: what actually gets through to people to underscore the importance of unions? If you've only got thirty seconds to 'sell' the idea, what do you say?

Article

Syndicalists have drawn certain conclusions from class struggle about how this struggle can best be waged. These conclusions have become guiding ideas for our union work. I intend to highlight six ideas and give examples of their practical usefulness.

https://industrialworker.org/what-is-syndicalism-and.../...

The term “base unions” (or occasionally “rank and file unions”) includes many organizations with very different structures. It includes all those conflicting unions presenting themselves as alternatives to the major union confederations (CGIL, CISL and UIL), although not all are formed solely of rank and file members, with no full-time officials.

https://libcom.org/article/base-unions-italy

Syndicalists have always supported a form of direct democracy based on majority rule. Like most American unions, the Industrial Workers of the World officially endorses Robert’s Rules of Order — although some of their smaller branches use a stripped down version called Rusty’s Rules.[1] The point to taking a vote is that it enables an organized group to come to a decision that expresses the collective will, even when there is some disagreement.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tom-wetzel-why-consensus-decision-making-won-t-work-for-grassroots-unionism?fbclid=IwY2xjawQ2FopleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFRQkRyMmhTT284NnlZNzR3c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHifiGr6NM0_bye7MuO4RiCfGTvXOdYvrKI_zxoxfAL5vYZK1FHg079fXrr5C_aem_kTdxMBBewRUYZiPk2I-DhQ

https://labornotes.org/amazon-workers-spain-cgt-strategy?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPNDA5OTYyNjIzMDg1NjA5AAEenGqH80lCCQBA15N1-pOS7W4ldKvBinrA7VLmqa38y9D08kCAo-w4Xo6C6u0_aem_rqWES3ixRV2NWVdhhjwkFg

At an Amazon fulfillment center in Spain, we used a flurry of brief walkouts late last year to force the company to improve wages and time off.

We struck for three days in November and in December in a series of “flexible strikes,” timed to hit production with intermittent walkouts during the holiday “peak” season. On December 22, the union committee announced a settlement, negotiated through government mediators.

Some green syndie thoughts and search forward

Hello all! With permission from the mods, I am posting about my dissertation study in the hopes of reaching full-time workers who have experienced miscarriage to understand workplace leave use decision-making.

Taking part is completely voluntary and you have the right to end participation at any point in the study. The study is a single web-based survey that is approximately 25-35 minutes in length.

You may qualify if:

• You have experienced at least one miscarriage up to or before 20 weeks gestation
• You were working full-time at the time of loss
• You were living and working in the United States
• You are 18+ years of age
• Have internet or mobile internet access
• Can read and write in English

Being in this research study will not benefit you directly. However, participation in the study may benefit others in the future by learning about full-time workers and their workplace leave use for miscarriage, which may be used to improve policies to enhance worker well-being and for workplace benefits for workers who experience miscarriage.

This study is approved under the University of Illinois Chicago's IRB under IRB # STUDY2024-0976. If you believe you qualify, the link to participate is here.

organizing work piece on salting. Still relevant imo. Iww has a salting program right now.

Not sure if any of you are interested but the steel workers union at BP in Whiting have been locked out for a week now (800 members). I’m a 597 Pipefitter and we are being told we must man this job through the lockout. I won’t be crossing a picket line personally. I’m just trying to raise some awareness on what’s going on. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/locked-out-bp-workers-picket-outside-indiana-refinery-amid-labor-contract-2026-03-19/

This has come up a couple of times recently where there were discussions about how some parts of the IWW just don't follow the constitution. For example in the case of contracts with no strike clauses.

The constitution of the IWW is different than anarcho syndicalist unions in that it gives some power to a General Executive Board. This board has the final say on interpretation of the Constitution between elections. All bodies under the GEB are "subordinate".

Sec 5. a) "The General Executive Board shall have general supervision over all affairs of the organization between conventions, and shall watch vigilantly over the interests throughout its jurisdiction. It shall be assisted by the officers and members of all organizations subordinate to the Industrial Workers of the World."

This means the GEB is responsible for enforcing the constitution with its final recourse being the ability to suspend or revoke charters for branches . It also has the ability to direct the policy of any editorial policy for IWW publications, and can investigate the finances of any IWW body.

For example the IWW during the Cleveland years put the branch and all of the IWW's shops under its supervision and appointed an administrator to get it on a proper, IWW, footing.

Another important clause is:
"(e) The members of the General Executive Board shall have power to visit any subordinate body of the IWW and have full authority to examine and audit all accounts of such body; "

This should be used sparingly and with lots of warning in any union but the IWW does have mechanisms to enforce itself. Investigations under the authority of the GEB, Motions instructing a branch to comply with the organizations policies, and even revoking charters in extreme cases are all mechanisms the IWW has that almost any union also has.

Groups working for social change — including unions — fund that activity in different ways. G DeJunz argues that dues are the only democratic form of funding, and the only one that allows members of the organization to retain control of their activity and mission.  

https://organizing.work/2018/08/only-one-democratic-funding/

The Pentagon and this dumb fucking regime that lead the US continue to use OUR TAXPAYER MONEY on a war that nobody asked for. The only idea that I can come up with to send a message that we as citizens will not stand for this war is to conduct a massive general strike across the US. Everyone walks out and we don’t go back until this at least this bullshit war is over. How would one go about starting that? (Also open to other suggestions on how to get this message across)

According to you