Rest in Power Mike Parker, 1940-2022; author of Democracy Is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up

Mike Parker, the author of four Labor Notes books and a close supporter and key strategist throughout our 43-year history, died January 15 of pancreatic cancer. He will be hugely missed—remembered as a brilliant thinker, a humble and dedicated movement-builder, and a moral compass and mentor to generations of activists. One of Mike’s major contributions was a critical examination of closely linked employer strategies that swept the country in the 1980s and 1990s: lean production, the team concept, and labor-management participation schemes with names like “quality circles” and “quality of work life.” He developed this analysis while working as an electrician and Auto Workers (UAW) member at Chrysler and Ford plants near Detroit. DEMOCRACY IS POWER Mike’s fourth book, Democracy Is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up (1999), co-authored with Labor Notes staffer Martha Gruelle, is a classic that has lately attracted fresh interest from a new generation. (The book is currently out of print, but the PDF is posted on the Labor Notes website where anyone can read and use it for free.) See also: Mike Parker: A Labor Educator with Impact by Steve Early