This curriculum has been divided into three “semesters.” Feel free to go through these at your own pace, or jump directly to the topics that your feel are most useful for you. The semesters are: Spring: Fight the FOP Power!, Summer: Building With Labor, and Fall: Just Transition.

Semester One — Spring

Fight the FOP Power!

Police Fraternal Organizations (also known as police “unions”) have a profound effect on safety in our communities in the U.S. and globally — by protecting and defending the violence of policing, by negotiating contracts that tie governments to spending the lions’ share of our collective resources on cops, by shaping our collective imaginations around violence and safety and the necessity of policing, through financial and political influence over politicians, and by supporting, collaborating and training with and supporting armies and police around the world, including the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).  This semester we are inviting you to learn more about PFOs and how people are organizing to reduce their power, influence, and resources!

READ:

  • An Introduction to Police Fraternal Organizations by Andrea J. Ritchie — this primer provides the basics about what they are, and how they contribute to and enable gender-based violence

  • Fight the (FOP) Power! by Andrea J. Ritchie and Maurice B-P Weeks — this in-depth toolkit offers a playbook for organizers who want to reduce the power and influence of police frats!

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

  • How are police fraternal organizations shaping conversations about public safety in your community?

  • How do police contracts shape resource distribution in your community?

  • How else are police exercising political power in your community? Nationally? Globally?

  • But we are pro-labor! How can we distinguish between police fraternal organizations and public sector unions in our organizing and messaging?

  • What is the current status of the police contracts in your community?

  • Which of the suggested strategies in the playbook have you tried? Which are you interested in trying?

    • Use the playbook to assess current conditions in your community with respect to that strategy. Where are the opportunities?What challenges might you face in implementing it?

Want to talk about how police frats stand in the way of your organizing goals and how you can target them? Have questions about these questions? Sign up for Labor and Abolition office hours!

Semester Two — (Hot Labor) Summer

Building With Labor

Labor organizations can play a critical role in any campaign - they wield political power, engage and mobilize their membership, and can contribute resources and people power toward shared goals. How are you building relationships with labor in your community?

How are you going to help make this a hot labor summer? What opportunities do you see to support workers seeking better working conditions? How can you support labor organizations in bargaining beyond better wages toward better communities?

READ:

WATCH:

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

  • What resonates with you from these strategies and conversations? Where do you see opportunities to engage labor in similar ways?

  • Which groups of workers are directly impacted by spiraling police budgets? By police violence? How can you begin to build relationships with them?

  • What demands/campaigns can you imagine building solidarity with labor around?

  • Where do you see obstacles to building with labor to support abolitionist organizing? How might you overcome them?

  • Which public sector worker contracts are up for negotiation in the next one to two years? 

    • How can you support public sector workers in pushing for their demands? 

    • How can you highlight how police budgets and contracts stand in the way of them?

  • Which of your campaign demands could potentially be the subject of bargaining?

  • How can you begin conversations about bargaining for the common good with your local unions? Your local labor council?

Stuck? Wondering where to start? Sign up for Labor and Abolition office hours!

Semester Three — Fall

Just Transition

What does a just transition to a non-carceral economy look like? How can you start conversations about it in your community? Who needs to be at the table? Where can you start the conversation?

READ:

WATCH:

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

  • What would a just transition look like in your community? 

    • Which communities and industries are reliant on policing, prisons, detention, surveillance and control? 

    • What needs to be built to create safer, more thriving communities? 

    • How can you start conversations across organizations and movements in your community about a just transition framework?

Wondering where to start? Sign up for Labor and Abolition office hours!