United States | Highbrow organising

Beleaguered unions seek members beyond the factory floor

But how terrifying is a striking graduate staffer?

|CHICAGO

JUDGING BY RECENT headlines, America’s unions appear stuck in time. Consider one of the biggest, the United Auto Workers (UAW). Its 400,000-odd members include nearly 150,000 who work at Detroit’s “big three” carmakers—GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The UAW’s boss, Gary Jones, was busy this week hammering out a four-year labour contract for them, starting at GM, before the current one expires on September 15th. If not, strikes loom.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Highbrow organising”

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