The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is an organizing project of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE Union). Our mission is to support any worker, in any industry, to connect with their coworkers and win lasting change in their workplace.
To do this, we connect workers with volunteer organizers and offer workplace organizing training sessions for workers and volunteers. As a national organizing project, we do most of this work virtually, but local EWOC groups can take this model and make it into something that happens in person in local communities.
This is very much up to the group, but EWOC recommends six tasks.
Reach out to [email protected] and ask for a meeting with someone who can walk you through the steps.
A lead organizer is someone who can take on EWOC cases. There might already be people in your community who are already signed up as EWOC organizers. If there are, contact them and ask if they’d like to act as leads; if there aren’t, find someone who’s been organizing workers for more than two years and ask them to sign up as an EWOC volunteer.
What is a local EWOC group lead? They’re someone who will be assigned campaigns that come in from your local area. They should be willing to act as a mentor to new organizers and support younger organizers who are learning how to organize. Becoming a lead is as simple as attending our foundational training series and having a 1:1 with the organizing coordinator.
Build a team of a minimum of five core organizers who will act as the leadership for your local group. Meet together and make a plan. Talk about what the local group will do and who will be responsible for each part. Make a plan to launch your group!
Have fun!
Ready to start your own local EWOC group? Email us at [email protected].