Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations by Jane McAlevey & Abby Lawlor

Author:Jane McAlevey & Abby Lawlor [McAlevey, Jane & Lawlor, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780197690468
Google: lR6uEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2023-04-15T06:43:33+00:00

Maintaining Momentum

The Law360 union had already done away with noncompetes before ever sitting down with management. And for a while, negotiations seemed off to a smooth start, with members scoring an early victory when the company agreed to eliminate the quota system. “We felt like we were making progress, and then all of a sudden we realized we were being slow rolled by management,” said Rodriguez. “We were starting to quibble over words in proposals or having philosophical arguments about whether it was appropriate to include a particular provision in the first contract, things like that.” The process really ground to a halt when it came time to discuss jurisdiction—the scope of work that would be covered by the union contract. Strong contract language defining the union’s jurisdiction was important to ensure that supervisors or subcontractors didn’t start to carve away at what was “union work,” reducing the size of the union over time or preventing the union from growing alongside the company. After months of back-and-forth to get the company to move off its initial position—no jurisdictional language whatsoever—the mobilization committee stepped into action.

What started with union T-shirts, signs, and buttons soon escalated to using bargaining updates as a workplace action. For fifteen minutes, everyone in the newsroom would come to the front of the office or the kitchen to hear an update from the bargaining committee. Eventually the update moved to the sidewalk in front of the office. Union members had embarked on their first walkout. The next time they left for half an hour. The gatherings served a dual purpose: “It’s an action showing everyone standing together but at the same time everyone is being informed and then it’s also a public forum where they can ask questions and have things answered,” said Smith.

Looking for a way to include remote workers in the escalations, the mobilization committee decided on a work-to-rule action that would be kicked off by a sign-off email at the end of the scheduled workday. “It was a reply-all to the entire company, including managers,” remembered Rodriguez. Even though the committee had worked up to the action through escalating structure tests and felt like their coworkers were ready, it was still a scary moment. “That was a risky move because we didn’t know how many people were going to do it. That was one of those moments where you had to roll the die. . . . You needed people who were working remotely by themselves in Michigan or in a group in DC or LA to also do it. Everyone in New York had to do it.” But the bargaining unit proved ready, and managers’ inboxes were flooded with emails from over one hundred workers, a strong majority of the bargaining unit, signaling their refusal to take on voluntary overtime.

As workplace actions intensified, the bargaining committee quickly realized that these actions were the only real way to get the company to move at the bargaining table. “I had to be convinced to go

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