Ep. 3 Comrades Read Together: No Shortcuts chapters 3 & 4 w/ Ellen Kress & Andrea Haverkamp

Join in on the fun conversations by becoming a Laborwave Patron at patreon.com/laborwave

Ellen Kress, former president of GTFF 3544 and current AFT-Oregon officer, and Andrea Haverkamp, president of CGE 6069, join Laborwave for a comradely discussion on chapters 3 & 4 of No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey.

These chapters are full of exercises and advice for rookie organizers, which we discuss in detail, and talks STRIKES!!! We're introduced to another villain of the working class in the form of Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago, and shown the bravery and heroism of teachers that battled him down and won in a massive strike during 2012. These chapters also present us with arguments about the possibility of reforming unions through challenging existing leadership and bargaining for the common good.

Join us in discussion and some reading sessions on our Discord server! You can get in on the fun by becoming a Laborwave Patron at patreon.com/laborwave and joining as a Rank-and-Filer, or Committee Member, or Strike Captain. Once joined, you'll receive an invitation to our Discord where we have a pdf of the book, multiple channels for discussions, and voice channels for periodic reading and chat sessions together!

Music:

Thee Oh Sees- Maria Stacks

Ep. 2 Comrades Read Together w/ Nick Driedger: No Shortcuts, But to Where?

Join the conversations around this book in our Laborwave Discord by becoming any type of patron of the show at patreon.com/laborwave!!!

This is our second episode of Comrades Read Together where we're discussing, chapter by chapter, the book No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age.

We follow up our conversation tackling the introduction and chapter 2 with a review of the book by Nick Driedger, labor activist and contributing writer to Organizing Work!

Driedger asks the tough questions about the political horizons achievable under a labor relations framework, and whether it's possible for "business unions" to break out of such constricting frameworks. He also argues that McAlevey's ultimate aims in labor organizing leads us down the path of left electoral politics, where the power that has been built by workers through these deep organizing methods are undercut by the top-down system of politics available within the electoral realm.

We also talked about the IWW approach, why it succeeds and why it fails, and speak about the prospects for independent radical unions.

Read his full review, No Shortcuts, But to Where? at organizing.work/2019/12/no-shortcuts-but-to-where/

We're continuing with this series by reading chapters 3-4 and engaging with folks on our Laborwave Discord!

Comrades Read Together- No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey

Andrea Haverkamp, President of CGE 6069; Sarah Pishioneri, labor organizer based in Oregon; and Alex Riccio, labor organizer based in Philadelphia; have a comradely discussion about the first two chapters of No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey.

Join us in discussion and some reading sessions on our Discord server! You can get in on the fun by becoming a Laborwave Patron at patreon.com/laborwave and joining as a Rank-and-Filer, or Committee Member, or Strike Captain. Once joined, you'll receive an invitation to our Discord where we have a pdf of the book, multiple channels for discussions, and voice channels for periodic reading and chat sessions together!

We cover the main arguments put forward in the introduction and chapter two concerning theories of power, the difference between advocacy, mobilizing, and organizing strategies, and whole-worker organizing. We also hiss and boo at the villains taken on by McAlevey named Andy Stern, former president of SEIU, and Saul Alinsky, overall weak-sauce organizer pushing a mostly advocacy and mobilizing approach to social change where organizers pretend to be neutral support with no agendas or positions.

This and more in our first Comrades Read Together!

#comradesreadtogether #laborwaveradio #janemcalevey #noshortcuts #AndreaHaverkamp #SarahPishioneri #AlexRiccio