The book has provided inspiration and practical tips to workers across the globe attempting to revitalize their unions and build collective power in their workplaces. The English edition has sold over 50,000 copies.

The Korean version was published as an ebook in early 2026 by the Korean Union of Public Science and Technology Workers (KUPST). The union has made the ebook free for all Korean union activists.

The Quebecois French version was published in August 2024 and is available in bookstores throughout the province. French speakers across the world can order the book, titled Organiser, mobiliser, gagner: Guide de renouveau syndical (Organize, Mobilize, Win: A Guide to Union Renewal), from the publisher Écosociété’s website, ecosociete.org.

Alain Savard, who translated it, is an organizer with the Fédération du Commerce (FC), which represents 30,000 workers in tourism, food processing, and retail. Savard hopes the translation will encourage unions to adopt an organizing model that puts workers in the driver’s seat, as opposed to an advocacy model that relies on lobbying, media attention, and negotiations behind closed doors.

“The emphasis on collective action during the contract, emphasis on one-on-one conversations, the leader identification process—these are not things that are widespread in Quebec,” Savard says. The book provides “an accessible first step toward developing unions as collective organizations that build class power.”

FC has been holding trainings based on Secrets of a Successful Organizer over the past five years; it now gives them to all its activists and staff. Savard said these sessions have been helpful in encouraging workers to take collective action outside of contract negotiations. “Especially during the pandemic, workers realized we don’t have to wait for the contract renewal to mobilize ourselves—we can push to get Covid bonuses,” he said. Many workers won raises of $2 an hour or more.

To make the book more relevant to Quebecois workers, Savard switched out examples from the U.S. for stories of workplace organizing in Quebec. Many of these stories come from workers who participated in a Secrets training and then won a victory through collective action.

For example, at a food processing factory, workers on the night shift had a supervisor who made their lives miserable. “The union brought it up with the labor relations committee, but nothing would happen,” says Savard. “The labor relations committee meets in the late afternoon—so the union invited the whole night shift to come in before their shift and voice their concerns at the meeting.” That pressure helped get the bad boss fired.

“A lot of workers have problems with toxic bosses, and the union has a lot of problems figuring out how to deal with these issues,” says Savard. Being willing to take collective action and think creatively—”based on identifying an issue that was winnable and important for the workers”—helped build their power.

DANISH VERSION AND PODCAST

Danish union activists published their own version of Secrets of a Successful Organizer in 2023 (En Succesfuld Organisators Hemmeligheder – En Håndbog for Faglige Ballademagere, available from left-wing publisher Solidaritet). The translator, Jakob Matthiassen, was an ironworker for 20 years—”a rank-and-file rabblerouser,” he says—before getting hired as an organizer with his union 3F in 2019. (3F, Denmark’s largest union, also has members in transport, manufacturing, hotels, and restaurants.) Within a year, the book had already sold 1,000 copies and is now available in 22 Danish libraries.

Sixty-four percent of Danish workers belong to unions. Though that number has been slowly declining over the past few decades, Danish unions still have significant institutional power. A strong service model of unionism dominates, based on the idea that the role of the union is to solve workers’ problems for them, rather than organizing workers to solve their own problems.

“Why should we even look at the American trade movement? In the United States, despite their historically low percentage of union members in the private sector, they have tried to spread and devise new methods of turning the tide,” writes Rasmus Emil Hjorth, a leader of the union among food delivery workers at Just Eat DK, in a review. “This is something I think we can be inspired by in Denmark.”

Matthiassen said that some Danish unions have been familiar with the organizing model of unionism for nearly 20 years, as they attempt to overcome their own stagnation and respond to changes in the economy. But most of the handbooks on organizing published in Denmark were academic or aimed at staff. “What we needed was a guide for the rank and file, easy to use for people on the worksite starting from the bottom up.”

So Matthiassen bought 20 copies of the English version of Secrets and began to distribute them in Denmark, before deciding to translate the book himself.

Part of the inspiration came as he wrote a report on how the union was trying to organize migrant workers on a major construction project, expanding the light rail system in Copenhagen.

“I realized very quickly that the union movement lacked the methods and skill to engage the migrant workers,” he says. “They have learned how to get them enrolled in the union, how to get them to pay their dues—that was very innovative—but they completely lacked the ability to involve the migrant workers in the daily union work on site,” including involving them in negotiating local agreements that improve upon the national collective agreement and building a union club at the worksite.

Matthiassen incorporated Danish examples into the book. He also added a new secret: “Nobody negotiates alone.” In the Danish system, Matthiassen says that union representatives are constantly negotiating with managers—even in workplaces without a collective agreement or a shop steward. “But in my experience two bad things happen,” he says.

“One, the other workers are very happy to let you as the union activist or representative go and negotiate and [be the one to] take a chance” while they sit on the sidelines, and “two, the negotiators quickly develop confidentiality,” not updating workers on the negotiations until an agreement has been reached. That undermines workers’ sense of collective power and reinforces the idea of a union as a service.

Matthiassen has also started a podcast based on the book, featuring interviews with Danish union activists. The series is on its 26th episode as of May 2026!

A TENANT ORGANIZING MANUAL

It’s not just workplace organizers who are translating the book. In Spain, the Madrid Tenants’ Union (el Sindicato de Inquilinos e Inquilinas de Madrid) published a tenant organizing manual inspired by Secrets of a Successful Organizer in 2024.

“The current system prioritizes the profits of landlords over the rights of renters to remain in the neighborhoods and cities that we have helped to build,” writes the union. “Those of us who rent our homes have little power as individuals against our landlords, just like individual workers when they fight against their bosses. But organization turns shared vulnerability into collective strength.”

The manual includes advice on going door-to-door in your building to meet neighbors, mapping your apartment complex, and researching your landlord, as well as numerous examples drawn of successful organizing by Madrid tenants.

It also adds a useful section on avoiding burnout (“No te quemes”). “On many occasions, when we begin to take the first steps, we have so much energy that we don’t notice that we are doing all the work ourselves: calling meetings, thinking about the agenda, planning actions, going to all the union trainings… The problem with this model is that it’s unsustainable and, therefore, incompatible with a long-term struggle like ours.

“Rather than burning yourself out at the beginning,” the union writes, “it’s more useful to focus on building alliances within our building so that we aren’t the only ones in motion.” That also means having a good division of labor among union activists—one that is both “efficient and inclusive.”

Where to purchase or download the books:

English: labornotes.org/secrets. $15. More than 40 handouts and exercises that accompany the book are also available for free download at labornotes.org/secrets/handouts, and the accompanying trainer’s guide is available for purchase on the Labor Notes website. Bulk discounts from 10 to 40 percent are available.

Spanish: labornotes.org/secretos. $15. Links to Spanish translations of all of the handouts from the book are available there as well, and we hope to make a Spanish version of the trainer’s guide available later this year. Write to dan[at]labornotes[dot]org for info on bulk purchases or to get a free PDF of the Spanish translation.

The Madrid Tenants Union (Sindicato de Inquilinos e Inquilinas de Madrid) also published a shortened version, adapted for the tenants’ movement. Find it at inquilinato.org/manual-organizacion-inquilina.

Chinese (simplified): Download a free PDF here.

Chinese (traditional): Download a free PDF here. The book was translated by activists in the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, which was forced to disband due to repression by the Chinese government.

Danish: En Succesfuld Organisators Hemmeligheder – En Håndbog for Faglige Ballademagere. Available from solidaritet.dk, 200 DKK. Direct link here: bit.ly/danishSSO. There’s a Facebook page for the book, too: facebook.com/successfulorganisator. Find the Succesfuld organisering podcast, inspired by the book, here.

Quebecois French: Organiser, mobiliser, gagner: Guide de renouveau syndical. ecosociete.org/livres/omg. $27CAD.

German: Geheimnisse einer erfolgreichen Organizerin. The book was translated by a Labor Notes-style organization, OKG, which, in German, stands for Organizing, Fighting, Winning (Organisieren-Kämpfen-Gewinnen). It can be purchased from the publisher Schmetterling Verlag here (16.80€).

Japanese: 職場を変える 秘密のレシピ47. Buy the book for 1500 yen and download free handouts at: roudou-bengodan.org/secrets/

Korean: 성공적 조직활동가의 비밀. Download the free ebook here.

Swedish: Organisatörens handbok: Tips och trix för facklig organisering. Available at adlibris.com/se/bok/organisatorens-handbok-9789186474768 (128 kr). For info on purchasing multiple copies, write to: kontakt[at]federativsforlag[dot]se.

For any questions about translations, contact Dan DiMaggio of Labor Notes: dan[at]labornotes[dot]org.

In that work, I’ve come to rely heavily on the writing of Les Leopold. Whether it was running workshops based on his Reversing Runaway Inequality in the lead-up to the 2016 Verizon strike, or using Wall Street’s War on Workers as a teaching text with union apprentice electricians, Leopold’s work has helped me translate complex political economics into something workers can engage with, debate, and act on.

With his latest book, The Billionaires Have Two Parties, We Need a Party of Our Own: How Working People Can Build Independent Political Power, Leopold challenges us to not just understand the system, but confront it. He’s challenging labor movement folks to rethink how we are organizing politically, who we are organizing for, and whether we are actually building the independent working-class power this moment demands.

REENGAGING UNION MEMBERS

I read this book with two questions we in the labor movement are dealing with in real time: How do we reengage union members who have drifted away from our political program? And how do we make political education part of our organizing strategy instead of something that only appears during elections?

The Billionaires Have Two Parties starts with working people’s actual experiences, drawn from a sizable survey Leopold and colleagues conducted of voters in four “rust belt” states. The survey asked them about what they want, what they’re angry about, and what kind of political organization could actually represent them. From that foundation, Leopold shows that solidarity around economic issues may be the clearest way forward.

Drawing on the survey’s findings, Leopold shows that working people broadly support an economic populist agenda that includes taxing the wealthy, stopping corporate price-gouging, capping prescription drug prices, protecting Social Security, and preventing layoffs at companies that receive public money. They even support policies that are often labeled “radical,” like a federal jobs guarantee.

One proposal that stood out to me was prohibiting corporations that receive taxpayer support from conducting compulsory layoffs. Layoffs would have to be voluntary, based on buyout packages. The proposal directly addresses the crisis described in Leopold’s earlier book, Wall Street’s War on Workers, about mass layoffs, stock buybacks, and the decline of worker political power. This line captures the book’s moral core: “The people of our country should be the center of our economic system, not a source of wealth extraction for the few.” This is the change we are all organizing for.

'INDEPENDENT’ POLITICAL POWER

As an organizer, I am not surprised that the economic policies Leopold highlights are popular. Job security—and economic security in general—is a key reason why workers organize.

But I’ve thought a lot about why workers aren’t as supportive of their union’s political program as they were in the past. Many members are disengaged because they don’t trust the institutions claiming to represent them—including their own unions. Partly it’s because even with a union, workers have become less economically secure. And yet we union activists continue to tell them to support union-backed candidates. Understandably, some workers see this dysfunction and decide not to vote the way their union is telling them to.

The book names that the Democratic brand itself has become a barrier. Workers may agree with a populist economic program, but react negatively when that same program is attached to a party they see as elitist and out of touch. When unions operate only inside that partisan frame, we’re asking members to choose between institutions many of them already distrust.

The book points to a different approach: grounding political discussion on shared economic interests, collective power, and what workers can win together. It also calls for framing our political power as “independent” rather than dependent on the Democratic Party.

One important lesson organizers can take from this book is that unions’ political power is not bestowed upon us by whoever happens to be in office. It is created by worker solidarity and collective political action. The fight in the workplace and the fight in the legislative halls are not separate. They are different arenas of the same conflict over who has power, who writes the rules, and whose interests the government protects. And shouldn’t we, as a union movement, be inherently independent? Aren’t we, through our unions, our own political organization?

MEET WORKERS WHERE THEY ARE

The book does not avoid hard questions. Leopold takes on the sometimes competing nature of economic justice and progressive movements. He points to a debate in which Hillary Clinton pushed back against Bernie Sanders’ economic populism by asking whether breaking up big banks would end racism, sexism, or other discrimination. Leopold does not dismiss these struggles. But he argues that economic populism provides a broad base for solidarity, and that a working-class movement cannot require total agreement on every social issue at the outset.

As a union organizer, I understand this dynamic. Long ago, I learned that organizers cannot be partisan or ideological in their approach. We need to meet workers where they are, find ways to unite them, and identify widely felt issues that can bring people into collective action.

Unions can be a place where people actually change their views. Many times, the act of coming together and acting together opens up people’s worldview. It moves them out of individualistic attitudes and helps them see the power of solidarity. But that’s less likely to happen if we start by judging workers who don’t already agree with us, or who identify with a party that is hostile to unions.

To unite members, we can’t begin with party labels. We begin with issues that everyone can understand and feel: job security, staffing, fairness, health care, and pay.

One of the book’s most concrete contributions is when it begins mapping political terrain. Leopold is not arguing for third-party campaigns everywhere. Instead, he identifies specific openings—like Republican districts where Democrats are uncompetitive. Here, an independent working-class candidate may not function as a spoiler at all. Here, class-based independent politics can take root without the usual constraints.

Leopold’s emphasis on political education, worker-to-worker discussion, small-group engagement, and collectively developing demands aligns closely with good organizing practice. If workers are going to build independent political power, they need spaces to think together, debate, and define their own agenda. They need to move from being an audience for politics to being active participants in shaping politics.

A HELPFUL FRAMEWORK

The book is not without limitations. Economic populism has broad appeal, but agreeing on economic issues does not automatically produce organization or sustained solidarity. Building a new political association that includes the broader non-union working class won’t be easy for many unions. And running candidates isn’t the same as building an organization. The book is clearer on where independent politics might emerge than on how it becomes durable.

But the book does push organizers toward a helpful framework and narrative. It challenges us to stop treating politics as something we do for members and start treating it as something we build with them—independently of the two parties. It asks us to consider whether our current political approach is developing power or simply maintaining relationships with institutions that no longer command workers’ trust.

The Billionaires Have Two Parties ultimately argues that workers need their own political voice, their own platform, and their own organization. Whether or not one agrees with every part of that argument, the underlying point can’t be ignored: We need independent working-class power to change the status quo.

Steve Lawton is a former president of Communications Workers Local 1102 on Staten Island and now an organizer with CWA District 1. Buy The Billionaires Have Two Parties here.

Hay veces que yo no tenía para mi renta ni para los biles ni mucho menos para la comida de mis niños,” le comento a Labor Notes. En tal caso, podría saltarse una semana de pago, pero debería $200 la siguiente semana.

Petronila, otra extrabajadora en Marder, describió una experiencia similar: “Uno trabaja duro, y deja sus hijos con personas para ir a trabajar, todo eso para que el señor nos ande quitando dinero,” dijo. “Nadie se merece que lo traten así.”

Evelyn y Petronila solicitaron que no se utilizaran sus nombres completos, por temor a ser incluidas en una lista negra.

Después de hablar sobre sus experiencias con el Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores de New Bedford, trabajadores presentaron una demanda en octubre contra Marder, la agencia de empleos a través de la cual fueron empleados (Workforce Unlimited) y su exgerente, Francisco Ixcotoyac Dionicio, quien dicen los trabajadores que les impuso los pagos semanales. Los abogados que representan a los trabajadores estiman que se les extorsionó más de medio millón de dólares entre el 1 de enero de 2021 y el 27 de mayo de 2025.

“[Ixcotoyac] categóricamente niega haber forzado a los empleados que les pagarle cualquier suma para conservar sus puestos en Marder Trawling,” comentó su abogado en un comunicado enviado por correo electrónico, calificando a las acusaciones como “una conspiración entre un grupo de trabajadores” y “una organización comunitaria”. En junio de 2025, Ixcotoyac reembolsó a algunos trabajadores sumas de entre 4.500 y 7.000 dólares, firmando múltiples documentos de pago en que reconoció haberles cobrado $100 por semana para mantener sus empleos. En total, pagó aproximadamente $100,000, según indicó su abogado. Los trabajadores mantuvieron el derecho de demandar a Ixcotoyac y a Marder.

Días después de que se presentara la demanda, la agencia de personal informó a seis trabajadores involucrados en el litigio que habían sido despedidos de sus trabajos en Marder, en lo que Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores fue una represalia.

“La agencia de personal es el empleador y es responsable de la incorporación, los contratos laborales, la nómina y sus propias decisiones de personal", comentaron los representantes de Marder en un comunicado enviado por correo electrónico. “Dado que estas personas no eran empleados de Marder, la alegación de que Marder ‘despidio’ o ‘amenazó con despedir’ a algún empleado de la agencia de personal es una caracterización errónea.”
En la demanda, representantes de los trabajadores sostienen que los trabajadores eran “empleados conjuntamente” entre Marder y Workforce Unlimited, y que Marder “supo o debía haber sabido” sobre el esquema de soborno.

Representantes para Workforce Unlimited no respondieron a solicitudes de comentarios.

INHALANDO VÍSCERAS DURANTE 12 HORAS

La industria de procesamiento de productos del mar es notoria por su impacto en el cuerpo. Entre 2011 y 2017, los trabajadores de procesamiento de mariscos tuvieron una tasa mas alta de lesiones o enfermedades no mortales que cualquier otro grupo de trabajadores del sector marítimo, según la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales.

Las tareas repetitivas son la norma, y con ellas llegan las torceduras y el desgaste muscular. Los trabajadores inhalan partículas aerosolizadas de músculo, branquias y piel, que los expone al riesgo de padecer asma ocupacional. Los trabajadores que procesan crustaceos—como en Marder que se dedica principalmente en el procesamiento de escalopas—corren un reisgo especialmente elevado; se estima que las tasas de asma alergia de origen laboral alcanzan hasta un 36 por cientot en este sector.

“Se cansa uno de estar parada, se cansa la espalda,” dijo Petronila, quien enrollaba escalopas en tocino durante turnos de hasta 12 horas.

La industria de procesamiento de productos de mar de New Bedford ha sido un sitio de actividad organizadora durante años. Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, un centro de trabajadores fundado en 2006, ha apoyado a muchas de estas luchas durante la última década. “Nosotros nunca nos metemos en una agencia, una compañia, en nada, si no es que llega una queja a nosotros,” dijo Adrian Ventura, director ejecutivo del Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores. “Los trabajadores son los que estan tomando las decisiones.”

Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores ha logrado victorias. Por ejemplo, en 2019, los trabajadores lograron un acuerdo de 675.000 dolares con Atlantic Capes Fisheries y la agencia de personal BJ’s Service Company a raiz de acusaciones de acoso sexual flagrante.

‘NO NOS VAMOS A DEJAR’

Pero con frecuencia, el uso de agencias de empleo permite a los empleadores a evadir a sus responsabilidades bajo la ley laboral, Laura Padin, abogada superior para el Proyecto Nacional de Derecho Laboral, declaro a Labor Notes en 2023, después de que 100 trabajadores de procesamiento de mariscos en New Bedford fueron despedidos en lo que, según ellos, era represalia por haberse organizado. “Es lo que hacen las agencias cuando se sienten amenazadas por las violaciones de derechos laborales; lo que hacen es despedir a la persona o intimidarlos,” dijo Ventura.

“[Alguien] que yo conozco me comentó, ‘¿Por qué no hablar? Eso es ilegal,’” dijo Petronila, “pero yo tenía miedo, pensaba que solo éramos nosotros. Hasta que fuimos a CCT nos dimos cuenta que a todos les estaba quitando dinero.”

Saber que no estaba sola le dio fortaleza. “Había un compañero que se atrevió a hablar en frente de toda la gente y contar todo,” dijo. “Se sintio asi mas facil de hablar. Cuando él habló, se hizo más fácil, me dieron más ganas de hablar.”

Días después de que se presentara la demanda, Evelyn y Petronila fueron informadas por un representante de la agencia que su trabajo en Marder había concluido. “Me dolió,” dijo Evelyn, “porque siempre hacía mi trabajo como debe de ser.”

“Me sentí furiosa,” dijo Evelyn. “Le dije [a mi exgerente]: tal vez lo que usted hizo para usted está bien. Pero aquí hay un Dios que mira que todo lo que usted nos hizo no es justo. Usted está a favor de Francisco y de la compañía. Solo porque levantamos la voz y pedimos que nos respeten como trabajadores, y solo por eso nos despidieron. Pero no nos vamos a dejar.”

TRABAJADORES DESPEDIDOS MARCHAN ANTE EL JEFE

En febrero, abogados para Marder presentaron una moción para exigir un arbitraje individual respecto a las reclamaciones de los trabajadores en la demanda colectiva, alegando que todos ellos habían firmado acuerdos de arbitraje con Workforce Unlimited. Poco después, representantes de los trabajadores presentaron una moción opuesta, argumentando que los demandantes fueron “obligados a firmar los acuerdos sin haber tenido jamás la oportunidad de revisarlos ni recibir una copia de los mismos.”

Extrabajadores y apoyantes comunitarios se reunieron en Marder el 9 de abril para presentar cargos de la Junta Nacional de Relaciones Laborales a la gerencia, y exigir su reincorporación.

“Tengo un mensaje para Marder: ¡Qué vergüenza!” dijo el representante estatal Christopher Hendricks en la manifestación. “Extorsionaron a sus propios trabajadores, y los despidieron por utilizar sus derechos. Es una vergüenza, y es por eso que estamos aquí hoy.”

“Estoy aquí porque no se trata de un solo lugar de trabajo,” dijo Ricardo Rosa, subdirector ejecutivo de la Asociacion de Maestros de Masachusetts, “pero un patron en que los trabajadores inmigrantes son tratados como si fueran deshechables.”

Evelyn dijo que ser parte del Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores le enseñó que “no hay que dejarse uno. Hay que seguir luchando hasta ganar.” Piensa en el día en que regresara a trabajar con la frente en alta. “Me motivo de seguir luchando para que entiendan que todos tenemos los mismos derechos, y para que ellos no sigan haciendo lo mismo con los demás.”

“There were times I didn’t have money for rent, bills, or food for my kids,” she told Labor Notes, but her manager was happy to oblige: she could skip a week’s payment, and owe $200 the next week.

Petronila, another former Marder worker, described a similar experience. “You work hard, you leave your kids with someone to go to work, just to have this man take money from us,” she said. “No one deserves to be treated this way.”

Evelyn and Petronila requested that their full names not be used for fear of blacklisting.

After talking about their experiences with New Bedford’s Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores (Workers’ Community Center), workers filed a class action in October against Marder, the staffing agency through which they were hired (Workforce Unlimited), and their former manager Francisco Ixcotoyac Dionicio, who they claim imposed the weekly payments. Lawyers representing the workers estimate that more than half a million dollars were extorted from them between January 1, 2021, and May 27, 2025.

“[Ixcotoyac] categorically denies forcing employees to pay him any amount to keep their jobs at Marder Trawling,” the manager’s lawyer said in an emailed statement, characterizing the allegations as “a conspiracy between a faction of workers” and “a community organization.” In June 2025, Ixcotoyac paid back some workers between $4,500 and $7,000, signing multiple documentations of payment in which he acknowledged that he charged them $100 a week to keep their jobs. The total payments approximated $100,000, his lawyer said. Workers maintained the right to sue Ixcotoyac and Marder.

Days after the lawsuit was filed, the staffing agency informed six workers involved in the suit that they had been let go from their jobs at Marder in what CCT alleges was retaliation.

“The staffing agency is the employer and is responsible for onboarding, employment agreements, payroll, and its own personnel decisions,” wrote representatives for Marder in an emailed statement. “Because these individuals were not Marder employees, the allegation that Marder ‘terminated’ or ‘threatened to terminate’ any staffing-agency employee is a mischaracterization.”

In the suit, representatives for the workers assert that the workers were “jointly employed” between Marder and Workforce Unlimited, and that Marder “knew or should have known” about the kickback scheme.

Representatives for Workforce Unlimited did not respond to requests for comment.

BREATHING GILLS FOR 12 HOURS

The seafood processing industry is notorious for its toll on the body. Between 2011 and 2017, seafood processing workers had a higher rate of nonfatal injury or illness than any other maritime workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Repetitive tasks are the norm, and with them come sprains and tears. Workers breathe in aerosolized muscle, gills, and skin, putting them at risk of occupational asthma. Workers who process shellfish—like those at Marder, which primarily processes scallops—are at especially high risk, with rates of work-related allergic asthma estimated to be as high as 36 percent across the industry.

“You get tired from standing; your back starts to hurt,” said Petronila, who would wrap scallops in bacon for up to 12-hour shifts.

New Bedford’s seafood processing industry has been a hub of organizing activity for years. Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, a workers center founded in 2006, has supported many of these fights over the past decade. “We never get involved with an agency or company without getting a complaint [about working conditions],” said Adrian Ventura, CCT’s executive director. “Workers make the decisions.”

CCT has notched some wins. For example, in 2019, workers reached a $675,000 settlement with Atlantic Capes Fisheries and staffing firm BJ’s Service Company over allegations of “egregious [sexual] harassment.”

‘WE WON’T BE PUSHED AROUND’

But often, the use of staffing agencies allows employers to evade their obligations under labor law, Laura Padin, a senior staff attorney for the National Employment Law Project, told Labor Notes in 2023, after 100 New Bedford seafood processing workers were fired in what they said was retaliation for organizing. “When agencies feel threatened over labor law violations, they fire the person or intimidate them,” said Ventura.

“Someone I know asked me, ‘Why don’t you speak up? This is illegal,’” Petronila said, “but I was afraid. We thought it was just [a few of] us. It wasn’t until we went to Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores we realized he was taking money from everyone.”

Finding out she wasn’t alone gave her strength. “One worker dared to speak in front of everyone, and tell it all,” she said. “When he spoke, it got easier: it made me want to speak up too.”

Days after the lawsuit was filed, Evelyn and Petronila were informed by a staffing agency representative that their work at Marder had concluded. “It hurt me,” Evelyn said, “because I always did my work like I was supposed to.”

“I felt furious,” Evelyn said. “I told [my former manager]: ‘Maybe you think what you did is ok. But there is a God who sees that what you did isn’t fair. You fired me and my co-workers unfairly for raising our voices. But we won’t be pushed around.’”

FIRED WORKERS MARCH ON THE BOSS

In February, lawyers for Marder filed a motion to compel individual arbitration over the workers’ claims in the class action suit, asserting that they had all signed arbitration agreements with Workforce Unlimited. Soon after, representatives for the workers filed a response opposing the motion, arguing that plaintiffs were “compelled to sign the agreements without ever having an opportunity to review them or receive a copy of them.”

Fired workers and community supporters rallied at Marder on April 9 to deliver National Labor Relations Board charges to management and demand their reinstatement.

“I have one message to Marder: Shame on you!” said State Representative Christopher Hendricks at the rally. “They extorted their own workers and then fired them for using their rights. That is shameful, and that’s why we’re here today.”

“I’m here because it’s not just about one workplace,” said Ricardo Rosa, Deputy Executive Director of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, “but a pattern, where immigrant workers are treated as if they’re disposable.”

Evelyn said that being a part of Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores taught her “you’ve got to keep fighting until you win.” She thinks about the day she’ll return to work with her head held high. “I’m fighting so they understand we all have the same rights,” she said, “and so they don’t do the same to someone else.”

So it was hard for stonecutter Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez, 35, to get a clear diagnosis in 2019 when he first developed a cough and shortness of breath. It wasn’t until two years later that he was told he had silicosis—and only had a year to live.

Reyes Gonzalez had worked for 15 years in a fabrication shop cutting and shaping the manufactured stone now commonly used for countertops and showers (also known as quartz or engineered stone).

Around the time Reyes Gonzalez started working as a stonecutter, the material was becoming popular in the U.S. as a cheaper, more durable replacement for natural stone (marble or granite). But manufactured stone, which is made of crushed quartz and resin, contains much more silica–it comprises up to 95 percent of the material, compared to 5 percent for marble or 10 to 50 percent for granite. This makes manufactured stone much more hazardous for workers to cut, grind, and polish. These processes release silica particles that can embed themselves in the lungs, causing scarring and ultimately lung failure.

As many as two million workers may risk exposure, from manufactured stone as well as from mining, quarrying, sandblasting, and another new hazard, “frac sand” used in hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry.

NO PROTECTION IS ENOUGH

Only now, after many workers have spent decades working with manufactured stone, is the horrible truth coming out—no amount of protection is safe. There is no treatment for silicosis other than a lung transplant, and even transplants may only prolong life by 5 to 10 years. Many workers are getting sick in their 20s or 30s.

For Workers Memorial Day in the U.S. this year, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) raised the alarm. They named the Minnesota-based Cambria Company, the nation’s biggest manufacturer of engineered stone slabs, as one of their “Dirty Dozen”—a badge of shame awarded annually to companies with terrible work safety records.

After Cambria was hit with lawsuits by workers whose lives are being cut short by its product, the company tried to deflect blame to the fabrication shops that customize orders. These shops are small and often have only a few workers. There are around 1,300 fabrication shops in California, according to National COSH, and thousands more around the country.

Many fabrication shops do have poor workplace safety practices. Some workers report being told to use only surgical masks against the dust. “I didn't receive any type of training, any type of warning, on the risk of its use,” Reyes Gonzalez said about the Cambria product used in his shop.

But even when fabrication shops use strong measures to keep the dust down and protect workers, the higher silica content in engineered stone means these measures are not enough. Even with strict dust controls, National COSH warns, “cutting, grinding, and polishing artificial stone releases respirable silica at levels that overwhelm existing protections.”

Respirators, wet saws, and wet cleanup that might be adequate for other types of stonecutting do not make manufactured stone safe. Even powered air-purifying respirators are inadequate, safety experts say. And the best equipment and procedures may be abandoned during on-site installations involving cutting and shaping.

Radio station KQED quoted Aki Vourakis, former large fabrication shop owner, who said that even with excellent safety equipment and protocols, eight of his workers fell ill, and one died. “Even one of the best-run, best-capitalized, award-winning shops in the country cannot keep its workers safe,” Vourakis said.

Still, Cambria insists that the fault lies not with the product, but with those running the fabrication shops. Rather than change, Cambria is pushing federal legislation to make itself immune from lawsuits.

BANNED DOWN UNDER

In Australia, regulators banned all use, supply, and production of manufactured stone in 2024 after tightened workplace rules failed to prevent workers from developing silicosis. The ban came thanks to campaigning by the Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union and the Mining and Energy Union. They argued that there is no safe exposure to engineered stone. Even before the ban, the Swedish furniture giant Ikea stopped buying the material in Australia and the U.S. in response to reports of its deadliness.

Now California regulators are considering a ban, over the objections of Cambria. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is considering a petition from occupational safety doctors to ban any manufactured stone with more than 1 percent crystalline silica.

Meanwhile, COSH committees around the country are working to find fabrication shops in their areas and let the workers know they need to get screened for silicosis.

Reyes Gonzalez was able to get a double lung transplant. The doctors now tell him that he could live “maybe 5, 10, 15 more years. We don't know.” He said the medication he has to take causes damages to other organs.

“It is possible that I could get a second transplant, but it is very challenging to go through that process,” he said.

The three-week unfair labor practice strike was the first time workers had ever struck the JBS Greeley beef packing plant, one of the company’s largest. ULP charges against JBS included the illegal termination of a member of the bargaining committee and surveillance and intimidation of workers for participation in union activity.

With 57 languages spoken under one roof, the strike united the plant’s largely immigrant workforce to take on the biggest meatpacking company in the world.

The local had spent nearly a year in negotiations following the contract’s expiration last July. JBS returned to the bargaining table after the strike—and when the dust settled, the company had conceded to almost every demand.

WON PROTECTION

In addition to $1.50 an hour in wage increases over the short two-year agreement, workers won a groundbreaking policy on personal protective equipment, challenging JBS’s previous system of garnishing wages to replace necessary PPE when it was lost, damaged, or stolen. JBS was charging workers up to $1,100 to pay for mesh vests, gloves, arm guards, and knife sharpeners.

“My mesh apron had a hole in it. I had to go two months wearing the same apron,” said Chris Ready, who has worked in the slaughter department at the plant for one year.

“I’ve had my equipment stolen,” Ready said. “I borrowed knives until I had to buy my own… I’ve had to buy two mesh gloves so far, that’s $200. It was annoying, but it felt like there wasn’t anything I could do. I needed that equipment to work, so I had to pay for it.”

“It makes your job more dangerous if you’re not ready to pay for new equipment,” said Noah, who has also worked at the plant for one year. He declined to give his last name.

Now, workers will be reimbursed for all out of pocket PPE expenses they paid over the past year. A new policy will establish a better tracking system for replacing PPE; until that system is set up, members won’t be charged for any needed replacements.

“The strike was about showing the company that the workers were strong in that plant, and showing the whole world who runs the plant: the workers,” said Local 7 President Kim Cordova.

The Greeley workers have struck a blow to the heart of the modern jungle: oligopoly control by the "Big Four" meat processors who have colluded for years to suppress worker wages, depress the livelihoods of cattle ranchers, and raise prices for consumers. JBS is the largest and arguably the most predatory of these companies; the others are Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef.

THROWING A WRENCH

Organizing 3,800 workers across dozens of languages was no small feat. Building up to the strike, a system of union representatives, walking stewards (shop stewards who are paid full-time by the employer to carry out steward duties), and 90 picket captains laid the foundation for a united picket line. A communication system via text, email, and social media, translated into the most commonly spoken languages—Spanish, Burmese, French, and Haitian Creole—kept members informed. Pre-strike meetings were held to register members for strike benefits, while also informing members of their rights to picket.

Unity around demands, plus widely and deeply felt grievances against the company kept members steadfast during the strike. The picket line was filled with joyful chanting, singing and dancing to music from around the world, buoyed by the support that flowed in from the community, other unions, and supporters from afar. UFCW members and staff from as far away as Boston, Minneapolis, and Seattle came to support the picket line.

Industry insiders held that it was not the optimal time to strike in beef processing, because of excess capacity in plants due to a national cattle shortage. That is due in turn to collusion among the Big Four to depress cattle prices, driving farmers out of business. “The producers are not breeding cattle because the prices are so low,” said Cordova.

Some thought that JBS would welcome the opportunity to take some production offline, divert cattle to other plants, and patiently wait out the strike. However, cattle cannot be costlessly diverted. In this case it involved shipping thousands of animals across the Great Plains. Cattle are purchased in advance, and then must be slaughtered quickly once they are transported, according to USDA regulations.

JBS was only able to divert roughly 40 percent of cattle to other JBS facilities hundreds of miles away in Utah, Texas, and Nebraska. Then JBS had to pay workers overtime to process the additional cattle. The other 60 percent of cattle were sent to competitors.

With the Greeley plant essentially idle, and the costs of diverting cattle, JBS lost substantial revenue during the strike. The plant typically processes 5,000-6,000 cattle per day, earning the company daily revenue of $20-$30 million.

The company flew in management to try to run the plant, but they were only able to kill a small fraction of the cattle. Fabrication—the plant’s main department, where workers cut beef into smaller, sellable pieces—couldn’t run at all. Workers estimated it takes hundreds of workers to keep the fabrication chain going.

JBS struggled to use scab labor, because it was difficult to recruit, and training meatpacking workers takes over a week before they can set foot on the production floor.

Weeks after the strike ended, JBS was still feeling the effects of the work stoppage, as production in beef processing requires time to ramp back up.

JBS also didn’t know if the workers would go back on strike at some point. "We hurt them big time," Cordova said.

The strike was originally planned for two weeks, and subsequently extended into a third week. Why not an open-ended strike?

Cordova argued that by depressing the price of cattle, a longer strike would play into the hands of the Big Four, who profit from the difference between what they pay for livestock and what they ultimately charge consumers for processed meat.

“Prices are at a 70-year low and there’s a cattle shortage, because of the Big Four’s oligopoly power,” said Cordova. “It’s hard to hurt JBS because of excess capacity, but a shorter strike was actually more damaging because you cannot shift cattle.”

NATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS

Last year, Local 7 broke away from national negotiations between JBS and the UFCW International, which covered beef and pork plants in 12 other locals across the country. The national agreement was ratified last May. It marked a step towards greater contract coordination in the union’s meatpacking division.

In breaking away, Local 7 cited the higher cost of living in Colorado and different contract priorities, such as protective equipment. But Local 7 has also traditionally set the pattern among JBS locals, with stronger protections in its contract.

The gains from the strike further cemented this, for the most part. In addition to the new standard-setting on protective equipment, the Local 7 agreement includes higher wage increases ($1.50 an hour over two years versus $0.90 an hour over two years in the national agreement), lower healthcare costs, and more generous sick leave and vacation policies.

JBS attempted to polarize the local’s decision to retain a 401(k) plan rather than join the nationally negotiated pension plan. After the strike, JBS claimed in a press release that Local 7 “chose to eliminate the historic pension benefit.”

National negotiations in 2025 did establish a new Taft-Hartley pension plan, a Variable Annuity Pension Plan (VAPP), the first in many decades in meatpacking. As part of the agreement, JBS eliminated the 401(k) plan in most locals, with the exception of two locals which gave current members the option of sticking with the 401(k) if desired.

While Local 7 did choose to retain the existing 401(k) plan with a 50 percent match on the first four percent rather than join the national pension plan, Local 7 also did not previously have a pension benefit to “eliminate.”

A 401(k) plan is generally inferior to a VAPP, which is in turn inferior to a traditional defined benefit plan—although it depends on how much money the employer puts in. The JBS VAPP features low employer contributions, starting at $0.10 per hour worked in the first year of the agreement and increasing $0.10 per year after that. Eligible hours are capped at 40 hours per week, although some workers work more.

Under the VAPP, assuming employer contributions of $0.40 per hour (theoretically reached in 2029 under the current contract) a full-time worker working 36 hours a week (the average for a production worker) for 20 years would earn a monthly retirement benefit of $262.50. However, locals could fight for more pension contribution increases in future contracts.

The UFCW had unique leverage during national negotiations, while JBS was struggling to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly traded company. Some speculated that the public scrutiny of JBS’s labor practices in advance of its initial public offering pushed JBS to agree to the pension. The IPO had long been held up by SEC concerns about corruption, although watchdogs questioned whether the company’s $5 million contribution to Trump’s inauguration fund greased the way to approval.

National negotiations at JBS were led by the head of the UFCW’s meatpacking and food processing division, Mark Lauritsen, who was narrowly defeated in his bid for president of the UFCW during closed-doors elections by the International Executive Board last May. This month, Lauritsen announced his retirement.

Local 7’s contract expires on April 30, 2028. The 12 locals who took part in national negotiations still have varying contract expiration dates, ranging from 2026 to 2029.

FIGHTING THE BIG FOUR

Both Local 7 and the UFCW International are now fighting for better legal protections for meatpacking workers across the industry.

A Congressional hearing headed by the Monopoly Busters Caucus is set to be held in Greeley in May to call attention to the national crisis created by the Big Four for consumers, meatpacking workers, and cattle ranchers.

The UFCW International has also recently launched a letter writing campaign, sending 42,000 public comments to urge the USDA to resist a deregulation push that would increase line speeds in pork and poultry processing.

Additionally, Local 7 is calling on Colorado state lawmakers to pass a law requiring meatpacking employers with more than 500 employees to guarantee reasonable bathroom breaks.

At the JBS Greeley plant, workers say bathroom breaks have always been an issue.

“They don’t like sending people to the bathrooms—they’ll keep you on the line until your break,” Ready said. But using the bathroom during your break turns what is supposed to be rest time into a race against the clock. “Our first break is supposed to be 15 minutes, but it’s more like seven or eight. You have to take off all your equipment, that’s two or three minutes. Then you have to put your equipment back on, another two or three minutes.”

In the next few years, several locals will return to the bargaining table with JBS, opening up the potential for future coordination. In 2028, Local 7 and Minnesota Local 663 will both negotiate new agreements.

Caitlyn Clark is a national organizer at Essential Workers for Democracy (www.ew4d.org). Lisa Xu is a Labor Notes staff writer and organizer.

This “blue” New England state was led by Republican Governor Donald Carcieri from 2003 to 2011. During his term he cut 1,000 public sector jobs, passed a regressive property tax law, and attacked pensions for teachers and other public workers—actions that were enabled by centrist Democrats in the state legislature who were lukewarm towards labor.

That’s when forces in labor began to think more seriously about the political process. “We started looking at primaries, because the House of Representatives has much more power than the executive branch,” says Patrick Crowley, current president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and a union organizer for 30 years. “Centrist Democrats were able to just win unopposed because labor wasn’t getting involved.”

The AFL-CIO worked with affiliates like the National Education Association state affiliate and the Painters (IUPAT) District Council 11 to map out electoral opportunities. They used VAN, a voter database, to see which districts had concentrations of union members and how many votes it would take to flip seats. Explicitly pro-labor candidates were recruited to run, and in 2010 they took out a handful of anti-labor incumbents.

These new elected officials have demonstrated over time a stronger commitment to labor’s legislative priorities. Since then many more pro-labor legislators have been elected in both the state House and Senate.

But more than just supporting better candidates, unions in Rhode Island have deepened their overall approach to politics by committing more resources and raising the bar on the issues they expect electeds to fight for.

“I was trained that politics is not just going to fundraisers, slapping some backs, and writing some checks,” says Justin Kelley, the political director of Painters District 11. When canvassing, the union tries to focus on having “smaller groups with deeper conversations, instead of just lit drops.”

While this may mean fewer doors get knocked, the longer conversations with voters increase the chance that they will connect with an issue and turn out to vote.

RACKED UP WINS

The building trade unions in Rhode Island have racked up a number of impressive victories over the last 10 years. In 2023 they pushed forward and won legislation making wage theft and employee misclassification, both huge issues in the construction industry, felony crimes.

The building trades have also taken the lead on fighting climate change in a way that creates good union jobs. They worked with Climate Jobs Rhode Island, a coalition of labor unions and environmental organizations, to win glazing standards for all publicly funded construction projects.

These standards for windows and doors lead to energy-efficient buildings with less use of heating and cooling systems, meaning less carbon emissions. This legislation has set the glazing standard for IUPAT in the rest of the country. Next up the unions are looking to win standards limiting workers’ exposure to toxic lead for commercial building renovation projects.

Rhode Island’s Act on Climate, passed in 2021 with the support of the state AFL-CIO, set ambitious and binding targets for carbon emissions reductions. It was followed in 2023 by a law requiring labor standards like prevailing wage rates and comprehensive safety training for large renewable energy projects.

The building trades have also aggressively fought for and won the procurement of big offshore wind projects. These efforts have shown that fighting climate change does not have to hurt unions.

RIPPLE EFFECTS

Wins at the state level can have a positive ripple across the country. “The business class takes the approach of building legislation at the state level and then working up to the federal level,” says Matt Taibi, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 251. “Labor needs to do the same.”

In 2017, Teamsters Local 251 worked to pass the Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act, which allows workers to earn one hour of paid sick time for every 35 hours worked.

At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Local 251 fought for and won prevailing wage rates for school bus drivers. Now they’re focused on passing the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which would protect warehouse workers from unsafe production quotas. This would apply to companies like Amazon, a big organizing target for the union.

For NEA Rhode Island, the goal of electoral work has been to “not just win seats, but change what those seats stand for,” said communications director Stephanie Mandeville. The union has revived the practice of bringing educators to lobby days at the capitol, instead of just union staff. This year 120 members came out. These events have forced legislators to take educators more seriously as a political force and given members a sense of their own power.

NEA Rhode Island has also broadened its approach by joining with allies like the Healthy Schools Coalition, a parent advocacy group that works to raise nutritional standards in schools. “When you align workers’ rights with community well-being, you’re building a majority,” said Mandeville. The coalition was able to win student safety and behavioral health committees in every district. Future priorities include a more equal distribution of school funding across the state and a moratorium on charter school expansion.

FACING TOUGH ISSUES

These Rhode Island unions haven’t been afraid to take on social issues that are potentially controversial among members, sometimes holding presentations and discussions on such topics at union meetings.

A same-sex marriage equality bill was signed into state law back in 2013—with the support of labor—two years before same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide. The building trades were among the supporters, after discussions about the issue were held in various locals. This was even more impressive given that it meant challenging the Catholic Church, a powerful institution through whom the trades often get work on building or renovation projects.

Last year unions supported the legislature in passing an assault weapons ban. “We framed gun violence as a workplace safety issue,” said Crowley. Teachers could relate to the rise of school shootings across the county and the increase in safety drills they have to do. Workers who interact with the public, like nurses and transit operators, have experienced more violent incidents at work and could see how banning assault weapons would protect their physical safety.

MOMENTUM ON THEIR SIDE

In no small part due to the political organizing of labor unions over the last 15 years, Rhode Island now has a Democratic trifecta and continues to pass ambitious legislation. In 2024, pensions for teachers and other state workers improved for the first time in 40 years. The state’s minimum wage will rise to $17 an hour in 2027.

In a boon to new organizing, last year a ban on captive-audience anti-union meetings was ratified. Workers can now sue companies if they’re fired or disciplined for refusing to attend one. Rhode Island also became the first state to enact a law that would guarantee graduate students’ right to form a union under the state labor board even if the National Labor Relations Board were to reverse this right.

With momentum on its side, the local labor movement is looking towards other priorities like passing a millionaires tax, for which recent polls of Democratic primary voters show majority support.

Unions have shifted the priorities of the Rhode Island Democratic Party. In 2018 the word “union” didn’t even appear in the party platform. But the 2025 platform has the clear imprint of organized labor.

Crowley believes the labor movement needs to be a “stable anchor” for political organizing in the state. While other progressive organizations of course should be involved, unions have the institutional resources and membership base to meaningfully change the political direction of the legislature.

The experience of Rhode Island shows that when unions are strategic, apply real resources, and approach the political process like organizers, positive change can happen.

“They're trying to move backwards on issues we've already settled instead of settling the few that we have left,” said Mina Leon, a barista in downtown Manhattan who struck for two months to get the company back to the table.

“These were not small details, these were things that we had already fought for and won after months in bargaining in 2024,” said Jasmine Leli, a Buffalo, New York, barista and member of the Starbucks Workers United bargaining team.

The union has filed unfair labor practice charges against the company for regressive bargaining. Those join 600 other labor law violations which are still unresolved. During the four years of the organizing campaign, the company has racked up a record number of violations, and still owes millions in back pay to workers.

The company said it reopened agreements to “reflect current business realities, customer expectations, and partner interests.” Starbucks calls its workers “partners.”

STRUCK TO GET BACK TO TABLE

After a year of no talks, workers at hundreds of stores struck in November, December, and January to force the company back to the negotiating table. Around 230 stores struck at the peak of the walkouts. Starbucks Workers United now represents 550 locations out of 10,000 run by the company in the United States.

Negotiations broke off in late 2024, and while the sides went to a mediator in April 2025, the company refused to move on wage and staffing demands.

The union had been demanding $20 an hour as starting pay at all stores. They’ve now scaled back to asking for $17 an hour for the lowest-paid workers. Baristas in 43 states start at $16 and under. They also want annual 4 percent increases. Token raises over the years have been eaten up by inflation, leaving workers worse off, baristas said.

The other big issue is staffing. “Understaffed stores have led to long wait times for customers while baristas who want more hours aren’t getting enough to pay their bills,” said Leli.

NOT ENOUGH HOURS

The union is demanding three people in stores at all times, as an answer to both overwork and safety issues. The company is notorious for hiring additional workers while current workers are asking for more hours to survive. The union is demanding more hours for existing employees before new hires.

Baristas say the wages and constrained hours are such that they have to rely on food stamps and have to sign up for Medicaid, since they can’t get enough hours to qualify for the company’s health care plan.

New negotiating sessions are scheduled soon. The union is asking community members to create pressure by leafleting non-union stores on April 21, asking customers to avoid the company until a contract is in place.

The union is also asking people to spread the word about deleting the Starbucks app.

“We need you to stop buying Starbucks and delete the Starbucks app from your phone,” Leon told a union crowd in Manhattan on Sunday. “No contract, no coffee.”

To get a toolkit for the April 21 action, sign up here.