Social Movement Unionism and Progressive Public Policy in New York City

Abstract

This paper explores the state of social movement unionism in New York City and how labour-community coalitions are forging a progressive public policy agenda. Based on twenty formal interviews with labour leaders and nearly a decade of practice working in the city’s social and economic justice movement, it appears that unions are increasingly interested in coupling efforts to improve wages and working conditions with broader strategies for growth – namely, levelling the playing field for organizing through public policy reform and pursuing a legislative strategy of social, economic, and environmental justice that will give the broader public more of a reason to want to join a union. However, the New York City labour movement faces a number of obstacles – including union democracy issues, a new generation of conservative union leaders, and increasingly conservative municipal, state, and federal administrations – towards adopting social movement unionism and a progressive public policy platform