Builders in unlikely solidarity

September 8, 2024 10:07 PM

"Semenov had never belonged to a labor union before coming to Sweden. Now, he sits on the board of the country’s most rapidly growing and undoubtedly most unique labor union: Builders in Solidarity. Founded in 2021, it unites migrant construction workers, most of whom hail from post-Soviet countries and have no previous labor organizing experience." A story from The Beet, Meduza's newsletter on Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
posted by malilan (3 comments total)

Cool post and inspiring story. Had not heard of this militant, anarchist union before.
posted by latkes at 12:16 AM on September 9 [2 favorites]

Can there be any thing more damning about the "Soviet" empire than the way these guys had to reinvent bottom up organizing from scratch? The word "soviet" referred originally to the workers councils that were forming in the late 19th century.
posted by ocschwar at 5:35 AM on September 9 [6 favorites]

yeah I thought in 'Soviet Union, Soviet Union Unionizes you' . . . that was the whole point of the enterprise . . . guess they threw the baby out with the bath water in the 1990s
posted by torokunai at 6:10 AM on September 9