Community unionism

Community unionism describes the spectrum of ways in which trade unions work collaboratively with community organisations over issues of common importance to both. Developed as a term to describe grass-roots union-community alliances in the US which vary widely in their goals and capacity for creating durable links, it has been extensively written about in Canada (Tufts 1998, Lipsig-Mumme, 1988 and 2003, Cranford), and more recently, in Australia. Most recently the contrast between community unionism on the one hand and both social movement unionism and the organising model of trade unionism on the other has been brought to the fore, particularly in relation to their differing goals, and the place of the union in union-community alliances. There are three distinct and common interpretations of community unionism, each defined by different definitions of the term community - community as organization, as identity or interest and place.^[1].

See also

• Social Movement Unionism
• Organising model of trade unionism
• Jobs with Justice

References

General

• Tattersall Power in Coalition, Chapter 1 includes an overview of the history of the term and a definition of community unionism, ISBN: 978-0-8014-7606-8.
• "Forms of Solidarity", Article on Community Unionism, by Carla Lipsig-Mumme of York University. One of several articles beginning critical writing on community unionism internationally and comparatively. Provides the first review of the range of meanings of community unionism, and describes a number of examples of community unionism in action. Sets up a typology, or spectrum, of community unionism, with instrumental links between unions and community organisations at one pole, and transformative links at the other. See also Steven Tufts, 1998, Lipsig-Mumme 1988.
• Section of an ILO booklet on Alliances and Solidarity to Promote Women Workers' Rights, dealing with community alliances.
• Community Unionism Website, by Amanda Tattersall containing some of her articles on community unionism, training documents, an annotated bibliography of articles and contacts for academics working on the topic.

Specific