How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers

In less than two years, newly-elected leaders transformed the 27,000-member Chicago Teachers Union. Learn how they organized as rank-and-file members then ran for office to chart a new direction for their union.

This book details how they engaged thousands of members to tackle problems on the job and to build a stewards network that became the backbone of their 2012 citywide strike. Find out how they worked with their communities, trained new leaders, and ran a contract campaign that became a model for unions across the country.

September 10, 2022: In honor of the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking 2012 Chicago Teachers Strike, we are bringing this book back into print! Now with a new introduction by Labor Notes Editor, Alexandra Bradbury on the continued significance of this story—still the best 21st-century example of union transformation done right.