PREFACE
Lessons in Power
ONE
An Introduction to Power Inequality
TWO
Power Shift
THREE
Game Changer: Sea-Tac and the Fight for a Fair Economy
FOUR
Bridging the Trust Gap
FIVE
A Moral Movement
SIX
If You Want Big Change, You Need a Big Idea
SEVEN
Speaking Truth in the Halls of Power
EIGHT
Union Troubles, Community Win
NINE
Beyond the Ballot Box
TEN
Beyond $15: The Social Movement Union
Acknowledgments
Author Interviews
Notes
Jonathan Rosenblum has been a labor organizer for more than thirty years, playing key roles including Sea-Tac Airport campaign director. His writing has been featured in Tikkun, In These Times, and Yes! Magazine. He lives in Seattle, WA.
“An inspiring model for coalition building.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Readers interested in labor activism, history, economics,
industrial relations, or immigration studies will find this book to
be compelling and captivating, as Rosenblum captures the story of
this unifying, important, and successful fight for economic
equity.”
—Booklist
“A feisty, provocative book...His analysis of the problems facing
labor is insightful and sound.”
—Tom Deignan, America Magazine
“Beyond $15 is both a timely history of a bold campaign’s unlikely
victory and an inspiring call for a flexible, progressive and
power-building vision of labor organizing.”
—Jonathan Timm, In These Times
“The fascinating inside story of how a few labor unions, faith
leaders, and immigrant and community groups united to build a
grassroots citizens movement that won the nation’s first $15
minimum wage in SeaTac, Washington. From that victory for community
power, Rosenblum makes the important case that US labor unions must
reinvent themselves as catalysts for a broader social justice
movement to challenge the inequality of power in America today,
building on the populist revolution awakened by Bernie
Sanders.”
—Hedrick Smith, author of Who Stole the American Dream?
“Part memoir, part industry analysis, part campaign
summation...Beyond $15 is exciting, thought-provoking, and moving
as it looks not only at the big picture but also at the struggles
of the workers themselves to alter the terms of their working lives
and their places in the community.”
—Bill Fletcher, Jr., coauthor of Solidarity Divided
“A compelling and vital read for any social justice activist. In
the vivid detail of a committed participant in the struggle,
Rosenblum tells how ordinary airport workers took on the corporate
powers and both Democratic and Republican Party elites and
won.”
—Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council member, Socialist
Alternative
“Jonathan Rosenblum’s Beyond $15 is an excellent choice for
teaching about contemporary worker struggles against economic
inequality. My students were captivated by Rosenblum’s firsthand
account of the untold story of the SeaTac minimum wage campaign.
The book opens up much broader discussions with its careful
analysis of the causes and human impact of deteriorating US working
conditions over the past four decades. Beyond $15 also teaches
important lessons on the practical challenges of building
coalitions across lines of identity and the importance of giving
workers voice in organized campaigns.”
—George Lovell, Harry Bridges Endowed Chair in Labor Studies and
professor and chair of Political Science, University of
Washington
“Developing strong labor, faith and community partnerships to
engage in campaigns that uplift working people is vital for today’s
labor movement. Jonathan Rosenblum’s Beyond $15 about the coalition
that won a $15 minimum wage in Sea-Tac, Washington, shows union
leaders and activists how this can be done, and how victory can be
won, even in the most daunting circumstances.”
—Henry Garrido, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME,
AFL-CIO
“For thirty-three years, Jonathan Rosenblum has been sharing his
winning analysis, history of struggle, and strategy with ordinary
workers. In Beyond $15, he invites all of us into the learning.
With stunning simplicity and clarity, Rosenblum walks the reader
through exactly how giant corporations have decimated the American
Dream. Better still, he explains what it will take to get out of
our current mess and rebuild the power we need to defeat out of
control corporate power.”
—Jane McAlevey, organizer and author of No Shortcuts: Organizing
for Power in the New Gilded Age
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