A great book is No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey[1]. She specifically goes over history, organizing tactics, analysis about why some unions succeed vs others that don't, as well as how to transition from a bad/no union to one that is representative. Each have examples of recent strikes and efforts in the last decade.
Here's a quote that jumped out at me.
> According to Buffkin's congressional testimony, it was the [Smithfield Foods'] intent to replace blacks with Latinos with two objectives in mind: to keep the workforce divided through both instigation of racial conflict and overt segregation, and to create an undocumented immigrant workforce that the employer believed they could more easily control.
> [Key to success was] first earning legitimacy with each major constituency in the plant, and then bridging the divisions between them, creating unity and solidarity despite the extraordinary efforts by the boss to systematically pit worker against worker.
Just want to second this. It's a great read and McAlevy is a smart and experienced strategist and scholar. You can find her talking about her ideas in old episodes of the New York radio show Behind the News, all of which are online.
Jacobin magazine, In These Times, Labor Notes and other publications like that cover contemporary union movements thoroughly, and it's pretty much light reading imo.
I'd really like a good book on the legal basis and evolution of unions in different countries. My sense is that there's a lot about US versus, say, Danish unions that works differently and Japanese unions are generally specific to a given company making them something else again.
There isn't anything really neutral to recommend. People are pretty adamant about "the right way". Start with ABCs of Socialism[0] and take a look at the texts they recommend. You'll have to come to your own conclusion about what you like and dislike about what it says.
The problem with this stuff is that the left is extremely sectarian so I might have someone jumping down my throat for recommending something published by Jacobin.
I really liked that series! While you can get into sectarian arguments and Jacobin is electoralist, the ABCs series is wonderful for someone new to this material imo.
Unions are a hot-fix to problems with capitalism, but they are also something greater: the seed of a more democratic society that should be nourished and grown.
I dunno why you are down voted. It seems that many people see the word communist and have an emotional reaction. If you take the time to read this masterpiece you will soon realise that Marx knew more about capitalism than most of us who live it.
Here's a quote that jumped out at me.
> According to Buffkin's congressional testimony, it was the [Smithfield Foods'] intent to replace blacks with Latinos with two objectives in mind: to keep the workforce divided through both instigation of racial conflict and overt segregation, and to create an undocumented immigrant workforce that the employer believed they could more easily control.
> [Key to success was] first earning legitimacy with each major constituency in the plant, and then bridging the divisions between them, creating unity and solidarity despite the extraordinary efforts by the boss to systematically pit worker against worker.
[1]: https://janemcalevey.com/book/no-shortcuts-organizing-for-po...