To succeed, any social movement needs people power. And, as the great Ella Baker preached, that takes a lot of slow, respectful work to forge relationships — what she called “spadework.” Base-building is the first of the “seven strategies to change the world” that we elaborate on in our book Practical Radicals. And base-building is so important that all of the other six strategies depend on it. So we’ve decided to devote two episodes to the topic: one on unions and one on community organizing. 

Today’s episode focuses on base-building in the labor movement, especially the thrilling upsurge in Minnesota, where workers next week (March 2-9, 2024) are preparing to launch a massive, unprecedented general strike. Our guest is Greg Nammacher, president of SEIU Local 26, which represents janitorial, security, airport, and retail workers, and is a key player in this upcoming week of action. When he came to the local sixteen years ago, it was led by Javier Morillo, who wanted to usher in a new era of union democracy and militancy. And it worked! Local 26’s membership has doubled, and by embracing base-building and a “bargaining for the common good” framework, and not being afraid to strike, they’ve won astonishing victories that point the way for union success around the country. Nammacher’s interview is full of gems organizers need to hear: how to foster unity when members speak many languages; how to build “alignments,” not just coalitions or alliances; how to make organizing fun; and how to use social media smartly to build worker networks.  Greg says American labor is in “an incredible moment, and we won't get a lot of these. And so how do we make the most of it so that our members can have better lives and we can have a long-term voice of power in this country?”

Minnesota Week of Action Fund: https://workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/weekofactionfund

Schedule of Events for Week of Action in Minnesota (March 2-9)

Episode 3 transcript

Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker