At the end of the day, a union is just a voluntary organization of workers. Workers made the union and only workers can “unmake” the union. In every other facet of our lives: church, school, work… there is always a pastor, a teacher, a boss… someone to run the show. As bottom up trade unionists, it’s just us. Nobody to hold our hand. We have to run our own meetings, do our own business, negotiate our own contracts, politically, economically, socially, legally fight to defend and perpetuate our organization. That is a radical concept in American society — normal-ass every day workers can come together and change their own destiny and unite together into a powerful organization completely administered by and for the workers and take on some of the biggest employers and governments in the world.
Hoffa and Jones: Thoughts on Union Democracy
