Chris Bohner
banner
radishresearch.bsky.social
Chris Bohner
@radishresearch.bsky.social
Research-tivist with stops @ IBT, UNITE HERE, Culinary 226, AFL-CIO, worker centers, and 50/50 Climate Project
Reposted by Chris Bohner
With Trump’s impending return, rebuilding a fighting labour movement is more important than ever. Here @ericblanc.bsky.social and @radishresearch.bsky.social make the case for how unions can keep building in the Trump era:

open.substack.com/pub/radishre...
Labor’s Resurgence Can Continue Despite Trump
Nobody should underestimate the importance of defending our movement against Trump’s looming attacks. But it’s not factually or tactically justified to dismiss the potential for labor advance over the...
open.substack.com
November 22, 2024 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
"Sometimes going on the offense is also the best form of defense."

Good insights and data from Chris Bohner @radishresearch.bsky.social and Eric Blanc @ericblanc.bsky.social

jacobin.com/2024/11/labo...
Labor’s Resurgence Can Continue Despite Trump
Donald Trump will do his best to undermine unions. But the labor movement still has momentum on its side and numerous opportunities to seize. Trump’s presidency has to be a time for labor action, not ...
jacobin.com
November 22, 2024 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
The instinct of a lot of unions will be to retreat and hunker down and try to ride out the Trump years. That instinct will get us killed. Offense is defense now.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/lean-into-...
Lean Into the Punch
Labor under Trump.
www.hamiltonnolan.com
November 22, 2024 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
Trump's reelection brings challenges for workers, but the fight isn't over. Learn why labor can still thrive and why bold organizing is essential in @ericblanc.bsky.social & @radishresearch.bsky.social's piece for Labor Politics, now posted on @poweratwork.bsky.social: poweratwork.us/labors-resur...
poweratwork.us
November 21, 2024 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
Trump’s election doesn't have to mean the labor resurgence is over

Unions actually organized more workers under George W. Bush than under Obama (mostly because labor seriously funded organizing in the early 2000s)

Here's why unions can still go on the offensive today 🧵
November 20, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Thoughtful & tough reflection on next steps for labor:
"We can’t afford to turn down any of the 52 percent of non-union workers who say that...they would vote to join a union today..This effort will require unions to radically rethink their organizing strategy"

www.bostonreview.net/articles/whe...
Where Did the Labor Vote Go? - Boston Review
Until unions open the gates, they won't deliver working-class voters to Democrats.
www.bostonreview.net
November 19, 2024 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
A friend sent me this piece by @radishresearch.bsky.social this morning - motivating read for how the labor movement can rise to the occasion in the face of four more years of Trump
portside.org/2024-11-18/l...
Labor’s Resurgence Can Continue Despite Trump
Does Trump’s re-election mean that the US labor resurgence is over? Not necessarily. It’s true that the new administration is preparing major attacks against workers and the labor movement. And many u...
portside.org
November 19, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Any suggestions for books/articles on public sector organizing in the 1960s and 70s? It seems relevant today - organizing under hostile legal conditions. Thx!
November 19, 2024 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
"It’s worth remembering that US labor’s current uptick began with the statewide teachers’ strikes that swept across red states in 2018 during Trump’s first term."

An optimistic read in pessimistic times.
November 19, 2024 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
Time to organize!
November 18, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Today @ericblanc.bsky.social and I co-published an article on why labor’s resurgence can continue. While Trump is preparing major attacks against labor, unions are actually well-positioned to continue their organizing and bargaining momentum. 1/
radishresearch.substack.com/p/labors-res...
Labor’s Resurgence Can Continue Despite Trump
Nobody should underestimate the importance of defending our movement against Trump’s looming attacks. But it’s not factually or tactically justified to dismiss the potential for labor advance over the...
radishresearch.substack.com
November 18, 2024 at 5:39 PM
Meanwhile in Manitoba, Canada - a province up north somewhere - the NDP passed a ban on scab labor, and improved card check procedures for union representation. 👇

(I've visited Manitoba many times and it's fun year-round, even in the arctic cold)
November 15, 2024 at 3:08 PM
I cannot wait to read this 👇👇👇
My next book, "We Always Had a Union
The New York Hotel Workers’ Union, 1912-1953," will be available from @illinoispress.bsky.social in April 2025. Pre-order your copy. Or ask your library to!
We Always Had a Union
www.press.uillinois.edu
November 13, 2024 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
I made a Labor History Starter Pack - who did I miss?
go.bsky.app/3QqduGj
November 10, 2024 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
I wonder if Starbucks management breaks off the substantive bargaining with SBWU that's been going for abt a year?

Election result changes the incentives.
November 8, 2024 at 3:21 AM
As the election mercifully draws to a close, I’ve been tracking the polls to see how Kamala Harris is doing with union voters in swing states and nationally (but take the polls with a big dash of salt on a margarita rim). 🧵 1/
November 1, 2024 at 7:33 PM
Got this dubious mailer from the Democrat aligned “Center for Voting Information” threatening to out me to my neighbors if I don’t vote (I’m voting!). It appears vaguely official, and that why I opened it. Shame is not an effective GOTV tactic.
October 30, 2024 at 2:20 PM
Meanwhile in Canada, a country somewhere up north, union density is 31.5% in British Columbia, 26.4% in Ontario, 39.6% in Quebec…
I need to finally read @eidlin.bsky.social’s Class Idea in US & Canada

open.substack.com/pub/tparkin/...
Union membership rebounds in BC, falls under Ontario’s laws
Eliminating barriers has let union coverage recover to 31.5% in BC; Ontario’s laws have shrunk union coverage to 26.4%, just above Alberta.
open.substack.com
October 24, 2024 at 2:46 PM
Important article regardless of who wins in Nov 👇
"killing the 1935 National Labor Relations Act...would also mean the lifting of a host of restrictions on unions’ ability to carry out solidarity activism and effective economic sanctions. Are unions prepared for a return to ​“the law of the jungle?”
I'm going out on a short, sturdy limb to predict that the Supreme Court is going to overturn the National Labor Relations Act.
The Right Believes It Has the Supreme Court Votes to Overturn Labor Law
Unions need to plan a response now.
inthesetimes.com
October 22, 2024 at 1:47 PM
In a new Department of Labor filing, the AFL-CIO — a federation of 60 unions — reports that membership among its affiliates has increased by 452,124 in 2024. Membership increased from 13.0 million in 2023 to 13.5 million in 2024 (fiscal year ending 6/2024). 🧵 1/
October 21, 2024 at 4:32 PM
NLRB fiscal year 2024 (Oct-Sep) annual report just dropped! 113,034 workers participated in union representation elections in 2024, up from 92,671 in 2023. In 2024, 93,768 workers won union rep. elections, up from 80,250 in 2023. Union win rate = 78.1% 🧵 1/
October 17, 2024 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Chris Bohner
if you are joining bsky today, here's a a starter pack for accounts that post about unions, worker power, and the labor movement.
October 17, 2024 at 3:48 AM
BREAKING: Ahead of the DOL release on 1/23, census data shows union membership up 135,000 to 14.4 million in 2023. The % of workers who were members of unions — the union density rate — was 10.0% in 2023, down from 10.1% in 2022. Read more at radishresearch.substack.com/p/breaking-u...
January 19, 2024 at 6:20 PM
1/ One reason many U.S. unions need governance reform. From 2010-2022, organized labor spent nearly $9 billion on political activities and less than $1b on strike benefits. While this mismatch will improve in 2023, not enough. Details in my newsletter (radishresearch.org/newsletter).
December 15, 2023 at 7:02 PM
How much do unions spend on strikes v politics? Are there signs that labor is staffing up? What’s the convention schedule for large unions? How many billions in cash does labor have for organizing? My latest on substack!

open.substack.com/pub/radishre...
"One Member, One Vote" and Finance Unionism
Is Labor starting to spend it's fortress of finance?
open.substack.com
December 14, 2023 at 7:09 PM