A tenant union only comes to life through collective action. This is easier said than done! We’ve turned to some examples set by Omaha Tenants United and Los Angeles Tenants Union. Their efforts can be understood in three parts: collective action, shared purpose, and shared struggle.

Collective action

If you’ve ever faced serious issues with your landlord, you’ve probably considered getting a lawyer. Civil court can sometimes be a place where an individual with good connections can have a shot at justice. But if you’re a renter that’s gone toe-to-toe with your landlord in front of a judge, odds are, you didn’t win.

“Tenants, rightfully scared for their future, often defer to lawyers and want explicit guidance as to how to win their cases. This tendency can contradict efforts to build collective power and can keep tenants from seeing themselves as leaders of their own movement,” Los Angeles Tenants Union wrote in a 2018 annual reflection document.

Source: LATU East Hollywood

Instead of pursuing justice in court, tenants in Omaha, Nebraska are turning to Omaha Tenants United.  “Tenants learn very quickly that an attorney isn’t going to do much … often tenants come to us after going to a lawyer first,” said an OTU member and organizer named Seth. Landlords, with abundant money and resources, are favored by judges that side with them as a matter of course. Most tenants can’t even find a lawyer that will take their case.  

Source: Omaha Tenants United

“It’s a cottage industry of rubber-stamping evictions,” Seth said. 

When OTU offers tenants the chance to take collective action with their neighbors, tenants overwhelmingly choose to do so, according to Seth.

FHTU’s tenants lead the process at every level, from helping write the demand letters to sending out phone zaps and picketing the management office. OTU’s organizers remain with them at every step for guidance and support, and to help focus the union’s efforts on working as a collective.

OTU’s goal? To play a role in “reigniting class struggle,” Seth said. 

Shared purpose

The first thing most tenants do when they start organizing is to decide on what they want. This helps clarify what ideas and beliefs the group has, and can include anything from stopping rent hikes, ending hidden fees, or asking for formal lease agreements. At L.A. Tenants Union’s East Hollywood Local, tenants published a list of tenant declarations explaining their mission: to put “an end to all illegal harassment.” 

Source: LATU East Hollywood

At OTU, members are asked to read and agree to their Points of Unity, a short list of principles that clarifies the group’s firm anti-capitalist views.

Seth told TUL, “The way we present our ideas needs to reflect our analysis of broader systems … If all landlords were ‘a nicer guy’ then the tenant problem would be solved.” 

“We want to help people, but we’re not a charity,” Seth said, adding that because landlordism is fundamentally exploitative, OTU intends to build a counter-power to landlords and build tenants’ class-consciousness. 

The rent problem is just one way in which capital keeps working-class people down. Understanding that is a great first step towards working with your neighbors for a better way of life. To find out more, read our Points of Unity [hyperlink to our PoU].

Shared struggle

Shared purpose turns into shared struggle when the group acts as a unified whole. One building that unionized with LATU won a struggle against “rent increases ranging from 40% to 60%” by taking collective action. According to LATU’s organizing handbook, tenants successfully reduced rent hikes to just 3% after they “organized protests, wrote petitions, initiated lawsuits, and spoke out at City and Neighborhood Council meetings.” The experience saw broken relationships repaired between neighbors. Even after winning, tenants stayed organized to continue fighting rent increases.

Their victory was made possible by being united in purpose and action. “She [a tenant and union member] knew that the other members of her tenants association would do the same thing for her,” LATU said. 

OTU’s recent efforts include helping tenants create the Fontenelle Hills Tenant Union, the first tenant union in Nebraska’s history, according to OTU. The union, which is self-governed by residents of Fontenelle Hills Apartments in Bellevue, Nebraska, formed on July 13 after 130 tenants signed a demand letter to their property manager Elevate Living. After being served a threatening letter from the company’s attorney, tenants voted overwhelmingly to “go on the offensive,” according to OTU’s Facebook post.

Source: Omaha Tenants United

The union is led by tenant captains in each building. “This is something I’m doing for me and my neighbors,” tenant captains told Seth, which shows how solidarity can flourish in the face of struggle. Over 95% of the tenants OTU approached about organizing were “super enthusiastic” and “energized,” which shows long-term success is in reach, Seth said. 

We intend to lay the ground-work for the same kind of success. Renting isn’t a temporary problem; TUL is in it for the long haul. If you rent in Lawrence, pick up the right tools for the job.