Of the many things that have surfaced in the last year, one of the significant and visible changes is the beginnings of a return to workers using collective action to negotiate with employers in good faith. This is as true in low-wage jobs (food service and other “essential workers” who are now asserting that they are worth more than sub-living wages) as it is in high-tech jobs (including tech workers joining the Steelworkers Union, the Teamsters union, and the CWA). Unionized workplaces are still vanishingly small, but momentum is growing as companies demand more and more from workers who are more and more overworked, burnt out, and adverse to the requirements employers are putting forward. So what do we, as individual workers, do to protect ourselves (and others)? Well, there’s this talk, which lays out a path forward in 5 steps:

1. What is a Union 2) What is the historical significance of Unions 3) What is the modern incarnation of Unions 4) Why do you need a Union 5) How to get organized with a Union

Collective action is always better than individual action, and organized collective action can move mountains. Let us hold hands, and pull one another to safety.