Take Back the Power: The Fall and Rise and Fall of NYC’s Transport Workers Union Local 100, 1975-2009

The fifty-year long neoliberal era has been marked by working-class reverses and moribund unions. Grounded in the author’s own experiences as a transit worker participating in a decades-long effort to fight management and austerity economics, Take Back the Power presents a new perspective on what activists can do to revitalize the labor movement. Marc Kagan uses his union’s story to illuminate key dilemmas their efforts face, among them: fight the boss or fight the union to fight the boss; the tension between leadership and participatory democracy; and the costs and benefits of risk aversion. This book encourages us to think introspectively about the choices we make as we attempt to build a better world.