ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we examine how organized labor today can finance an ambitious plan to organizing workers in industries and companies historically resistant to any such effort. Our analysis starts with a review of the recent wave of organizing activity and success, focusing particularly on workers at Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks. After documenting the scope of certification drives, we turn to how the economic, legal, and political climate has moved favorably for labor, making the timeliness of any concerted effort to scale up more critical. This leads to a discussion of the salient labor organizations at the tip of the spear of these new-wave drives, with emphasis on how they are financed and could benefit materially from an infusion of additional money. Given their evident financial needs, the focus moves to how to finance vastly expanded efforts based on information on the financial wherewithal available to major national unions.
