How the IWW Differs from Business Unions

From the Preamble to the IWW Constitution:

The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers.

The IWW is fundamentally different from business unions in the following ways:

• The IWW is democratic, controlled by its rank & file;
• The IWW believes in organizing industrially, not by trade or craft;
• The IWW is a class struggle union. The working class and the employing class having nothing in common;
• The IWW organizes on its own terms.

Following are some scathing critiques of business unions, i.e. unions that believe that the working class and capital are partners, and why that belief is suicidal for the working class. These documents are not official IWW literature and the opinions expressed here are presented for informational purposes:

On the Betrayal of Business Unions:

• Slaughterhouse Fight: A Look at the Hormel Strike - How Hormel and the UFCW sabotaged Rank & File unionism in the P-9 Strike - By Steve Boyce, Jake Edwards, and Tom Wetzel (Summer 1986)
• A Strike by Any Other Name - By Natasha Moss-Dedrick (September 28, 2004)

Alternatives to Reformism Within Existing Labor Law:

• Introducing the Employee Liberation Act: Unleashing the Power of Worker Self-Activity and Direct Action - By Daniel Gross, Originally published on Znet, June 30, 2009

New Directions, Same Destination:

• SEIU and Antiglobalization Protesters: How Labor Bureaucrats Exploited the Antiglobalization Movement & How to Not Get Fooled Again This Year - By an Anonymous SEIU Staffer (February 17, 2003)
• Flying Squads and the Crisis of Workers' Self-Organization: How tactics and strategy need a broader vision than business unionism - By Alex Levant (March 2003)
• Reutherism Redux - What Happens When Poor Workers' Unions Wear The Color Purple - By Steve Early, Labor Notes (September 2004)

On the Limits of Reform Slates:

• A Wobbly Strategy for Fundamental Change - Staughton Lynd (September 2002)
• Josh DeVries Responds to Staughton Lynd - By Josh DeVries (October 2002)

On the Dangers of Trying to Make Change as a Paid Union Staffer:

• Organize From Below! - A Message to Young People Who Are Considering Taking a Job as a Union Staffer - By Richard Mellor and John Reimann, (April 11, 2004)