The Money with Katie Show Your Workplace is Instrumental for a Better Future. Here’s How.
Oct 8, 2025
Eric Blanc, an assistant professor of labor studies and author of *We Are the Union*, shares insights on the contemporary labor movement. He discusses the power of worker-to-worker organizing as a means to counter oligarchy and discusses the struggle for democracy in union representation. Blanc emphasizes the importance of economic leverage and cultural factors in building effective movements. He also highlights how suburbanization has weakened labor power and how successful organizing can lead to transformative community experiences.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Workplace Democracy Matters
- Unions inject democracy into workplaces where employees otherwise have no meaningful say.
- Eric Blanc argues workplace democracy counters authoritarianism and improves wages and benefits.
Scale By Empowering Workers
- Use worker-to-worker organizing to scale beyond staff-limited union drives.
- Train peers to lead campaigns so organizing reaches far more workplaces efficiently.
Worker Power Stops Authoritarianism
- Large-scale worker power can block authoritarian moves by raising the political and economic cost of repression.
- Blanc cites general strikes as the mechanism that can protect democracy.
