The death of union organizer and strategist Jane McAlevey has prompted tributes to her passionate organzing training and guidance to pour in from around the world. I immediately heard from two German comrades who emailed in from their parental leave in Norway: ”The union movement around the globe lost such an inspiring person. Luckily so many people got to learn from her and she was able to change many things in the union institutionally. Our union work we do would be very different and much less successful if it wasn’t for her. Also, just for Germany speaking, we know she got a lot of young people motivated to join the union movement. Therefore we are very grateful and glad that we had her as a comrade.” ^[1]

The beautiful obituary in the NYT by Margot Roosevelt captures the twists and turns of Jane’s life and her contributions to organizing theory and practice. What is striking is that Roosevelt mentions that she interviewed Jane for the obituary in November of last year. I guess this is a common practice for obit writers to hook up with potential important subjects who they consider to be close to death. But it is also indicative of the fact that Jane courageously battled cancer for a long time confounding the judgments of her doctors who gave her a short lifespan, which they had to constantly modify as Jane kept keeping on, and continued to do trainings in person, on Zoom and appearing in a memorable Democracy Now radio show in April.

The little “c” in McAlevey stood for big time courage! 

One side of Jane that I got to know was her passion for sports and the Oakland Raiders. We debated and reran the 2004 Patriot AFC championship victory over the Raiders in the Foxboro snow bowl. She called Patriots coach Bill Belichick, “Cheatacheck” for instructing the snow blowers to clear a clear path for Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri to hit the winning field goal.

Jane was a jock and that stood her well in the union-organizing world that is still often dominated by a very macho culture. Many men bristled at Jane’s rough edges and found her aggressive tone and stance “difficult” and “not very nice.”

Jane was an avid recreational cyclist and started a riding club during her stint in Connecticut called “Hammer and Cycle.” My son and I rode the Marin Century with her in 2012. This is a 100-kilometer recreational road race in Marin County north of San Francisco where Jane was living. Jane kept up a running conversation throughout the rigorous ride. But the topper was at the end when she mixed up some margaritas and served them up to dehydrated riders. I got so looped I couldn’t drive back to San Francisco.

Jane was never at a loss for words or discussion of sports, politics and of course organizing. In 1996 when I was working on the Los Angeles Manufacturing Action Project, a multi union organizing project with some kinship with Jane’s Stamford Connecticut Project, we rode down to Asilomar on the Monterrey Peninsula together for a training she was doing for SEIU Local 250. I rode with her and a friend. My friend was not accustomed to Jane’s non-stop conversation, and when we stopped to fill up the car with gas he got out of the car to get some relief from Jane’s monologue. Jane was undaunted. She promptly got out of the car and joined me at the pump and continued on with her topic.

My last direct phone conversation with Jane was in 2022 when she was working with Amazon workers at the newly organized Staten Island facility helping them steel themselves for the company’s post election onslaught and preparing them to organize actions to win a first contact. She told me that she had been riding across the GW Bridge towards New Jersey and that she had a flat tire. How was she going to get home? She remembered that a Staten Island worker, a leader of the committee, lived in New Jersey. She also remembered he had a car big enough to transport her bike. She called him up and asked for a ride to Manhattan. He showed up, picked her up with the disabled bike and they argued organizing all the way to her apartment.

Jane was very loyal to her friends and valued friendship and rewarded it with margaritas and more. Her teachings will live on in her books, countless writings, Zooms, Videos and the deeds of her trainees. She was a formidable force and loyal comrade. I will miss her.

Bike on Jane!

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^[1] Hannah Nesswetter and Hauke Oelschlagel from the DGB, an umbrella union federation of 5.7 million members

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