Starting from Scratch Building Community Support for Labor Organizing in Indianapolis

Abstract

This study compares how two union organizing campaigns have attempted to mobilize community support by examining the opportunity structure for organizing in Indianapolis, comparing the community outreach efforts of the two campaigns, and assessing their effectiveness in matching their strategies to local conditions. Although some suggest that the “L.A. model” of creating powerful labor-community coalitions is replicable in other cities, important differences in the local opportunity structure force organizers to “start from scratch” and improvise innovative strategies in cities like Indianapolis that lack a strong social justice infrastructure.