Before David Williams approaches his fellow Dollar General workers in New Orleans to talk about organizing, he knows the first thing they’ll ask: Are you a union?
He answers with a flat no.
“Once the word union is … out the way, that's when we all get together and come up with a plan and figure out how we [sic] going to fight this,” Williams said.
Dollar stores have expanded across the country and complaints about work conditions and safety have grown with them. Over the past year, workers have been organizing, protesting and striking for better workplaces — fired up by a labor movement that’s led to big union victories at places like Starbucks and Amazon.
But Dollar General workers in Louisiana hope to make change without unionizing. Unions require winning elections and negotiations, which can drag on for years. The word can also be a non-starter when recruiting support, especially in places like the South — a region that’s historically skeptical of unions.
Labor experts say this approach is actually healthy for the labor movement — better to have different groups with separate tactics pushing for workers’ rights than relying just on collective bargaining.
“The flexibility that comes with not being a union is a really valuable tool,” Mary Anne Trasciatti, the director of labor studies at Hofstra University, said.
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