Unions are crucial to building democracy, both within the country and within the workplace. A unionized worksite tips the balance of power toward workers and away from bosses more than an unorganized one.
But what about democracy within the union itself? Some unions are highly stratified and almost as hierarchical as the workplace, but rank-and-file unionism can tip the balance within the union like a union does within the workplace.
What is rank-and-file unionism?
The “rank and file” are union members who are not professional union staff or leadership, and “rank-and-file unionism” is an approach to organizing that “organizationally [engages] as many workers as possible, again and again, and particularly [engages] workers around tough questions and decisions,” according to UTLA organizer Jollene Levid. This approach assumes that workers, not professional union staff, should determine the direction their union takes. Proponents of rank-and-file unionism stress the need for transparency in the decision-making process and continuous dialogue between union members and union staff.
| Feature | Rank-and-file unionism | Business unionism |
|---|---|---|
| Primary agent | Workers-organizers, union members | Paid union staff and officers |
| Decision-making | Democratic, open dialogue, transparent | Centralized, top-down control |
| Core strategy | Continuous shopfloor organizing | Short-term economic gains |
| Relationship to the boss | Confrontational, to build worker power | Accomodationist, to avoid friction |
In more top-down unions, once the bargaining process starts, union staff assume control over the process to a degree that disempowers the same workers who brought them in in the first place. This top-down approach to union strategy and governance is known as “business unionism.”
Proponents of business unionism prioritize winning short-term economic gains for workers at their own shops over broader campaigns for economic justice and decision-making power in the workplace. In business unions, union staff often enjoy a cozy relationship with management that reduces friction but makes them ill-prepared to fight for their members during contract negotiations.
Labor lawyer Joe Burns writes, “During the 1980s and early 1990s, many labor officials fell for labor-management cooperation programs rather than fighting. Unions such as the United Auto Workers and many others worked jointly with management to speed up the pace of work.” If union staff prioritize access over everything else, rank-and-file workers disengage from shop-floor fights and see the union as a positive presence in their lives. In the long term, this can be disastrous for worker power.
Why is rank-and-file unionism important?
The most important benefit of rank-and-file union members driving the union’s strategy is a more engaged membership. One of the basic principles of organizing is: If you want someone to be engaged in your campaign, give them a job to do. Your co-workers are more likely to stay involved with a long and grueling unionization drive if they have some level of ownership over it.
The same is true after you win a contract — in a strong union, organizing never stops. This is especially important when the time comes to take concerted action. Going on strike is an intimidating prospect, and a strike can collapse quickly without buy-in from the membership. Union leaders may also be hesitant to call for a strike, which means workers must rely on their own organizing ability and courage for a strike to be successful. An engaged union full of member-organizers is much more likely to strike successfully than a union where the members are kept out of union decision-making and feel disenfranchised.
More engaged and informed rank-and-file union members are more likely to participate in labor actions. And the labor movement needs every organizer that it can get. With union density at a historic low, we need to organize thousands more workplaces every year in order to reverse the hollowing-out of organized labor.
Organizing the working class is a job too large to be handled solely by union staff; we will need a vast army of rank-and-file worker-organizers to build up an organized workforce in this country. By helping workers acquire the tools and the confidence to do their organizing themselves, we can exponentially increase the organizing capacity of the labor movement and reverse the decline of organized labor in America.
Challenges of rank-and-file unionism
The biggest challenge to rank-and-file unionism is that, put simply, it’s a lot of work. It can feel daunting to ask workers to get more involved in their union, as many are already balancing full-time jobs and personal obligations. It’s much easier to allow paid, trained union staff to take the wheel than to spend the time to make sure every member is informed and engaged. Building an engaged member base takes a significant amount of time and resources.
For example, according to Levid, when UTLA went on strike in 2019, the union had already spent years building out a powerful organizing infrastructure. Union leadership created new research and community organizing departments to ensure they had clear lines of communication with every member of the union across its 913 worksites. Not every union has the ability to undertake such an endeavor, but UTLA’s investment paid off: When it came time to take a strike-authorization vote, the motion passed by 98%. In the face of this undeniable display of solidarity, they were able to secure a new contract within only a few days.
Rank-and-file unionism in action
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) has made rank-and-file unionism a core tenet of their organization. It’s UE members who guide the union’s strategy, both nationwide and in their own individual shops. They even limit the salaries of union staff to match the top wages paid to their members. In their words, “It’s hard to think (or act) like a big shot on a worker’s wage.” UE also maintains right-to-strike clauses in many of their contracts. Unfortunately, the norm is to include a no-strike/no-lockout clause in most union contracts, which means that in order to secure a contract, workers end up forfeiting the most powerful weapon in their arsenal against the boss. UE understands the importance of retaining the right to strike. They also elect their leadership directly through union membership, rather than via elected convention delegates, another practice that is rare in more traditional unions.
Recent years have also seen an upswing in rank-and-file activism within unions that have a reputation for following a more traditional hierarchical structure. Often, rank-and-file activism within unions manifests as caucuses, like United Auto Workers’ Unite All Workers for Democracy, which swept United Auto Workers (UAW) executive board elections in 2022-2023 and elected Shawn Fain president of UAW. In September 2025, the Caucus of Rank-and-File Electrical Workers (CREW) launched as a caucus within the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), one of the largest trade unions in the country. The appearance of CREW is especially remarkable given that the IBEW has not seen a new caucus since the 1970s, when workers formed the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus to fight racism within both the electrical industry and the IBEW itself. CREW has collaborated with another emergent caucus, the Latin American Electrical Workers Alliance (LAEWA), to provide support to Latinx workers in the face of the Trump administration’s racist crackdown on immigrants.
Rank-and-file unionism empowers workers to become more than just passive union members; they can instead become worker-organizers with agency and control over their union who can build more transparent and democratic organizations. As a volunteer-led organization, EWOC practices rank-and-file unionism by necessity. To this end, we have produced a library of resources for workers looking to build their organizing capacity, and hold regular trainings for workers looking to hone their organizing skills. We believe an educated, organized rank and file is key to taking worker power back from the bosses.
