A Field Guide to Union Insurgents

Labor Notes recently published a 14-page playbook on building “reform caucuses” inside unions. Employers should read it too. I attached it to this post.

The guide is aimed at rank-and-file members who want to take over their own unions, think Teamsters for a Democratic Union, or the UAW reform slate that put Shawn Fain in office.

It is a detailed manual: how to build a member list, run for union office, organize convention delegates, fundraise, and navigate the LMRDA’s protections for dissidents.

Why does this matter to management? Because the same organizing muscle these caucuses build to challenge their leadership is the muscle used to run contract campaigns and “vote no” movements against tentative agreements. The guide is explicit, the goal is to “build the fighting capacity of the union” against “the boss.”

The takeaway should be awareness. A more militant, member-driven union bargains differently than a top-down one. The rise of reform caucuses helps explain why recent contract fights have gotten louder. Know the other side’s playbook, and you’ll better know what to expect.