“It Felt Like Community”: Social Movement Unionism and the Chicago Teachers Union Strike of 2012

In this article Tom Alter analyzes the Chicago Teachers Union Strike of September 2012. He views the strike as a return to social movement unionism reminiscent of the unionism developed during the 1930s and argues that for today's labor movement to survive it must return to such social movement unionism, leaving behind the business union model that has guided the labor movement in the United States since the 1950s.