These are the key questions Stephen Lerner addresses in his article.
Civil disobedience can work only if and when the union movement articulates a clear mission.
However, I think his focus on direct action as the best way to achieve this goal is mistaken. It is mistaken for two basic reasons. Indeed, in an economy that is as differentiated as ours, it is difficult to imagine that any single tactic, be it cooperativist or militant, would always and everywhere work. This was the real lesson of the 1930s. The United Steelworkers also employed a legal strategy to challenge the autonomy of many independent locals and force them to amalgamate.