In one of the most conservative regions of the country, with almost no legal rights for tenants, the Bowen Tower Tenant Union took the ultimate risk- and they won. The tenants were paying the highest rents they had ever paid for the worst conditions they had ever endured. Last year, they decided they had enough. They started organizing, built a majority union, escalated on their California landlord, and ultimately launched a rent strike on October 1. The union withheld their rent for four months, keeping $89,000+ in rent until they got to the bargaining table with their landlord and signed an agreement that allowed them to end the strike in February 2026. The tenants won two-year leases, rent reductions, good cause eviction protections, and a schedule for major repairs by March 2026. All evictions against strikers were dismissed, and all lease non-renewals against strikers were rescinded.

Something’s gotta give. The question is not whether tenants will revolt, the question is whether that revolt will be from a place of desperation or from a place of power. The job of the tenant union is to ensure the latter. The Bowen Tower Tenant Union, a chapter of KC Tenants, offers the latest example of how tenants can flex economic power and win.

Join The Tenant Union Federation on Wednesday April 1 at 3:30 PT / 4:30 MT / 5:30 CT / 6:30 ET to hear from the union leaders and to learn critical lessons on escalation and bargaining.

Learn more: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/ol3WIRVoSceSQZes6Bzjug#/registration