So, you’re sitting around at work, and everyone is complaining about the low pay, the lousy health insurance and the erratic scheduling that disrupts your personal life. You can do one of three things in response: do nothing and keep complaining; quit your job and hope to find a better one (unlikely in this non-union world) or collectively start to organize to take control of your workplace.
Talking to your coworkers about how a union can change these conditions is how a campaign starts—so it’s important to go about it strategically.
IT STARTS WITH LISTENING
First, you must understand that the most important word in organizing is spelled L-I-S-T-E-N. Let your coworkers vent, be a reliable person to lean on, and try to get a sense of what their campaign priorities could be.
Then you have to share your experiences with unions to illustrate how much better things can be. If you have been a union member, tell them about your good experiences, and don’t shy away from controversial topics (like paying union dues.) If you are new to organizing, look at union contracts and talk with members so you understand how a union functions every day in a workplace.
Knowing a union contract is so important for organizing because you can show your coworkers specifically how their complaints would be addressed and their working conditions improved by a good contract. It is essential to understand that a union contract is not just about money—although Money Talks—but about the many day-to-day conditions at work that bother, or threaten, all of us.
The most important clause in a union contract is The Recognition Clause, usually the first one in a contract. That gives the union the right to negotiate over wages, hours and—the magic phase— “terms and conditions of employment.” This gives you and your coworkers the right to challenge anything in, around or related to the workplace.
Look through a contract to find examples that would address the specific conditions your coworkers are angry about. Clauses on guaranteed hours and scheduling, on non-discrimination, on seniority as an objective standard for promotion, will eliminate many of the abuses in your workplace.
A significant clause of the contract should give the union the right to negotiate over health and safety conditions. During COVID, we saw the failure of employers to take necessary steps to protect the health of the workers. When you have a union, you can do it.
ESCALATING CAMPAIGNS
As your coworkers complain, you must patiently urge them to take action to protect themselves. Complaining alone won’t improve your conditions on the job, and the first step of a campaign is to emphasize this point. It can be a major challenge, as standing up for your rights on the job can be intimidating, so keep pushing a positive approach.
Your slogan should be that we can all stay the way we are, or we can take steps together to make the change.
If your coworkers begin to see the importance of organizing, you can start some internal campaigns—a petition for safety improvements, or for a schedule change. Getting your coworkers to sign the petition will give you the chance to talk with each of them about their priorities, and eventually about the importance of having a union. As you gather support, stress that this campaign will not be easy, it will take time and commitment, but the result will be an enormous change in your workplace.
You now have to make a decision about which union to try to join. You can evaluate the advantages of organizing an independent union against joining an existing one in your area.
In either case, you have to be proactive—make the campaign a priority every day you go to work. Look for opportunities to talk with your co-workers and know what a union is so you can propose organizing as an alternative to working in hell.
Bill Barry’s “From First Contact To First Contract: A Union Organizer’s Handbook” has just been re-released. It is available through Labor’s Bookstore.
