The Labor Notes Podcast

Mexican Volkswagen workers who build the Jetta, Tiguan, and Taos at the company’s Puebla plant are poised to strike, after rejecting the company's latest contract offer on October 15.

The 6,500 workers work at the largest Volkswagen facility outside of Germany and belong to SITIAVW, one of Mexico's most storied independent unions.

Read pod co-host Natascha Elena Uhlmann’s report on the campaign: Mexican VW Workers Weigh Strike as Company Cuts Jobs Globally

Eight hundred workers at a distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, organized with Unifor Local 252 a couple years ago, and have now won a two-year contract with Walmart, a major first in the North American retail giant.

Kari Thompson, who reported on the successful campaign for Labor Notes, joins the episode. 

Read the story: Canadian Walmart Workers Make History: A Union Contract

When workers at the parts retailer AutoZone organized to form the company’s first ever union, their boss pulled out the big guns—but they still won their election!

Also in this episode: Video Game Workers at Blizzard have won their first contract and 1,400 solar manufacturing workers have joined the Steelworkers.

Labor Notes Podcast co-hosts Danielle Smith and Natascha Elena Uhlmann break down the big lessons (and some important firsts) in three key organizing stories.

 

Also check out: 

AutoZone Workers Are Trying to Form the Company’s First-Ever Union

Video Game Workers Win First Contract at Microsoft-Owned Blizzard

Fourteen Hundred Solar Manufacturing Workers Join the Steelworkers

If you’re holding bad meetings, caving to management, and trying to do everything yourself, congrats—you’re already well on your way to fumbling your shot! 

 

On the other hand, if you want to actually advance a positive vision for your union that energizes members, you can ground your next union election campaign in tried and true organizing principles. 

 

Also check out: 

How to Lose Your Next Election, A Step-By-Step Guide, by Dan Campbell

They lure people into their campaigns, grow phone trees, and machete a path out of fear.

It turns out some of our archetypal evil heroines—Amy Dunne of Gone Girl, sisters Sally and Gillian Owens of Practical Magic, and Merricat Blackwood of We Have Always Lived in the Castle—have some positively devilish organizing tactics (disclaimer: not all of which we endorse!) up their dark, trumpet sleeves.

Also check out:

1. All Horror Movies Are About Organizing, Actually: The Labor Notes Podcast  Hallowepisode

2. Steward's Corner: A Path Out of Fear

3. Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It's Hard