About Our Branch
What is the IWW?
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a labor union for all workers. The union is run by its members and focuses on building class solidarity through worker-led industrial organizing.
Members of the IWW sometimes call themselves "Wobblies."
What is industrial organizing?
Industrial organizing means all workers in the same industry operate under one big union, rather than each trade in an industry unionizing separately. "Industrial" doesn't strictly refer to work in manufacturing or the heavy industry sector.
Examples of industries recognized by the IWW and represented among our local membership include:
Food Product Workers (IU 460): most workers involved in the production and distribution of food (except agricultural workers, fishery workers, and restaurant/catering workers, who organize under different industrial branches).
Health Service Workers (IU 610): all workers in hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, medical research labs, nursing homes, patients' homes, etc. who provide healthcare-related services.
Education and Research Workers (IU 620): all workers in educational institutions or research settings, and workers who provide education-related services, including teachers, teaching assistants, school bus drivers, museum workers, and even students without primary employment in another industry.
Restaurant, Hotel, and Catering Workers (IU 640): most workers involved in food service and hospitality.
Retail Workers (IU 660): all workers in retail establishments, except where otherwise organized.
Who can join the IWW?
Any worker can join the IWW. The IWW does not apply the term "worker" only to factory workers, manual laborers, and wage laborers. If you're unemployed, retired, a full-time student, a homemaker, or disabled, you still count as a worker.
Every member of the IWW pays monthly dues. The amount each member pays depends on their income:
Maximum dues: $33. For members who make $3,500+ per month.
Regular dues: $22. For members who make between $2,000-$3,500 per month.
Minimum dues: $11. For members who make less than $2,000 per month.
Sub-minimum dues: $6. For members in economic circumstances that prevent them from paying minimum dues.
No matter how much you pay in dues, you get full membership as long as you're paid up within two months of the current date.
What is the North Texas IWW?
The North Texas IWW is a General Membership Branch of the IWW. We operate in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Any at-large IWW member who lives within 50 miles of Dallas may associate themselves with the North Texas IWW.
We began organizing in early 2020 with a small group of at-large members. Our goal was to establish a presence for the IWW in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Since then, we've built a local community around the shared desire for workplace democracy, hosted occasional Organizer Trainings with the help of the IWW's Organizing Department, and sought a General Membership Branch charter for official recognition by the IWW's General Executive Board. We got that charter in February 2022!
Now that we have a charter and over 100 at-large members in DFW, we can establish Job Branches. Soon we'll be able to financially support local collective action with funding from dues (at no extra cost to our members).
If you're an at-large member in DFW who hasn't associated with our branch, you may have gotten an email from us already. If not, we want to hear from you!