ABSTRACT
Evaluations of organizing in mid-size and de-industrialized cities – the affective 'ruins' of de-industrialization – should consider alternative measures labour and community advocates undertake to account for the absence of labour-supporting infrastructure. Examining the development of alt-labour organizing strategies in mid-size cities with small labour movements provides the means to address both of the challenges. Developed under the historically anomalous institutional arrangements that defined post-war work, labour scholarship retains an explicit focus on the workplace as the core unit of analysis. With very few exceptions, scholars of cities and labour pay scant attention to St Louis and Indianapolis. A senior labour activist in Indianapolis characterizes the movement's work memorably, as "climatizing to organize". Labour activists remain engaged in a deliberate process of expanding alt-labour strategies. The differences with the major sites of alt-labour strategic development stand out most directly on the issue of unionization.
