Many of us know that rebuilding the labor movement is absolutely essential for winning a better world. But that’s a kind of dry, intellectual point. Unless you’ve been a part of a union drive yourself, you probably don’t know much about how such a drive looks and feels, and how it affects and transforms the workers and organizers who are carrying it out.

In her memoir On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union, veteran union organizer Daisy Pitkin recounts the tale of her first organizing campaign, at an industrial laundry in Phoenix, Arizona. The story ranges from thrilling to bruising to heartbreaking to triumphant, on top of recounting the nuts and bolts of organizing itself.

Pitkin spoke with Jacobin editor Micah Uetricht about the book in a guest-hosted episode of our podcast the Dig. You can listen to the episode here. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.