Organizing the Precariat: The Fight to Build and Sustain Fast Food Worker Power

Abstract

The structure of work is undergoing a fundamental transformation in the United States as employers have pushed for more flexible forms of employment including subcontracting, independent contracting, and franchising. These employment structures shift responsibility for working conditions from lead employers onto subsidiary firms or independently contracted workers leading to a fissuring of employment relations. These changes make state regulation of work more difficult, while simultaneously creating new barriers to worker organizing. The goal of this article is to understand how workplace fissuring shapes the strategic repertories available to worker justice organizations (e.g. unions and worker centers) in their efforts to improve conditions for workers. To do this, I develop an in-depth case study of fast food worker organizing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I use case evidence to demonstrate the challenges worker justice organizations encounter deploying workplace-centered organizing strategies aimed at unionizing fast food workers. Then I explain how worker justice organizers in Minneapolis have instead utilized a community-centered strategy to legislate pay and benefit improvements for fast food workers. Finally, I use case evidence to explore the prospects of sustaining fast food worker organizing in Minneapolis and across the country.