Leicestershire Industrial Workers of the World

Frequently Asked Questions

Isn't the IWW just for factory workers?
Every worker is an industrial worker, whether the industry they work in be steel, health care, tourism, education or finance. If you earn your living by working with your hands or brain, then you're welcome to join us. The IWW is a trans-national union with members in many countries. It is independent of all political parties and seeks to organise all workers into a single strong union.

The IWW has historically organised those workers that the traditional unions have shunned. In the past that meant immigrants, women and unskilled labourers. Today we also find the IWW organising the employed and unemployed, housewives, students and prisoners, those in the black economy and the self employed.

Can the IWW help me to improve the wages or working conditions at my current job?
That depends on you. The IWW does not provide an all knowing leadership or hefty treasury to fight your battles for you. But if youre willing to organise where you work by talking with your colleagues about the issues that matter to them, then you can count on the support of IWW members to lend their full support to your struggle.

Individuals can do little by themselves and are likely to be sacked if they raise a lone voice in protest, but by joining together in a union such as the IWW, workers are far more powerful when confronting the boss about any workplace problem.

What our union essentially does is to provide tangible low cost resources such as legal and organising advice, information and bodies on a picket line if necessary. You will not get union leaders in shiny suits telling you how to run your struggle or affairs. What we do promise is friendship, support and solidarity.

The union is able to call on the knowledge and experience of many members who are or have been active in trade unions and therefore have experience of union activity. We have members who can give advice on special issues such as health and safety and we have access to the most up to date information available in a variety of areas including employment law, your rights (such as they are) and the best way to defend yourselves or exact revenge.

Can members of other unions join the IWW?
Yes. Many IWW members are also members of other unions. They are women and men who form the fighting heart of such unions; rank and filers who strive to make their unions yield returns for the membership and not completely degenerate into docile pacifiers serving the boss.

Such workers have joined the IWW because they want to build a union stronger, more fearless, more honest, than the unions dominant today. Such a union must, in the end, match the unity of the employers with the greater unity of the workers, match the power of the employing class with the greater power of the working class. That union is the one big union of the IWW.

Is the IWW connected to any political party?
The IWW is a union, not a political party. We believe that economic justice must be achieved through social and economic struggle, whether it be with our boss or landlord.

The IWW has successfully resisted attempts by various left parties to make the union a mere adjunct to their political ambitions. By refusing to endorse one party or another, the IWW has avoided the sectarian feuding that can easily destroy a group.

Nevertheless, many of the founders of the IWW were also active in socialist politics. While some IWW members consider themselves anarchists and shun all electoral activity, many of our members are active in a variety of political parties and movements. Other members are simply militant unionists who would disavow all labels. Our commitment to industrial democracy and the abolition of capitalism makes us a left organisation more through default than design.

What is the IWWs ultimate goal?
Our goal is to achieve industrial democracy, where all workplaces are run democratically by the people who work in them. No longer will our lives be ruled by employers and speculators who are only interested in obtaining a profit for themselves.

Industrial democracy does not mean that the IWW itself will run industry, for industry will be run directly by the people working in it. IWW methods, tactics and ways of organising are simply the means of winning control of industry from our employers.

Democratically run industry will lead to a more just and equitable distribution of wealth. The days of workers slaving away for a minimum wage to enrich someone else will be history.