workplace groups
Precarious and pissed off: Lessons from the Montpelier Downtown Workers' Union, 2003-2005
An account and analysis of the Vermont Workers' Center's innovative but ultimately failed attempt to set up a geographically-based union in the state's capital.
By Sean West
Beginnings and Endings
Anarchy, precarity, and the revenge of the IWW: An interview with Starbucks union organiser Daniel Gross
Interview with IWW organizer Daniel Gross where he discusses 'solidarity unionism,' the innovative organizing model that has made gains for Starbucks workers where bureaucratic unions have failed.
In this wide-ranging interview with IWW organizer Daniel Gross conducted by the UK-based Now or Never!, Gross discusses the innovative worker-controlled organizing model, known as solidarity unionism, that has made gains for Starbucks workers where the bureaucratic union model has failed.
Super Size My Pay - Fast food workers in New Zealand organise for better pay and conditions, 2005-6
In New Zealand, hundreds of fast food workers waged an innovative campaign called Super-Size My Pay during 2005-06. This is one worker's overview and analysis of the campaign.
This text is taken from the December 2006 issue of the Industrial Workers of the World Australia's newsletter, Direct Action.
Libcom interview with former UPS workers group Uprise! member, 2007
An interview with a former member of revolutionary UPS workers group Uprise! by libcom, based on a libcom questionnaire. Uprise! was active in 2002 and 2003.
Organizing for class struggle at UPS - Uprise!
An article by Nicolas Phebus of the Collectif Anarchiste La Nuit (NEFAC-Quebec City) about the revolutionary workplace group Uprise! at delivery firm UPS while it was still active in 2002.
December 2002
Notes on an ongoing workplace struggle - Sphinx
An article by Sphinx addressing workplace activity and the potential for organising disparate individuals in a Japanese workplace. The article is distinguished by its acceptance of, and engagement with, real world conditions, and yet is able to maintain a light and transcendent tone. It is also articulates the necessity for workers to establish their own goals.
Brief history of the Communication Workers Group, 1987-1989
A brief account of the Communication Workers Group (CWG), a radical group of postal workers initiated by anarcho-syndicalists in the UK.
The article, written by one of its members, outlines the group's birth, growth and decline two years later.
The couriers are revolting! The Despatch Industry Workers Union, 1989-1992
An excellent and inspiring pamphlet about London's Despatch Industry Workers Union (DIWU). A radical, self-organised and direct action-oriented grouping, it lasted three years, and here the author recounts its history and analyses its successes, failures and lessons for other workers.
Written by Des Patchrider, this pamphlet was printed and is available for sale from the Kate Sharpley Library. Our thanks go to the KSL and the author for permission to host this text online.
Lessons of MWR - Interview with former McDonalds Workers Resistance member, 2006
libcom.org interviews one of the founder members of the workplace group McDonalds Workers Resistance about the experiences and lessons learned from one of the UK's most important recent attempts at libertarian organisation.
So, who are you?
The proletarian formerly known as Funnywump.
Briefly, what was McDonald’s Workers Resistance?
MWR speech about web activism at the European Social Forum, 2002
Transcript of MWR member Bouncer's speech about the group internet activism at the European Social Forum in Florence, Italy, November 2002.
As we have heard, in the beginning, some time in 1997, the roots of what we now know and love (or hate as the case may be) as MWR started as an attempt to unionise a McDonald's store, bringing forth comments from managers such as- "do you want to keep your job? You could go far".
McDonalds Workers Resistance member's speech to Canadian Labour Congress, 2003
Transcript of a speech by Wayne from MWR to the Canadian Labour Congress' Mid-Term Conference in Ottawa on October 18 2003
An open letter to rank and file labor activists
An open letter by the IMPACT group in Ohio, USA, to rank-and-file workers. The letter cointains short accounts of sell-outs and closed-door deals done by union leaders, as well as suggestions for grassroots activity.
A Brief History of McDonalds Workers' Resistance
A brief history of MWR, by MWR - a network of McDonald's workers in the UK fighting to organise in the multinational anti-union food giant. Young, dynamic and exciting, MWR unfortunately mostly wound down in 2004.
