Books

How to Strike and Win: A Labor Notes Guide

Strikes by unorganized workers led to the founding of unions. Strikes won the first union contracts. Strikes over the years won bigger paychecks, vacations, seniority rights, and the right to tell the foreman “that’s not my job.” Without strikes we would have no labor movement, no unions, no contracts, and a far worse working and living situation. In short, strikes are the strongest tool in workers’ toolbox—our power not just to ask, but to force our employers to concede something. This special expanded issue of Labor Notes is a manual on how to strike and win.

Order 25 copies ($50), 50 copies ($100), or 100 copies ($200).

$200.00

Publisher:

Labor Notes

Secrets of a Successful Organizer

Are there problems where you work? Maybe your pay is too low, conditions are unsafe, or your boss has it in for someone you work with... and you’re ready to do something about it.

This book will show you how to fight back where you work and win. You’ll learn how to identify the key issues in your workplace, build campaigns to tackle them, anticipate management’s tricks and traps, and inspire your co-workers to stand together despite their fears.

We've distilled generations of organizing know-how into 47 easily accessible secrets. Put them all together and you've got a step-by-step guide to building power on the job.

Also available: a Spanish edition and a companion trainer's guide to this book.

$15.00

Publisher:

Labor Notes

How to Jump-Start Your Union

In less than two years, newly-elected leaders transformed the 27,000-member Chicago Teachers Union. Learn how they organized as rank-and-file members then ran for office to chart a new direction for their union.

This book details how the engaged thousands of members to tackle problems on the job and to build a stewards network that became the backbone of their 2012 citywide strike. Find out how they worked with their communities, trained new leaders, and ran a contract campaign that became a model for unions across the country.

$15.00

Publisher:

Labor Notes

Just Cause

Just cause is the keystone of the union contract, protecting members from unwarranted and excessive discipline. But up to now many of its most important secrets have been restricted to arbitrators and labor professionals.

In Just Cause: A Union Guide to Winning Discipline Cases, veteran labor lawyer Robert M. Schwartz—best-selling author of he Legal Rights of Union Stewards—offers a step-by-step guide filled with advice, practical tips, and winning techniques. Grievance representatives can use these methods to compose compelling arguments. Many unions use Just Cause every day to save workers’ jobs and build solidarity.

Topics covered include: Requesting information; Due process; Double jeopardy; Disparate treatment; Hearsay; Zero-tolerance rules; Last chance agreements; Off-duty misconduct; Negligence; Sexual harassment; Sleeping on the job; Dishonesty; and Presenting grievances.

$20.00

Publisher:

Work Rights Press

Bundle Subscription to Labor Notes Magazine

Get a monthly bundle of Labor Notes magazine to give to your co-workers, union stewards, or executive board!

Many individuals and locals get a monthly bundle of five to 200 copies to distribute at membership meetings or hand around at work.

Every issue includes a Steward's Corner with how-to advice. All our labor news reporting is written for a rank-and-file audience, with details on not just what workers are fighting for but also how they're doing it.

It's a great way to get ideas for new tactics, start conversations on union strategy, and link up to the inspiration and energy of a wider labor movement.

Individual subscriptions ($30 per year in the U.S.) are also available.

$50.00

The Union Steward's Complete Guide 3rd Edition

Designed for new stewards and veterans alike, more than 135,000 copies of The Union Steward’s Complete Guide have been sold since the first edition was published in 1997. This widely-acclaimed resource has been updated once again to reflect changes in today’s workplaces and the ever-shifting challenges stewards face in representing their co-workers.

$29.95

Publisher:

Other

Secrets of a Successful Organizer: Trainer's Guide

This guide shows how to put on a three-part training that teaches rank-and-file workers how to build power on the job, step by step. It's designed as a companion to the Labor Notes book Secrets of a Successful Organizer.

The guide is available in a standard version and a special edition for K-12 teachers and school employees. Please check that you have added the correct version to your shopping cart before checking out.

$45.00

Publisher:

Labor Notes

Rebuilding Power in Open-Shop America: A Labor Notes Guide

Bundle of 25 copies for $50, 50 copies for $100, or 100 copies or $200. For this special expanded issue of Labor Notes (July 2018) we talked to workers who are building powerful unions despite a mandatory open shop—in schools, factories, buses, hospitals, oil refineries, grocery stores, post offices, and shipyards across the U.S.

This guide reveals the principles and practical steps behind their successes. Packed with info, exercises, and tips, it's a great tool to share with union stewards, board members, or rank-and-file activists.

$200.00

Publisher:

Labor Notes

The FMLA Handbook

The FMLA Handbook, by union attorney Robert M. Schwartz, explains the rights of employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), including:

- The right to be absent for up to sixty days each year if you are unable to work because of a serious health condition.

- The right to be absent to care for a family member such as a parent with a stroke, a husband who suffers a nervous breakdown, or a child who is too ill to go to school.

- The right to take twelve weeks leave for child birth, adoption, or in order to care for a child under one year of age.

$20.00

Publisher:

Work Rights Press

How to Win Past Practice Grievances

This book explains the powerful labor relations principle of past practice. It assists union representatives in identifying past practice violations, investigating grievances, making presentations, evaluating whether to file for arbitration, and filing labor board charges.

It answers dozens of critical questions, including: What are the five requirements necessary to establish a past practice? Must a practice exist throughout the workplace? Must a past practice be jointly established? and Is a new owner required to respect a past practice?

$13.00

Publisher:

Work Rights Press

Books

Pages