Out of the Lab, Into the Streets tells the story of how academic workers built the largest strike in the history of American higher education and set a new standard of militancy in one of the fastest growing sectors of the labor movement. In doing so, these workers also taught organizers everywhere lessons about the effectiveness of collective power cemented through worker-to-worker organizing, militant escalation strategies, and cross-union solidarity.
On November 14, 2022, academic workers of the University of California began a strike that brought workers out of the lab and into the streets for six weeks to fight for more equitable working conditions. The strike was a point of arrival and a process at the same time. It was the hard-fought achievement of a short- and long-term history of union organizing and a learning practice for workers across campuses, disciplines, job classifications, political affiliations, and identities. This book documents the everyday and on-the-ground making of union organizing and power building.
The nine workers who gave lengthy testimonies for this project challenge preconceptions about the advantages and difficulties of organizing in higher education. They make insightful analyses of how being active union members transformed them personally and reshaped their approach to science and education.
Union organizers and other activists will find lessons and reflections on core topics for the labor movement: how to build a worker-led union, the practical meaning of democracy during mass action, dissent and unity amongst workers, and how to measure a fight's success. Within these nuanced accounts of militant organizing, everyone will find inspiration to keep collective power alive and keep fighting for a better future.