The Paths to Teachers’ Union Revitalization in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles

• In Event: 20881 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Rethinking Labor (New Perspectives)

Abstract

Why do some rank-and-file movements succeed in revitalizing union activity while others fail? This paper examines why reform movements in the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) successfully mobilized educators and school communities against neoliberal education policies, while similar efforts in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York failed to unseat entrenched leadership. Building on scholarship on union revitalization and the iron law of oligarchy, I analyze how organizational structures, leadership crises, and political-economic conditions shape union power and internal democracy. In CTU and UTLA, rank-and-file activists revitalized their unions by linking bread-and-butter demands with social justice issues, engaging in robust workplace organizing through a caucus network, and using democratic decision-making structures to mobilize broad participation. Leadership crises in both unions created openings for reformers, allowing them to expand union militancy and position the unions as leading actors against neoliberal education policies. In contrast, UFT’s Unity Caucus has maintained control since the 1960s through its patronage network, large disciplined cadre of leaders and staff, and mobilizing a highly organized retiree voting bloc. Unity's support for neoliberal education policies has further strengthened its alliance with political elites and reinforced its dominance. Additionally, New York’s legal prohibition on public-sector strikes has deprived opposition groups of a key tool that contributed to the growth of reform efforts in Chicago and Los Angeles. By comparing these cases, this paper identifies the structural, organizational, and political-economic factors that determine the success or failure of union revitalization efforts.

Author

• Hakan Yilmaz, CUNY-Graduate Center