Why Labor Unions Matter in the Time of Trump: How We Get from Ten Percent Workforce Density to General Strikes

Nelson Lichtenstein, Keane Chukwuneta, Fred Glass

In this panel we explore insights and themes drawn from two 2026 publications: Nelson Lichtenstein's Why Labor Unions Matter (Yale University Press), and Fred Glass's Labor 101: Socialism and the Labor Movement (PM Press). Lichtenstein will focus his remarks on one chapter of his book, which considers the conditions and strategies that make a general strike possible and winnable, taken from both historical examples (San Francisco in 1934; Brazil and Poland circa 1980) and those more current (The Red State Revolt in 2018 and Minneapolis in 2026). Glass will delineate the structures and orientation needed for unions to fulfill their promise of working class empowerment, describe the historic role played by socialists in helping unions function in this way, and provide examples of how the labor movement left is currently building toward mass militant action. Chukwuneta will comment on these strategies and tactics from the dual perspective of a labor studies instructor engaged with radicalizing working class students and a union representative whose job it is to serve the members' needs.