Bob Master is the Legislative and Political Director of Communications Workers of America District 1. He is also a founder of the New York Working Families Party and serves on the Executive Committee of the national WFP.
The uptick in high-profile strikes in recent years has been heartening. But sustaining and expanding the gains won by that militancy will require careful strategizing and deep political engagement that starts with but goes beyond the shop floor.
A longtime union organizer explains why socialists have a critical role to play in building the labor movement. We should pursue three tasks in unions: encouraging rank-and-file militancy, building an independent political infrastructure, and developing workers’ consciousness.