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The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century Paperback – April 15, 2022

by Erica Smiley (Author), Sarita Gupta (Author), DeMaurice F. Smith (Foreword)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
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In The Future We Need, Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta bring a novel perspective to building worker power and what labor organizing could look like in the future, suggesting ways to evolve collective bargaining to match the needs of modern people―not only changing their wages and working conditions, but being able to govern over more aspects of their lives.

Weaving together stories of real working people, Smiley and Gupta position the struggle to build collective bargaining power as a central element in the effort to build a healthy democracy and explore both existing levers of power and new ones we must build for workers to have the ability to negotiate in today and tomorrow's contexts. The Future We Need illustrates the necessity of centralizing the fight against white supremacy and gender discrimination, while offering paths forward to harness the power of collective bargaining in every area for a new era.

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  1. Print length
    276 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    ILR Press
  4. Publication date
    April 15, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1501764829
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1501764820
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

"Pick up Smilery and Gupta's book to spark new ideas on what is possible for the working class."

A new framework for collective bargaining to empower our country's workers

Woven with stories of real working people

The labor movement's way forward, centralizing the fight against white supremacy and discrimination

Editorial Reviews

Review

In The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the 21st Century, Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta deliver a transformative vision for the future of workers, along with innovative strategies to build an economy that works for everyone. This is essential reading for everyone turning toward state and local work after bouncing off the neoliberal ceiling of the Biden Administration and a divided Congress, and now reeling from the hard right majority Supreme Court and their spate of backward rulings.

― Social Policy

This book shows how to begin to think of conditions in society not simply as issues, but as systemically connected parts of a whole.... pick up Smiley and Gupta's book to spark new ideas and perspectives on what is possible―and needed―now for the working class.

― People's World

[The Future We Need] functions as an accessible device for individuals working within unjust labor complexes, and in examining the failings of the past, looks forward.

― WABE

The Future We Need reveals for scholars and lay people alike the many ways that we are part of a lineage of working people who dreamed of and fought for a democracy that has real meaning in our daily lives. The authors provide a blueprint for a future in which ordinary people practice democracy every day in all aspects of their lives, a vision that surpasses simply voting but encourages collective governance. I assert that The Future We Need will be the go-to text for labor educators, organizers, and scholars alike.

― ILR Review

Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta's new book The Future We Need makes a significant and original contribution. What is exciting [about the book] is not so much its familiar litany of organized labor's difficulties as the creativity of the solutions it proposes. Smiley and Gupta's analysis and prescription point the way forward.

― Dissent Magazine

[Smiley and Gupta] challenge the real powers in the economy on issues that affect not only the workplace but also family and community life.

― New Labor Forum

Review

A really thoughtful and creative mix of labor history, analysis of current policies and institutions, and wonderful personal stories―including their own. I can't recall ever seeing a book like this in our field. The Future We Need is a powerful statement about what we need to do, and can do, to shape a better future for all.

-- Thomas Anton Kochan, George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management at MIT

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ILR Press (April 15, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 276 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501764829
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501764820
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Smiley, Erica

    Smiley, Erica

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Erica Smiley is the executive director of Jobs With Justice (JWJ). A long-time organizer and movement

    leader, Smiley has been spearheading strategic organizing and policy interventions for Jobs With Justice for

    nearly 15 years. Prior to taking up her current position with the organization, Smiley served as organizing

    director for Jobs With Justice developing campaigns that resulted in transformative changes to how

    working people organize and are civically engaged at their workplaces and in their communities. Before

    joining Jobs With Justice, Smiley organized with community groups and unions such as the Tenants and

    Workers Support Committee (now Tenants and Workers United) in Virginia and SEIU Local 500 in Baltimore.

    Her career in social and economic justice began in the reproductive justice field, serving as national field

    director for Choice USA (now United for Reproductive and Gender Equity—URGE) where she received the

    Young Women of Achievement Award in 2004.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Sarita Gupta

    Sarita Gupta

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Sarita Gupta is vice president of U.S. programs at Ford Foundation, overseeing the foundation’s domestic work including Civic Engagement and Government, Creativity and Free Expression, Future of Work(ers), Technology and Society, Disability Rights, and Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice. Gupta previously served as executive director of Jobs With Justice, a leader in the fight for workers’ rights that shapes the public discourse on every front to build power for working people and create an economy that benefits everyone. There, she led a network of 30+ labor and community coalitions that changed the conversation and moved multiple voices, from labor to faith, into action. She has been on the frontlines of organizing and policy campaigns to boost wages, worker voice, and working conditions for all working people and improve labor and civil rights protections for immigrant men and women. Gupta has received a number of awards and accolades, including the National Women’s Law Center Annual Leadership Award, the Francis Perkins Open Door Award, Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Achievement Award, and Corporate Ethics International’s BENNY Award.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book inspiring and insightful. They say it's a compelling personal and political examination of the struggles for economic justice. Readers also appreciate the personal stories from people in the US and the clear picture it paints.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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InspirationNarrative quality
4 customers mention "Inspiration"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and compelling. They say it's a much-needed dose of inspiration and hope in these times.

"...A much-needed dose of inspiration and hope in these times!" Read more

"...This book - and these amazing tranformative leaders - were made for this moment...." Read more

"Smiley and Gupta have written a compelling personal and political examination of the struggles for economic justice in the contemporary USA...." Read more

"critical and insightful..." Read more

3 customers mention "Narrative quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the narrative compelling and readable. They say it includes stories of many recent victories for working people. Readers also mention the book provides an excellent personal and political look at the struggle for economic justice.

"...weave the real-life stories of people in the US into a compelling and readable narrative that paints a clear picture about how strengthening workers..." Read more

"...Boom. I'm on board. And the book is written with so many personal stories from people who are already on this path, everyday folks organizing..." Read more

"An excellent personal & political look at the struggle for economic justice..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

I T
5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read if you care about democracy!
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it. One of the best parts of the book is that it includes the stories of many recent victories for working people and families that may not have made the front pages, but need to be shared and told and retold. The authors weave the real-life stories of people in the US into a compelling and readable narrative that paints a clear picture about how strengthening workers' power on the job is the key to solving so many of the problems facing all of us in this country. A much-needed dose of inspiration and hope in these times!
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Mary Beth Maxwell
5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS BOOK!
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
Smiley and Sarita have been in the trenches for years doing the work, walking the walk - and now this brilliant book talking the talk in a whole new way. This book - and these amazing tranformative leaders - were made for this moment. Spurred by the pandemic, grotesque corporate greed and the murder of George Floyd, workers are on fire in this country and the last few decades of experimentation of worker centers, unions, community coalitions and innovative new organizing models are exactly what to study - knowing that it is all about forging a new path and listening deeply to the wisdom of workers. That's what The Future We Need offers. A must read for anyone excited about this emerging new chapter in worker organizing and building multi-racial democracy that works for all of us. (and Amazon I dare you to mess with the ratings on this book the way you mess with your workers organizing unions...)
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Rishi Awatramani
5.0 out of 5 stars The book we needed and didn't even know it
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
What a fantastic read! So many books out there give us prescriptions for how elites can rescue us from a slide into authoritarianism, but these authors give us a way more realistic path: organize with our peers at work and in our neighborhoods, use our collective power to remake our workplaces and the economy, and save and expand true democracy as a result! Boom. I'm on board. And the book is written with so many personal stories from people who are already on this path, everyday folks organizing themselves and their coworkers. So glad I got my hands on this book.
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Bill Fletcher Jr
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent personal & political look at the struggle for economic justice
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
Smiley and Gupta have written a compelling personal and political examination of the struggles for economic justice in the contemporary USA. What is striking is the combination of sound analysis of the larger situation linked to the stories of struggles as articulated by the actual participants and leaders of the battles for social and economic justice. "The Future We Need" is not about a dream but is about developing paths towards the undiscovered country--the future.
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Jacob Horwitz
5.0 out of 5 stars critical and insightful
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a beautiful book that lifts the stories of key fights in our labor movement and looks deeply at intersectional organizing to chart a path forward to victory. We're introduced to inspiring worker leaders and offered lessons from the ground on how to reshape the economy and the world.

Read this book!
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JEP
5.0 out of 5 stars the book we need!
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book is excellent. Anyone who interested in labor history, political science, social movements, workers' rights, public policy, organizing, impacts of globalization, the impacts of capitalism, legal protections for workers, collective bargaining, and the power of storytelling/lived experiences to change the world should buy this book!
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N. Demsas
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
This is such a well-written and powerful book written by two brilliant folks in the labor movement. The book does such a great job of connecting so many of the struggles we face as a society that is an affront to a healthy, thriving democracy that works for us all. The book will broaden your perspective and highlight the story of building worker power in different organizing efforts. The stories shared are powerful and give us a glimpse into what is possible when workers have agency, dignity, and joy in their lives. Thank you, Smiley and Sarita, for writing this powerful book. I'm buying for everyone I know!
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Emily Griffin
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2022
The concept of economic democracy was new to me but it makes sense. Political democracy is an ideal that we as Americans strive to live up to, but I’ve never made that connection to other forms of social arrangements. Definitely want to read more on this but liked what I read a lot.
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