Synopses & Reviews
Rules to Win By: Participation and Power in Union Negotiations is a book for anyone who wants to understand how to build the power required to effectively challenge and reverse income inequality and attacks on democracy. Drawing insights from recent hard-won unionization and contract negotiation fights, Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor use lessons from some of the toughest fights today — preparing a durable, all-out strike in a union-hostile environment — to provide a masterclass in participatory social change, indispensable both within and beyond the workplaces where we spend half of our waking lives.
In an era of polarization, big lies, and massive legislative setbacks, changemakers in every arena need to learn the skills and lessons honed in pitched battles against experienced and ruthless union busters. Rules to Win By is a book for workers, unionists, racial justice and climate campaigners, academics, policymakers and everyone who wants a more fair and democratic society.
Review
"Negotiation should be a process of creative aggression, not technocratic dealmaking that fractures class consciousness. McAlevey and Lawlor persuasively showÂhow democratized and disciplined mass participation creates the power in confrontation required to win — for unionists and for all movements for justice. Here we can see abolition as life in rehearsal." Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author, Abolition Geography
Review
"At a time when union demand is higher than it's been in almost a century, Rules to Win By is required reading. This book is armor for the generation of workers poised to gain power world-wide for the working class." Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO
Review
"McAlevey and Lawlor eloquently detail the approach to negotiations rooted in the practice of the pace-setting national union known as District 1199 over eighty years ago. We adhere to the same approach today as we did in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Read this book to understand why and how building fighting worker organizations will serve as the foundation for 21st century movements for racial, economic, and gender justice." Rob Baril, President, 1199NE (SEIU)
Review
"As McAlevey and Lawlor convincingly and movingly show, the way for unions to win big is by engaging in open and democratic negotiations. But the wisdom in these pages is universal and applies well beyond organized labor. Whatever cause you are fighting for, let this brilliant book be your guide." Astra Taylor, co-founder of the Debt Collective and author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone
About the Author
Jane McAlevey is an organizer, author, and scholar. She is currently a Senior Policy Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley's Labor Center, part of the Institute for Labor & Employment Relations.
Abby Lawlor is an organizer and labor lawyer based in Seattle, Washington. She is currently a legal fellow at Public Rights Project.