The Cowboy Mentality

Abstract

This paper details the experiences of union organizers in Sweeney's "new labor movement." It examines the occupational demands that organizers must contend with, such as extensive travel, long hours and emotionally demanding work. The author then describes the occupational culture of organizing, otherwise known as "the cow boy mentality." Far from a centrally coordinated retention strat egy, the cowboy mentality is a set of assumptions about organizing being more than a job, being superior to other forms of work in the labor movement, and being best experienced with an intensity resembling a military boot camp. The author then demonstrates how the cowboy mentality paradoxically strengthens the occupa tional commitment of some organizers, while alienating and ex cluding others. Interviews with organizers reveal that women and people of color are most likely to be alienated by the cowboy men tality, thus undermining new labor's efforts to diversify the move ment.