A tenant union is a group of renters who join together to negotiate with their landlord on issues they care about. Tenants in a union work together to make sure their rights are respected and gain positive change in their leases and living conditions.

How do you do this?

You reach out to other tenants under your landlord and talk about the issues you and your neighbors have with your landlord and building. Together you decide on the most important issues. You and your neighbors continue to talk with each other and build a network of support. This network is the union. The goal of the union is to put pressure on your landlord until they are forced to negotiate with you.

Your union grows and wins change in the issues you prioritized through different actions. Actions are things like signing a petition, putting on a rally, or holding a rent strike. As your union grows larger and more committed you can use riskier actions that put more and more pressure on your landlord.

What does CTU do?

The Cincinnati Tenants Union (CTU) is composed of tenants from your own union, unions under other landlords, and volunteers. Many of your fellow members are experienced and have won new leases already. You can find help planning how you will build up your union and support for carrying out actions and events from these members. If you want to ask more questions or need support you can reach out to experienced union members through the Contact Us page or the email and phone number at the bottom of the page.

1. Based on training materials produced by Organizing for Power ↩︎