Chris Brooks

Chris Brooks

@chactivist.bsky.social

Former chief of staff @UAW & architect of 2023 Stand Up Strike. Previously @nyguild / @cwaunion & NEA & @labornotes.

221 followers178 following80 posts

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Jaw dropping story about how rank-and-file workers organizing to build a fighting UFCW stopped their local leadership from merging with a sham local in an attempt to postpone their next internal union election labornotes.org/2026/10/ufcw...

labornotes.orgUFCW Members Protect Local Election After Sham Merger AttemptAn insurgent slate is challenging the longtime incumbents in Local 8-Golden State, one of the largest locals in the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), in what may be the local’s first competit...

Chris Brooks reposted

Bright D Limm 임대중
@bdlimm.myatproto.social

Today is a great day to read this piece of labor contract bargaining strategic wisdom by Chris Brooks. Central to the "Stand Up Strike" campaign's historic success was UAW's Department of Bargaining Strategies. That department was created by @chactivist.bsky.social.

Chris Brooks@chactivist.bsky.social

Not gotten much notice, but many contract votes have gone down in flames at big, long-unionized employers. It’s the result of rising expectations among workers & when it happens, unions have a choice: go big & fight harder or double down on the status quo. jacobin.com/2026/08/unio...

jacobin.comWhat to Do When Your Union Contract Is Voted DownThe answer to union contracts being voted down is not for organizers to lower workers’ expectations. It’s to seize that vote as an opportunity to organize those expectations into collective power.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Not gotten much notice, but many contract votes have gone down in flames at big, long-unionized employers. It’s the result of rising expectations among workers & when it happens, unions have a choice: go big & fight harder or double down on the status quo. jacobin.com/2026/08/unio...

jacobin.comWhat to Do When Your Union Contract Is Voted DownThe answer to union contracts being voted down is not for organizers to lower workers’ expectations. It’s to seize that vote as an opportunity to organize those expectations into collective power.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

This is my magnum opus on how a union contract being voted down can become an opportunity for unions to approach bargaining differently — and win a lot more as a result.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social

The answer to union contracts being voted down is not for organizers to lower workers’ expectations. It’s to seize that vote as an opportunity to organize those expectations into collective power.

jacobin.comWhat to Do When Your Union Contract Is Voted DownThe answer to union contracts being voted down is not for organizers to lower workers’ expectations. It’s to seize that vote as an opportunity to organize those expectations into collective power.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

The power of organized people just beat the power of organized money. This should be a wake up to the Dems. Fighting to spend our taxes on providing education, healthcare and housing to people here rather than endless wars that rain bombs and bullets overseas is good politics.

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s approval rating dropped 17 points since endorsing Hailey Stevens for Congress. It is incredible to see how hard the tide is turning against war mongering corporate Democrats. Michigan is going to show how candidates like Stevens are an albatross to Dems

Chris Brooks reposted

The Nation Magazine
@thenation.com

Shawn Fain has broken his silence on the federal monitor’s investigations. Now he and union leadership are alleging that the monitor is overreaching because of a personal political vendetta over the the union's call for a ceasefire in Gaza. https://bit.ly/4hzTwGt

bit.lyThe War on the UAWThe United Auto Workers called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The union’s federal monitor didn’t like it—and now he’s investigating Shawn Fain, just weeks before union elections.

Chris Brooks reposted

Soul Muffin
@soulmuffin.bsky.social

Apparently, the courts and the monitor forget that the UAW and all other unions are political and have always been. They have a right to hold and espouse political views. Fain is right to remind that the UAW was also against apartheid & was on the side of the allies in WW2. Protect our #Unions

thenation.comThe War on the UAWThe United Auto Workers called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The union’s federal monitor didn’t like it—and now he’s investigating Shawn Fain, just weeks before union elections.

Chris Brooks reposted

C.M. Lewis 🦬⚔️
@thehousered.bsky.social

it is stunning to me that there isn't more uniform anger at the situation with UAW across the labor movement, because it doesn't matter whose damn side you're on, the notion that a government appointed bureaucrat can run your labor union is an existential threat to free and democratic unions

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Drop Site: recording of convo between federally appointed monitor Neil Barofsky & UAW President Fain not only proves Barofsky was trying to influence the union’s political positions, but contradicts how Barofsky later characterized the convo to the UAW Board www.dropsitenews.com/p/uaw-shawn-...

Chris Brooks@chactivist.bsky.social

Detroit News reporting that federally appointed monitor Neil Barofsky called UAW President Shawn Fain to share his personal view that describing Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide crossed the line and was anti-Semitic. Clear abuse of authority. www.detroitnews.com/story/busine...

detroitnews.comPhone call audio sheds new light on tension between UAW's Fain, monitor | ExclusiveUAW President Shawn Fain has pointed to the 2023 phone call as evidence that Barofsky has a "political grudge" against him and is abusing his power.

Chris Brooks reposted

Kim Kelly
@kimkelly.bsky.social

Every so often, one of the most infamously abusive men in the American labor movement gets one of his shitty blog posts picked up and the whisper network gets called back into service. Do not engage with Payday Report.

Chris Brooks reposted

Sarah Lazare
@sarahlazare.bsky.social

Detroit News obtained a recording of a call between Shawn Fain and Neil Barofsky, the federal monitor, in which Barofsky criticizes UAW's statement calling for a ceasefire and, among other things, tells Fain to read an NYT column by Bret Stephens.

detroitnews.comPhone call audio sheds new light on tension between UAW's Fain, monitor | ExclusiveUAW President Shawn Fain has pointed to the 2023 phone call as evidence that Barofsky has a "political grudge" against him and is abusing his power.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Detroit News reporting that federally appointed monitor Neil Barofsky called UAW President Shawn Fain to share his personal view that describing Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide crossed the line and was anti-Semitic. Clear abuse of authority. www.detroitnews.com/story/busine...

detroitnews.comPhone call audio sheds new light on tension between UAW's Fain, monitor | ExclusiveUAW President Shawn Fain has pointed to the 2023 phone call as evidence that Barofsky has a "political grudge" against him and is abusing his power.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Extremely gratifying to see all the hard work of rebuilding the UAW into a militant, member-led union over the past few years being not just cheered on, but significantly deepened and expanded by rank-and-file leaders from across the country.

Labor Notes@labornotes.bsky.social

Delegates to the @uaw.org constitutional convention affirmed the aggressive direction the union has taken under President Shawn Fain, who took office in 2023 and immediately set the 400,000-member union on a new path, illustrated in bold campaigns like the Big 3 Strike (link in 🧵)

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

An excellent piece on the AFL’s highly suspect claim that the ranks of unions have grown by over a million workers since 2022. We need more honesty and less cheer leading. More serious strategy and less empty pageantry.

C.M. Lewis 🦬⚔️@thehousered.bsky.social

i wrote a thing about the AFL-CIO's claim to have organized a million workers ahead of schedule h/t to @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social, who was one of those that called BS on the goal when it was set in 2022 thehousered.substack.com/p/are-the-wo...

thehousered.substack.comAre The Workers In The Room With Us?The AFL-CIO claims to have organized a million new workers in three years. Math says differently.

Chris Brooks reposted

ASU Center for Work and Democracy
@cwd-asu.bsky.social

“Employers are not choosing workplace control over the maximization of profits, but seeking to maintain workplace control as the means for maximizing profits” – Vivek Chibber

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

Chris Brooks reposted

dgorganize (he/him)
@dgorganize.bsky.social

Back in my day of Starbucks unionism, the company developed and deployed to all managers an anti-union training called "Creating the Environment"— a huge unreported cost @chactivist.bsky.social is spot on that measures of union-busting expenses are major under estimates jacobin.com/2026/05/unio...

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Highly recommend this exchange on political strategy and climate change by @matthuber.bsky.social — It sharply contrasts socialist strategy-rooted in working-class organization as the key to moving beyond a carbon economy-w/ the issue-focused coalition politics of liberal environmental NGOs

Matt Huber@matthuber.bsky.social

Another response to critics of the NYT piece (this time in @jacobinmag.bsky.social). jacobin.com/2026/05/clim...

jacobin.comThe Key to Climate Action Is Building Working-Class PowerWe can’t address climate change without the working class. Matt Huber argues that an explicit political or rhetorical focus on the climate crisis itself may not be helpful in that effort.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Ironically, this kind of serious, thoughtful autopsy of successful and unsuccessful political approaches is what the Democratic Party and broader non-profit sector desperately needs, but seems incapable of performing (especially relying on beltway consultants)

Chris Brooks reposted

Kevin Sanchez
@captswing.bsky.social

"At least $8 billion annually" gets spent on "internal anti-union infrastructure". "Employers are not confused or irrational. They are acting like a class of people who understand exactly what is at stake." jacobin.com/2026/05/unio... via @chactivist.bsky.social & @jacobinmag.bsky.social

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...

Chris Brooks reposted

Bright D Limm 임대중
@bdlimm.myatproto.social

The chant “When we fight, we win” can hide the daunting fact that employers spend billions a year to maintain robust anti-union infrastructures. To build and maintain the unity of action required to beat it, workers need clarity of purpose, which in turn requires honesty on how stacked the deck is.

Chris Brooks@chactivist.bsky.social

My latest piece for @jacobinmag.bsky.social takes a deep look into how much employers spend on union busting, why they’re willing to spend so much to keep workers from having a voice at work, and how honesty, clarity, and unity are key to winning. jacobin.com/2026/05/unio...

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

My latest. It’s a deep dive into the real cost of unions busting - which possibly runs into the hundreds of billions annually - and why employers are willing to go so far and spend so much to keep workers from having a voice on the job.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

Chris Brooks reposted

Sam Pizzigati
@sgp.bsky.social

America’s top corporate execs are paying enormous piles of billions to maintain internal anti-union operations designed to suppress organizing before it spreads and then intervene once workers start in motion. #labor @chactivist.bsky.social @jacobinmag.bsky.social

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if…
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

The employer class has constructed a command-and-control management structure to maximize profits in a cutthroat market.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.
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Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

The only way workers can win better lives and working conditions for themselves is by organizing. And the only way they can successfully organize is by overcoming the divisions that the boss depends on.

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

To build an organization capable of matching the class power of the bosses, organizers have to match the boss’s propaganda with honesty. We can’t sugarcoat the stakes or what is required of us.

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

The employer class has constructed a command-and-control management structure to maximize profits in a cutthroat market.

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social

A new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if workers can act with clarity, unity, and strategy.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Many nonunion companies have invested heavily in anti-union infrastructure to ensure workers never build a countervailing source of power that could limit management’s unilateral authority and potentially cut into future profits.

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

My latest piece for @jacobinmag.bsky.social takes a deep look into how much employers spend on union busting, why they’re willing to spend so much to keep workers from having a voice at work, and how honesty, clarity, and unity are key to winning. jacobin.com/2026/05/unio...

jacobin.comThe Real Cost of Union Busting Is Much Higher Than You ThinkA new study reveals that employers are spending big to maintain their dictatorial control over the workplace and crush unions. It’s a daunting amount of money, but it’s not impossible to overcome if w...
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Max is the third president elected by Educators for a Democratic Union, a reform caucus that has transformed the Mass Teachers into a militant force for education workers, students, and working class communities.

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Thanks to last decade reform leadership, Mass teachers are now striking for the schools their students deserve (despite it being illegal) & have reformed the state’s constitution to tax incomes of millionaires, producing billions in new revenue for schools & public transportation

Chris Brooks reposted

Chris Maisano
@cgmaisano.bsky.social

🚨LABOR PODCAST CONTENT🚨 What can we learn from the UAW’s efforts to organize in higer ed and manufacturing? @micahuetricht.bsky.social and I talked to @chactivist.bsky.social for @cunyslu.bsky.social’s Reinventing Solidarity to find out on.soundcloud.com/GGU59U6ge3LS...

soundcloud.comEpisode 67 - How Can Workers Win?What can the UAW’s efforts to scale up new organizing efforts teach the rest of the labor movement? Former UAW chief of staff Chris Brooks shares his reflections on organizing in higher education and
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Meta laid off 1/3 of their employees in 2023. Now they’re laying off another 8,000. The media fails to report that Meta made $162 billion in profits over the last 3 years and funneled $86 billion to shareholders through buybacks & dividends. That’s equal to 53% of their profits!

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Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

The amount that these companies are spending on buybacks and dividends while gutting and speeding up, outsourcing and offshoring work (often under the guise of “AI”) should be alarming and damning. Instead it’s just completely ignored by the press.

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Like I recently wrote in @jacobinmag.bsky.social, financialization — the subordination of corporate decision making to the ideology of maximizing shareholder value — is a major driver of extreme inequality and is turning our country into a political powder keg. jacobin.com/2026/04/cali...

jacobin.comWill More Warehouses Burn?A California logistics worker allegedly burned down a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in anger over low pay. The billionaire class may have to learn the hard way: you can only pack so much pressure ...
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Meta laid off 1/3 of their employees in 2023. Now they’re laying off another 8,000. The media fails to report that Meta made $162 billion in profits over the last 3 years and funneled $86 billion to shareholders through buybacks & dividends. That’s equal to 53% of their profits!

Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Nike is also laying off workers & outsourcing jobs. What the media is not reporting: Nike reported $3.2 billion in net income last year but siphoned $5.3 billion—that’s equal to 166% of their profits!—to shareholders through buybacks and dividends.

Chris Brooks reposted

C.M. Lewis 🦬⚔️
@thehousered.bsky.social

is it too soon to say that @chactivist.bsky.social has another 🔥 piece for Jacobin

Jacobin@jacobinmag.bsky.social

A California logistics worker allegedly burned down a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in anger over low pay. The billionaire class may have to learn the hard way: you can only pack so much pressure into a deeply unequal system before it blows.

jacobin.comWill More Warehouses Burn?A California logistics worker allegedly burned down a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in anger over low pay. The billionaire class may have to learn the hard way: you can only pack so much pressure into a deeply unequal system before it blows.
Chris Brooks
@chactivist.bsky.social

Companies like Kimberly-Clark generate billions in profits, then funnel those billions into stock buybacks and dividends for Wall Street while workers in their supply chain can’t cover basic living costs. This story is being played out on a larger scale across the economy.