Bill Barry

Bill Barry is a veteran union organizer, labor educator, historian, and author whose career has been devoted to strengthening the labor movement and educating workers and union leaders. Originally a member of the Carpenters Union, Barry spent roughly 24–25 years as a union organizer, working as a field organizer and administrative officer for major unions across the United States.

From 1997 to 2012, Barry served as Director of Labor Studies at the Community College of Baltimore County–Dundalk, where he taught subjects including union organizing, leadership, labor law, and political action. He also helped develop continuing-education workshops for union members and officers, covering areas such as public speaking, workers' compensation, technology, and officer training.

Barry has written extensively about organizing, union leadership, labor history, and strategies for building worker power. His books include I Just Got Elected—Now What? A New Union Officer's Handbook, Union Strategies for Hard Times, and From First Contact to First Contract: A Union Organizer's Handbook. The latter guides organizers through the full course of a union campaign, from initial organizing and worker outreach through winning a first collective-bargaining agreement.

Although retired from academia and professional organizing, Barry has remained active in labor education and organizing. He has volunteered with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) to assist workers with organizing campaigns and continues to write about labor strategy. He is also involved in preserving workers' history in Maryland and launched the Maryland250 Labor History project in 2025, which documents and promotes the state's labor heritage.