Thinking about organizing a union in your workplace?


This may be one of those times when the old saying applies: “Easier said than done.” No doubt that successful union organizing is a tough nut in our day, and for lots of reasons: fewer workers these days have experience with unions than in the past; the political and legal climate is set against unions; most managers are quite negative; and you may not get as much help as you should from established unions, since they're often stretched to the limit serving their existing members.


But these challenges don’t mean you shouldn’t give organizing in your workplace serious consideration and even a real try. The reasons to do so are still more powerful and important than the reasons it will be difficult: many workers are badly underpaid, have few or no benefits, face injury or illness due to their work, have little chance for promotion, are bored out of their minds by the work, don’t know how long their jobs will last, face discrimination, are treated without respect by their managers, and don’t dare complain. Power is so concentrated in the bosses’ hands that workers alone or even in small groups are generally not in a position to gain concessions from their employers. A union offers power in numbers: when a group of workers confronts their employer together, they stand a much better chance of making change!


How do you get started and what’s the process?


There are three basic ways to get a union recognized in your workplace: a traditional union election, a “card-check” recognition, and a public-relations campaign that involves the community. Which of these you choose depends on what kind of employer you have, where you live, and the style you and your organizer(s) prefer.


Talk with your co-workers: what do you and your co-workers most of all want to change?

The first step in organizing a union is talking with your co-workers to decide what concerns you'd like to address. People have different issues, but oftentimes there is a common theme, such as lack of a voice in the workplace, lack of respect, or low compensation. Ask everyone what they'd like to see change. [source: Washtech]


Learn the Basics of Labor Law

Under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, you have the legal right to:

1. Attend meetings to discuss joining a union.
2. Read, distribute, and discuss union literature (as long as you do this in non-work areas during non-work times, such as during breaks or lunch hours).
3. Wear union buttons, t-shirts, stickers, hats, or other items on the job.
4. Sign a card asking your employer to recognize and bargain with the union.
5. Sign petitions or file grievances related to wages, hours, working conditions, and other job issues.
6. Ask other employees to support the union, to sign union cards or petitions, or to file grievances. [source: CWA]


Contact an established union to request help from an organizer


Organizing a union is hard work, and an organizer will have skills and experience to help you through it. Remember, though: it's your union! Organizing a union is all about building your power, not taking it away. So choose an organizer you're comfortable with, and make sure you're happy with the plan you develop together.


One place to look is through the AFL-CIO's organizer referral service: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutunions/oi


Build an Organizing Committee Among Your Co-workers With the Guidance of the Organizer.

Identify leaders and an organizing committee representing all major departments and all shifts and reflecting the racial, ethnic and gender diversity in the workforce. These are the core group that will help bring the message to the workforce. Organizing committee training begins immediately. Committee members must be prepared to work hard to educate themselves and their co-workers about the union and to warn and educate co-workers about the impending management anti-union campaign. The organizing committee must be educated about workers’ right to organize and should understand principals of union democracy and rank-and-file control. [source: UE]


Because they can be so effective, most companies are very scared of unions and will do whatever they can to bring them down. Because of that, make sure the organizing committee meets in a safe space, away from work, and that everyone is “on the same page” and will stick together.


Gather Basic Information About Your Workplace

Adopt an Issues Program

The organizing committee develops a program of union demands (the improvements you are organizing to achieve) and a strategy for the union election campaign. The organizing committee leads in highlighting the issues program in the workplace through various organizing campaign activities. [source: UE]


Choose a Recognition Strategy


The traditional way of getting union recognition is via an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This strategy involves gaining the support of 50% plus 1 worker in the potential bargaining unit, submitting the cards stating their support to the NLRB, and petitioning for an election. A date for the election is set, the union nearly always campaigns vigorously against the union, and the election either certifies or fails to certify the union.


The advantages of this kind of organizing drive are that it is clearly binding on the company, and that it requires no good faith on the part of the company. But it's also the hardest way to organize, and in some kinds of industries (for example, many “service” industries) it may be very difficult to campaign effectively.


A “card-check” drive can be a way to build some good will between the union and the employer at the outset, and to avoid a costly, difficult, and divisive campaign. Under a card-check campaign, the union and the employer agree at the outset that the company will legally recognize and bargain with the union if the union can gather the support of 50% plus 1 worker in the potential bargaining unit. A number of unions, particularly in the hotel and restaurant industries, have successfully organized recognized unions using card check drives.


Finally, some employers are particularly sensitive to public pressure. These include governments, hospitals, universities, and other important institutions that care about community support. In these cases, it can be very useful to broaden your horizon and think about your struggle as a community struggle, not just a workplace struggle. Bringing justice to the workplace is one part of bringing justice to the community, and you can work with organizations, churches, other unions, and other supportive members of the community to make the employer recognize the union because the community demands it.


Sign-Up a Majority on Union Cards


Regardless of your choice of tactic, you will want to sign up as many workers as possible. Your co-workers join the union you have selected and support the union program by signing membership cards. The goal is to sign up a sizable majority. This "card campaign" should proceed quickly once begun and is necessary to hold a union election. [source: UE]


Get the Union Recognized


If you agreed upfront to a card-check system, once you've signed up enough supporters you can go back to the employer and “cash in” on your agreement: it's time for them to recognize the union.


If you're working toward an NLRB election, the signed cards are used (and required) to petition the state or federal labor board to hold an election. It will take the labor board at least several weeks to determine who is eligible to vote and schedule the election. The union campaign must continue and intensify during the wait. If the union wins, the employer must recognize and bargain with the union. Winning a union election not only requires a strong, diverse organizing committee and a solid issues program, but there must also be a plan to fight the employer’s anti-union campaign. [source: UE]


Negotiate a Contract

The organizing campaign does not let up after an election victory. The real goal of the campaign, a union contract (the document the union and the employer negotiate and sign, covering everything from wages to how disputes will be handled), is still to be achieved. [source: UE] The union's first big task is to decide what the workers want and need from the employer and to get those points into a contract. That means getting all the workers involved in the union, letting everyone have a say, and keeping pressure on the employer to meet the demands.



Resources:


Five Basic Steps to Organizing a Union. http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/org_steps.html. [source: UE]


Organize. http://www.iww.org/organize/index.shtml. [source: IWW]


The Basics. http://www.bcfed.com/Organize/The+basics/index.htm. [source: British Columbia Federation of Labour]


How Do I Organize a Union in My Workplace? http://www.washtech.org/organize/howto.php. [source: Washtech]


How To Organize a Union Where You Work. http://www.cwa-union.org/about/organize/HowTo.asp. [source: CWA]


Get a Union. http://www.afl.org/need-a-union/how-to-join.cfm. [source: Alberta Federation of Labour]


How to Organize a Union: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutunions/howto


How to Form a Union Where You Work http://www.unitehere.org/resources/howto.asp


Troublemaker’s Handbook 1, edited by Dan La Botz, and Troublemaker’s Handbook 2, edited by Jane Slaughter. Labor Notes (7435 Michigan Ave., Detroit MI 48210, 313-842-6262,www.labornotes.org)