Union Now

At the height of union power in America in the 1950s, one in three workers was a member of a union. Today, that figure is less than one in ten.

The long decline of union density over the past half century has eroded our shared prosperity and led directly to our country’s high economic inequality and political instability. In order to restore public faith in our democracy, create an economy for all, and rebalance political power, it is critical to raise union density.

The challenges of the current political environment make this task both more difficult and more important. Employers delay elections, illegally fire workers, close plants, or pay such little wages that workers have to work all the time rather than organize.

Unions acting on their own lack the resources to win the large, difficult campaigns that are necessary. Increasing union density means organizing millions of new workers. It will require a place where many unions can meet and deploy resources in a coordinated way.

Union Now, a nonprofit organization, plans to help solve these issues with two primary functions:

• Raise money to directly support workers who are organizing and striking. We will never revive worker power without enabling more of both of these challenging, expensive actions.
• Support ambitious campaigns that require shared resources and solidarity. The most important organizing efforts—against the largest companies—cannot be won by any single union. We will build a network of unions to support one another financially, strategically, and on the ground.

We will work to build an entire network of unions to support one another’s campaigns—financially, strategically, and on the ground.

Both of the functions of Union Now are critical to the future of the labor movement. Though there are many good pro-worker organizations in America, there is no centralized fund to take in outside donations to support union organizing.

And strategic coordination is necessary to effectively challenge the power of the biggest employers.

Polls tell us that unions today are more popular than they have been in 60 years. Tens of millions of Americans—seventy percent of workers—would like to join a union. Barely ten percent have one.

Union Now seeks to change that to bring politics to the people and out of the hands of billionaires.

Democracy is under attack. Our legal and political institutions are wavering. Working people lack decent, affordable health care. Millions of jobs are threatened by technologies like AI, and deregulation has unleashed the most dangerous version of predatory capitalism.

These things have robbed workers of power and led directly to our current situation. Facing these problems requires stronger organized labor. The only way to get there is much more union organizing.

Winning the world we want for the people requires building our unions. Now.