Rules to Win By: Participation and Power in Union Negotiations is a book for anyone who wants to understand how to build the power required to effectively challenge and reverse income inequality and attacks on democracy. Drawing insights from recent hard-won unionization and contract negotiation fights, Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor use lessons from some of the toughest fights today--preparing a durable, all-out strike in a union-hostile environment--to provide a masterclass in participatory social change, indispensable both within and beyond the workplaces where we spend half of our waking lives. In an era of polarization, big lies, and massive legislative setbacks, changemakers in every arena need to learn the skills and lessons honed in pitched battles against experienced and ruthless union busters. Rules to Win By is a book for workers, unionists, racial justice and climate campaigners, academics, policymakers and everyone who wants a more fair and democratic society.

In Rules to Win By, Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor draw insights from recent hard-won unionization and contract negotiation fights to provide a guidebook on participatory social change. At the heart of the book is a vision for negotiations rooted in engaging the entire union membership--as well as the broader community in which these battles are waged--directly in the strategizing and negotiation. Rules to Win By offers not only a new theory of negotiation, but also tools and resources for any campaign to harness the power of ordinary people to win the public good.

Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.