Labor Union Blog

More than 2 million workers have joined Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, and one of the nation’s preeminent labor scholars says if it keeps up its present pace, it will become the largest labor organization in the country.

Why has Working America been so successful when past efforts to organize workers outside of collective bargaining have failed? In a Point of View column on the AFL-CIO website, Richard Freeman, who holds the Herbert Ascherman Chair in economics at Harvard University, says:

The story of Working America is one of the greatest successes in reaching workers outside of collective bargaining since the Knights of Labor in the 1880s. Its primary mode of enlisting members is through community canvassing, where bright young activists go door to door in potentially union-friendly neighborhoods. At the same time, Working America's strong online program has resulted in 60,000 new members signing up through its website.