Steward's Corner: Respect Is the Foundation of Organizing (opens in new tab)

Solidarity among co-workers is your source of power against the employer. And one essential ingredient for solidarity is respect. In the workplace we typically don’t experience respect—we experience coercion. No matter how much the boss may call us “partners” or claim “we’re a family here,” the employment relationship is fundamentally undemocratic: The employer makes the decisions, and workers are required to comply. The union must be different in its DNA. Starting with the first building blo...