WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
Chicago In the array of workshops, panels, and ballroom presentations there were some about organizing in the South, which has been the holy grail for the future of US unions ever since companies poured into the region to take advantage of cheap labor and abundant resources. Hearing what was on union activists’ minds made …
Chicago The NLRB finished counting the votes at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee near midnight, but it was clear hours before, that for the United Automobile Workers (UAW) the third time was the charm, as the “yesses” were piling up. The final count polled 2,628 votes for the union and only 985 for …
Chicago I’ve been to many union conventions over the years, both here and abroad. They tend to be well organized, orderly, often even scripted affairs, very much like political conventions, because, duh, they are political conventions. Whether that’s a state convention of the AFL-CIO in Arkansas or Louisiana or something huge like the conventions …