New Books Network Biko Koenig, "Worker Centered: Allyship & Action in the Contemporary Labor Movement" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Mar 11, 2026
Biko Koenig, an ethnographer and assistant professor who co-founded a worker-owned research and organizing firm, discusses a close-up study of a labor campaign at an immigrant, low-wage workplace. He recounts why the campaign failed to win core demands, tensions between ally action and worker leadership, practical organizing tactics, and how media and framing shape collective identity and mobilization.
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Campaign Looked Successful But Lacked Worker Participation
- Biko Koenig recounts a year-and-a-half campaign at the Fishtown Condiment Company where public successes hid near-zero worker participation.
- The CLP won employer meetings and press coverage while often having only one or a handful of active workers for months.
Mobilizing Versus Organizing Determines Risk Willingness
- Distinction between mobilizing and organizing explains the CLP's failure: mobilizing calls in already-committed people, organizing transforms the unengaged.
- CLP treated workers like mobilizable allies rather than people needing long relational work to risk livelihoods.
Business Unionism Feels Like Insurance Not Power
- Business unionism treats unions like insurance, focusing on dues and labor peace rather than collective empowerment.
- The CLP's worker-centric critique argues unions must expand membership and politicize members for broader economic justice.
