Bargaining for the Common Good

Introduction

Resources for union leaders, community organisations, and researchers on how you can join together and bargain for the common good from the Bargaining for the Common Good Network.

The network grew out of successful campaigns driven by unions, community groups, and racial justice organisations. It is convened by the Action Center on Race and the Economy, the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University, and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

Below is a selection of their resources to get you started.

Resources

General

Concrete Examples of Bargaining for the Common Good
A list of Common Good Demands put forward by union and community partnerships in the Bargaining for the Common Good network. This list is updated bimonthly and is based on input from members of the network. A short version can be found here.

Bargaining for the Common Good Primer
A one-pager describing the goals of the Bargaining for the Common Good network. 

Union members are recognizing their dual roles as both workers and key leaders in their communities. In a changing and stratified economy, we are expanding collective bargaining to address the challenges we face as workers, neighbors, and families. Labor and community organizations are collaborating to advance unified demands that are relevant to both workers and the broader community.

Seven Elements of Bargaining for the Common Good
An overview of the elements of Bargaining for the Common Good campaigns as partnerships between labor and community activists.

Webinars

How Strikes and Community Coalitions Can Address the Crises We Face
Minnesota community and union leaders who led the nation’s first union strike for climate and environmental justice demands discuss the challenges and benefits of strong labor-community partnerships in fighting for climate justice.

Chicago Teachers Bargain for the Schools Our Students Deserve
Amisha Patel of Grassroots Collaborative and Stacy Davis Gates of the Chicago Teachers Union share their insights into the 2019 Chicago Strike and building long-term partnerships between labor and community.

Lessons from the LA Teachers Common Good Campaign and Strike Victory
LA Teachers President Alex Caputo-Pearl, Amy Schur of the Alliance of Californians for Community Engagement (ACCE), Rudy Gonzalves of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), and other community leaders and parents discuss the strategies and lessons learned from the recent victorious Bargaining for the Common Good campaign and strike.

How Unions Can Build Common Good Housing Work
BCG partnered with the Chicago Teachers Union, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, and the Action Center on Race and the Economy for a webinar on bargaining for housing justice. Speakers discussed strategies, challenges, and best practices for how to build labor-community partnerships and advance strategic campaigns to win on housing justice issues. See resources shared during the event here. 

Bargaining

Strong Unions, Stronger Communities | AFSCME, SEIU, NEA, AFT
Through collective bargaining, union members are scoring victories that help entire communities – like safer nurse staffing levels that help patients and smaller classroom sizes that help students.

Together with community partners, unions are also using their collective voice to advocate for policies that benefit all working people – like affordable healthcare and great public schools.

Benefits of Bargaining: Public Worker Negotiations Improve Our Communities | Policy Matters Ohio
Public sector unions bargain for better compensation and working conditions, which can improve the economy and ease recruitment. But do they also bargain for provisions that more directly benefit the community? Through interviews, literature reviews, and examination of collective bargaining contracts, this report seeks to answer that question for four professions: public school teachers, police officers and firefighters, and publicly-employed nurses.

Why Labor and the Movement for Racial Justice Should Work Together | In These Times
The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) has made tremendous strides in exposing and challenging racial injustice, and has won real policy victories. The policies, while often imperfect, are a testament to the strength of the organizing and activism of the moment. Not coincidentally, this uprising comes at a time when income and wealth inequality are at peak levels and the economy for most black people looks markedly different than the economy for their white counterparts. 

Access Full Resource

Bargaining for the Common Good Resources Website

Explore Further

• Jane McAlevey: Organizer Extraordinaire
• Organising: Start Here
• Labor Power and Strategy: How to Read Womack by Jane McAlevey
• Developing Strategic Campaigns: An ITF Manual for Trade Union Activists, Educators and Organisers
• Union and Community Coalitions: Stronger Together
• Gig Workers, Organising, Unions and Algorithms: A Curated Collection
• The Fall (and Rise?) of Unions in the US
• Workers Rights Hub: Start Here