Stephanie Luce, Professional Staff Congress (PSC), CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
Labor is one the most trusted messengers on political and economic issues for members and working-class voters outside of union membership. But a recent study found “that most unions did not provide consistent messaging to their members about economic developments like inflation. Just 12% of union members reported receiving information about the economy from their union.”[1]
Yet labor unions are one of the key civil society institutions best equipped to defend democracy and prevent the consolidation of authoritarian regimes. The labor movement represents the largest single bloc of working-class Americans – about 14 million workers. Scholars have documented that unions are crucial to the fight against authoritarian rulers. One academic study found that between 1946 and 2006, globally, democratic movements opposing authoritarianism succeeded 83% of the time when national union groups were involved, but just 29% of the time when unions abstained from the struggle.[2]
To meet the moment, labor educators and union leaders have developed materials to train workers on the growing threat to democracy and how rising authoritarianism is a threat to workers and unions.
Last year, Margarita Hernandez from the Grassroots Power Project (GPP) and Kris Raab of the Labor Institute developed the Democracy Defenders curriculum, a six-hour training for union members, and ran the program with about half a dozen unions and several thousand members around the country. (CWA educators helped work on the curriculum and ran a similar Democracy Defenders training with their members).
This year, they are modifying that program with a plan to reach many more workers. The curriculum, renamed the Solidarity Wins Mass Education Project, has developed multiple workshops (full-day trainings, 2-hour version, and others as needed) geared towards union and non-union working-class folks to help them make sense of the moment and their shared self-interest in fighting authoritarianism and the billionaires, and engage them in their unions’ program and resistance fights that builds working class solidarity. Based on a participatory, small group method, this training works well for union members to lead workshops for other union members who might be new to the topic or might be skeptical of politics or the Democratic Party. For more information, contact Margarita Hernandez at margarita@grassrootspowerproject.org.
Meanwhile, Jessica Tang, president of the Massachusetts AFT, worked with Jessica Smith and the AFT Resistance Committee to adapt the Freedom Trainers curriculum into Challenging Authoritarianism Through People Power. This workshop provides the knowledge and skills needed to move with peaceful collective action, combat abuses of power, defend our democracy and fight for communities. This is available as a 20 minute, 90 minute, 3 hour or 6 hour workshop, and can be run as a train-the-trainer. AFT has been running this program with AFT Locals and other labor groups around the country. AFT also has a menu of additional trainings available including planning safe actions, non-violent direct action, street medic certification and peaceful civil disobedience. For more information, sign up here.
Similarly, the Worker Institute at Cornell adapted the Freedom Trainers’ curriculum tino Defending Democracy & Leading in a Time of Crisis. This workshop equips participants across the labor movement with the knowledge and skills to:
- Understand the current threat of authoritarianism.
- Draw from the labor movement’s history of resistance.
- Learn theories and tactics of noncooperation.
- Identify redlines and mobilize your base for action.
- Share strategies across diverse membership and leadership structures.
Available as an intro, a 2 or 4-hour workshop, and can also be offered as a train-the-trainer program. The Worker Institute can additionally consult to support unions in adapting the curriculum to your union or worker organization. They will also be offering Train-the-Trainer series for labor in the upcoming months. Sign up at this link.
A new formation called Standing for Democracy (SFD) aims to make sense of how power really works, why authoritarianism is on the rise, and help connect personal struggles to larger systems, as well as what we can do about it together. They have created the Democracy in Crisis: Critical Thinking for Collective Power training. The purpose is to spark critical thinking and honest conversation among working people who are feeling frustrated, fearful, and disillusioned by examining the contradictions between political promises and lived experiences, especially within our economic and political systems. SFD will lead trainings that are adjusted to each audience in consultation with organizational partners for their respective members, or SFD will also make train-the-trainer available for organizational staff. For more information, email contact@standing4democracy.org or sign up here.
Finally, Bargaining for the Common Good has a training called Billionaire Power Grab 101. Billionaires are taking control of our government and coming after our jobs, families, communities, and essential services at an alarming rate. That is why organized people across the country are coming together to take them on and win back our futures. This training provides a peek into the tech billionaires coming after our communities, and how to use successful Bargaining for the Common Good strategies to fight back. For more information, contact Sandra Lane with ACRE/Bargaining for the Common Good: sandra@acrecampaigns.org
[1] Alex Hertel-Fernandez, Max Kiefel and Alex Yan, The Varied Voice of Labor: Unpacking the Political Engagement of Labor in the 2024 Election
[2] Butcher, Charles Robert, John Laidlow Gray, and LieselMitchell, 2018. “Striking It Free? Organized Labor and the Outcomes of Civil Resistance.” Journal of Global Security Studies, 3(3), 302–321.
