What can unions do as the Great Recession ravages workers and their unions and threatens to destroy decades of collective bargaining gains? What must local union leaders do to help their laid-off members, protect those still working, and prevent the gutting of their hard-fought contracts--and their very unions themselves? How, in fact, can local union leaders seize the time and turn crisis into opportunity? Bill Barry, director of labor studies at the Community College of Baltimore County and a 40-year veteran of the movement, calls on his long history of activism and years of "what works, what doesn't" discussions with other leaders to come up with a plan to survive these terrible times and even use this crisis to build a better future. The second edition has been updated with an important chapter addressing the assault on public sector unions.