"I wrote the book because there is something I am particularly good at and that is being wrong. I work for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which is basically the labor movement's think tank. I remember one day in 2022, I was talking with some colleagues about the week ahead and they were like, "Hey, there is this union election for these Amazon workers in Staten Island. Should we pay any attention to that?" And I said, as confident as I had ever been in my life, "They are going to get crushed.""
"That was the beginning of a long string of me being completely wrong about one thing after another, and led me to realize that maybe my years of pessimism in the labor movement were misplaced. So, I decided I wanted to write something optimistic. I think we need an optimistic book for horrible times."
"And I tried to write it so that you didn't have to be a labor expert to read it. I tried to write something that someone who thinks unions might be interesting would pick up the book and learn something."
Surprising union victories in recent years overturned long-standing pessimism about labor organizing, beginning with an unexpected result in a Staten Island Amazon election. Work connected to the Economic Policy Institute provided close exposure to campaign developments and labor policy analysis. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified worker grievances and acted as a catalyst for renewed organizing, collective action, and heightened labor activism. Observers moved from confident predictions of defeat to recognition of a broader resurgence in union activity. The account emphasizes optimism about the prospects for American unions and calls for accessible explanations so non-experts can learn practical lessons from recent wins.
#labor-movement #union-resurgence #covid-19-pandemic #economic-policy-institute #amazon-unionization
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