A01=Abe Walker
American South Labor
Author_Abe Walker
auto workers
Category=JHM
Category=KNX
democratization
election
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Focal Moments
globalization
innovation
Innovation in Unions
knowledge
Labor History
Labor Movement
Labor Organizing Strategies
learning
Marshall Ganz
Momentum-based Organizing
motivation
organization
Organizational Change
organizers
social media
Strategic Capacity
Transnational Solidarity
transnationalism
UAW
Union Democracy
Union Elections
Unionization
unions
United Autoworkers
Volkswagen
Volkswagen Chattanooga
Worker Solidarity
workers
Product details
- ISBN 9781439926413
- Weight: 400g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 20 Feb 2026
- Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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When Volkswagen’s Chattanooga Assembly Plant opened in 2012, the United Auto Workers were excited by the golden opportunity to organize in the anti-union South, where their efforts had been routinely thwarted. However, it took ten years and several attempts before the UAW was successful in unionizing the plant. Reassembling the UAW explains why.
Abe Walker chronicles the organizing campaign from its origin in 2014 to the union’s breakthrough victory in 2024, illustrating what went wrong—and what went right—along the way. Walker provides a systematic analysis of the strategic challenges and tactical shifts, showing the patterns that persisted across three election cycles while highlighting their differences, from global-level alliances to local labor issues.
Reassembling the UAW also demonstrates how rebel rank-and-file workers ousted the old-guard leadership and transformed the UAW into a militant union to achieve results. Ultimately, Walker offers valuable lessons for organizational strategy, the power of collective action, and the future of the labor movement.
Abe Walker chronicles the organizing campaign from its origin in 2014 to the union’s breakthrough victory in 2024, illustrating what went wrong—and what went right—along the way. Walker provides a systematic analysis of the strategic challenges and tactical shifts, showing the patterns that persisted across three election cycles while highlighting their differences, from global-level alliances to local labor issues.
Reassembling the UAW also demonstrates how rebel rank-and-file workers ousted the old-guard leadership and transformed the UAW into a militant union to achieve results. Ultimately, Walker offers valuable lessons for organizational strategy, the power of collective action, and the future of the labor movement.
Abe Walker is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Fayetteville State University.
