Beyond Contract Unions

There is a growing movement of workers joining together in unions that don’t follow a typical formal recognition with collective bargaining model, yet who are still making meaningful workplace changes. Despite this, the labor literature seems to largely focus on the more recognizable collective bargaining style unions, to its detriment and the detriment of those involved in the labor movement. In this paper, I offer a framework for better recognizing and understanding the diverse union landscape, arguing that we should understand unions as democratically controlled associations of workers that aim to improve their workplace conditions through collective action. Collective bargaining can be a great tool for unions, but it isn’t a necessary feature.