• Contact

  • Newsletter

  • About us

  • Delivery options

  • Prospero Book Market Podcast

  • Worker Centered: Allyship & Action in the Contemporary Labor Movement

    Worker Centered by Koenig, Biko;

    Allyship & Action in the Contemporary Labor Movement

      • GET 10% OFF

      • The discount is only available for 'Alert of Favourite Topics' newsletter recipients.
      • Publisher's listprice GBP 18.99
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        8 573 Ft (8 165 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 10% (cc. 857 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 7 716 Ft (7 349 Ft + 5% VAT)

    8 573 Ft

    db

    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher OUP USA
    • Date of Publication 20 August 2025

    • ISBN 9780197784907
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages208 pages
    • Size 235x156x15 mm
    • Weight 277 g
    • Language English
    • 614

    Categories

    Short description:

    Worker Centered is a close-to-the-ground, ethnographic narrative of a workplace organizing campaign at a company whose workforce was primarily low wage and immigrant. The book details the overall strategy of the campaign and its ultimate failure to win its core demands. The organization used an innovative strategic model and insisted on the importance of worker leadership. And yet allies and staff participated in a campaign that, although continually framed as such, was decidedly not led by workers. Ultimately, Worker Centered challenges conventional notions of political representation, inviting reflection on the complexities of organizing the marginalized and speaking on their behalf.

    More

    Long description:

    Progressive political organizing faces a chicken-and-egg predicament. On the one hand, those who are most impacted by a circumstance should be the ones identifying problems and developing solutions. On the other hand, simply being a worker does not make one a unionist or anti-capitalist. When activists are moved to address the perceived injustices that other groups experience, they can get caught in a strong tension between their professed ethic of bottom-up leadership and their desire to change the status quo.

    Worker Centered is a close-to-the-ground, ethnographic narrative of a workplace organizing campaign at a company whose workforce was primarily low wage and immigrant. The book details the overall strategy of the campaign and its ultimate failure to win its core demands. The organization used an innovative strategic model and insisted on the importance of worker leadership. And yet allies and staff participated in a campaign that, although continually framed as such, was decidedly not led by workers. In crucial ways, the mere idea of a worker-led union acted as the interpretive frame that stitched the entire enterprise together. Ultimately, Worker Centered challenges conventional notions of political representation, inviting reflection on the complexities of organizing the marginalized and speaking on their behalf.

    A powerful insider's account of a failed unionization effort that beautifully exposes the contradictions and dilemmas facing progressives committed to worker-led organizing.

    More

    Table of Contents:

    Preface, On Movement Critique
    Acknowledgements
    Chapter 1 - Strategy, Power, and Worker Leadership
    Chapter 2 - The History and Organizing Model of the Clara Lemlich Project
    Chapter 3 - The FCC Campaign
    Chapter 4 - "We're Getting Our Asses Kicked!"
    Chapter 5 - Performing Worker Leadership
    Chapter 6 - "It's good to be back out in the streets."
    Chapter 7 - The Meeting & The Aftermath
    Conclusion - A Courageous Experiment

    More
    0