This post is for a fearless fighter for worker’s rights. Jane McAlevey who passed away in July 2024 from cancer. Jane was a relentless defender of workers and an engaging author – the combination of which has left detailed and compelling accounts of her knowledge in four books she wrote. I recently read her first book, Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) written with Bob Ostertag, first published in 2012.

Jane was committed to uniting all kinds of workers for maximum power. Unifying different groups and ranks of workers might sound like a basic tactic, but it is a challenge, inside and outside of unions. As Jane describes, unions themselves can be divisive when considering whom they represent. This kind of exclusiveness has been a problem fracturing union power throughout US history, eg, “skilled” vs “unskilled” labor. Jane faced this divisive challenge while organizing for unions in locations that had especially scarce labor resources. Her crowning achievement in this book was uniting workers of all ranks in Las Vegas hospitals while battling the worst of modern day union-busting professionals in a state antagonistic to unions.

She knew that worker advocacy must be thought of holistically and include community development. Her inspiring use of ‘Power Structure Analysis” (PSA) would guide her and her teams in assessing workplace and community power. This approach allowed her to constantly assess leaders. Prior to her Las Vegas union work, in Stamford, Connecticut she had a breakthrough union campaign. The results there were unionizing 4,500 workers, setting new standards for the market, saving four public housing projects, and shifting political power in the city with two new city counsel members. An important innovation by Jane was rethinking workers lives as “workplace” and “non-workplace” which challenged the thinking that “‘labor’ issues are the proper domain of unions while ‘community’ issues are the domain of someone else.”

Raising Expectations is an important title that was also a philosophy she lived by. She wanted to always raise the expectations of workers, making them aware of the power they had. She emboldened many workers to participate and lead in gaining improved working conditions, benefits, and better lives. Unfortunately, Jane, also contended with internal factions of national unions that led to falling out of favor with leadership. Improving local unions went against internal politics of those factions to the point of undoing her work.

But she will not be forgotten. As a fearless fighter of power, she claimed to be a reluctant author, which is hard to believe given this spirited narrative, with blunt descriptions, detailed timeline, comprehensive research, and not holding back.

Unions play a role in the cooperative world, too. Unions and cooperative development have joined forces at conferences I’ve been to. They both have the collective goal to serve the rights of workers. Cooperative businesses can also be unionized, such as Worx Printing in Worcester, MA, where management can’t lose sight of what the workers-owners want.

Raising Expectations is a remarkable story of choosing to fight against the odds. Winning the battle might not win the war, but the courage to make change, might change what no one thought was possible, as demonstrated with Jane’s inspiring grit and intelligence.