Elements of an Effective campaign

This information is adapted from the organizing section of the Industrial Workers of the World Web site

Leadership commitment.

It first takes a commitment on the part of the leadership, a vision of what the union can and should be. Making organizing a priority requires hard choices; it means giving up other things to devote the necessary time and resources to organizing. Real leaders come from the rank and file; they are not selected by the union bureaucracy. People are not born with leadership skills; leadership skills are learned. Every worker is potentially an organizer.

Planning.

Construct a plan. Analyze the resources of the local union both financial and membership-and make some decisions on the following issues:

• Resource Allocation - make available funds to pay for the materials needed to organize effectively, including (if feasible) lost time for volunteer organizers.
• Strategic Targeting - think about how to expand within your industry. Use collective bargaining, direct economic action, and political leverage to achieve better organizing conditions, with the ultimate goal of workers' self management.
• Involve all facets of the union. - Enlist the support and participation of all members on behalf of the organizing effort.

An Organizing Committee

Organizing Committees must be made up primarily of (but needn't be limited to) workers from the shop(s) you seek to organize. Cliques--often based either on type of work performed or on ethnic, gender, cultural, or language backgrounds--are a common occurance in most workplaces, and employers often take advantage of differences between them. Therefore, your organizing committee must consist of workers from every such group (or at least as many as possible) or your campaign's chances of success will be minimal. You must recruit and train volunteers among your coworkers, and leadership responsibilities must be spread as evenly as possible.

Your Organizing Committee should do the following:

• Elect a chair of the Organizing Committee - someone must take responsibility for making sure everything gets done.
• Have regular meetings and give regular reports to the local union - It is essential that you check in with each other at regularly scheduled intervals.

Volunteer or member organizers play a critical role in organizing. They can contribute to the success of your local union's organizing program in many ways, including:

• Making home visits to not-yet-unionized workers.
• Getting organizing leads fromfriends and relatives.
• Attending rallies.
• Doing library research on non-union employers.
• Hosting meetings of non-yet-unionized workers.
• Making phone calls.
• Handing out leaflets.
• Gathering community support.
• Making contact with community groups.
• Raising Funds.
• Producing newsletters and organizing literature.

Build Community Support

Union members make the best organizers, the most credible teachers of non-union workers. Union members know from experience and in their hearts what a union is all about.

Actively seek leads - The local union should have an ongoing active program of meeting and talking with non-union workers. Use the media and public events to raise awareness of the need for organizing in the community. When an organizing victory or collective bargaining agreement is reached, use this as an opportunity to inform people about the union. At community events, state fairs, etc., raise the issue of organizing. Invite the public to attend union educational programs or social events.

Link up with community groups - Form alliances with other labor unions as well as community, civil rights, women's, senior, church, and other groups. Use these contacts to find organizing leads, as well as to gain support for organizing efforts.

Give recognition for organizing efforts - Use union meetings, newsletters, bulletin boards, to recognize the efforts of Organizing Committees. Have special dinners or banquets to demonstrate appreciation for those who have devoted time to organizing.

A successful local union organizing program requires a serious commitment of time and resources. It requires training and an understanding of successful organizing strategies and tactics. And most of all it requires a local union to create a "culture of organizing," a spirit of dedication to the mission of carrying on the torch passed to this generation by previous generations of unionists.

Tips for Newbies

• Keep your efforts quiet until you have enough support to be open. Build from a small group of people, and move out from there - have each person talk to people they know and trust. The longer you can go with management not knowing of your plans, the better off you'll be, because you'll have been able to talk to your co-workers first, and prepare them to for the lies management will tell. The more you prepare yourselves and others, the higher the likelihood that workers will stick together and look out for their common self-interest in the face of your employer's anti-union campaign.
  
• Educate yourself o­n the history of unions - what they really are, what they can do. Also educate yourself o­n the industry of union-busting - fortunately, because the strategies for fighting workers' efforts to unionize are based o­n lies and distortions, all anti-union campaigns are pretty much the same. Educate yourself o­n what your employer will do to discourage workers from unionizing and share this information with your co-workers.
  
• Remember many companies are extremely anti-union  - and they are o­n 'high alert' for union activity in other stores. As soon as they catch o­n that something is happening in your store, they will begin their anti-union campaign. Unfortunately, even though their meetings and presentations will be filled with distortions and lies, some of your co-workers will buy into them (in part because to some degree, most of us have been taught to trust our employer, despite the fact that it makes much more sense to trust our co-workers), and you might lose support.
  
• Do not tell anyone in management your desires/plans to unionize - no matter how much you trust them!  Although it is a legally-protected right for non-management workers to unionize, people in management positions are NOT protected by federal labor law. What this means is that although it is illegal for your employer to threaten, harass, or in any way punish non-management employees for union activity, your employer can mandate that managers support the company and can fire managers for being aware of union activity and not doing anything about it.
  
• If you or a co-worker is threatened or punished for union activity, contact a local union organization immediately for assistance. Although it is illegal for companies to punish their workers for engaging in union activity, it unfortunately happens. If you don't know of an organization to contact, email us and we'll help you find out.
  
• Once talks of unionizing are out in the open, BE VOCAL IN YOUR SUPPORT FOR UNIONIZING! The more visible support you have for the idea of unionizing, the more power you'll have at the bargaining table - and the better everyone's jobs will be, because your contract will be that much better.  
  
• Get support from local labor organizations, student groups, and other community organizations. Have people in your community contact your store, expressing their support of workers' efforts to better their workplace conditions through unionizing.
  
• Stay focused, be positive and remain non-defensive. your employer will do all they can to get you o­n the defensive and distract you from focusing o­n why you want to unionize. Keep this idea in mind: 'Unionizing is the o­nly way that workers are guaranteed a say in creating their work environment.' Keep asking your employer this question: 'Do you have a legal obligation to negotiate with us if we don't unionize?'  
  
• Remember that it doesn't matter if you happen to have a good manager. Unionizing levels the playing field between your employer and the workers who make the company a success. Without a union contract, there is no guarantee that the things you like about your job today will still be there a week from now. There is also no guarantee that new policies won't come from above your manager that she/he has no control over - or that your manager will be there a week from now.
  
• Remember that unionizing isn't a 'punishment' that workers 'inflict' o­n their employer for mistreatment. Sure, unionizing is something workers do to prevent mistreatment by their employer, but it's also a way to protect what you like about your job. As much as your employer likes to think that unionizing is a 'bad' thing, convince them that it's actually a very good thing - it builds solidarity and cohesion among workers, and it's an effective way of helping Target stick to its core values.  
  
• Remember that workers do have power - they just need to stick together to access it most effectively!  There is strength in numbers.

The Basic Process

Build an Organizing Committee

Form a small committee of employees dedicated to the idea of unionizing, but keep things quiet. 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. Borders will most likely engage in a well-organized, well-funded anti-union campaign. The organizing committee must be educated about workers' right to organize and must understand union policies and principles of democracy and rank-and-file control.

Also at this step basic information about the workplace must be gathered including:

• workplace structure: departments, work areas, jobs, shifts
• employee information: name, address, phone, shift, job title, and department for each worker (employee list)
• employer information: other locations, parent company, customers, union history, financial assets, economic strengths and weaknesses.
• intangibles: informal cliques, social networks, and existing relationships - the employer will try to use these to their advantage to try and disrupt union organizing activities. Your organizing committee must accommodate for these existing relationships.

Determine Your Issues

The committee develops a program of union demands (the improvements you are are organizing to achieve) and a strategy for the union recognition campaign. A plan for highlighting the issues program in the workplace is carried out through various organizing campaign activities.

Choose an Organizing Strategy

There several ways to get an employer to officially recognize a union and there are ways to build solidarity without ever getting formal recognition. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.  So far every union campaign at Borders Books has chosen to use the sixth option, in which the National Labor Relations Board oversees an election. 

Strategies that don't require a union:

Direct Action

You don't need to achieve legal recognition or even belong to an 'official' union to act as a union. You can also engage in direct actions such as slowdowns, work-to-rule (following store policies to the letter), sitdown strikes, selective strikes (striking just a few days a week) and sick-ins. Workers who organize via direct action do not have as much protection under the National Labor Relations Act as do workers using some of the other methods listed here. Even without that protection, however, direct action can often be one of the most powerful and effective ways to achieve your objectives.

You can also use direct action in conjunction with a union-based campaign, but you should be aware that you may be putting your job on the line.

Union Strategies that avoid NLRB Elections:

Minority Unions

Not all unions require majority membership or going through an election campaign. The IWW and IBM Alliance are two examples. This is called Minority, Solidarity or 'Open Source' Unionism. Historically, minority unionism has played a large role in the growth of unions. Federal laws that protect majority unions also apply to small groups that act as a union. Here's another article with some more information about that: Minority Unions . With a minority union, the goal is to build solidarity in individual workplaces, provide service and support to members, and perhaps eventual majority status although that is not the pre-eminent goal. 

Card Check Recognition

In a card check, your organizing committee and/or a union representative informs your manager that a sizable majority (at least 50% plus one person, but ideally 60% or more) have signed union authorization cards obtained from the local union representative. In a successful card-check, Borders will voluntarily agree to recognize the union as the legal bargaining agent for your bargaining unit. One advantage of this strategy is that the bargaining unit is not determined by a National Labor Relations Board hearing. Borders official policy is to refuse card-checks; Card checks are usually done as the result of an agreement between the company and union to allow them them at all store locations.

Community Campaign

Although community involvement should be a feature of all styles of organizing, a community campaign in particular can be used as a method of avoiding NLRB elections. In this case, you would either organize with community groups to pressure your employer to accept a card-check, or a trusted community group would preside over a union vote that does not involve the NLRB. The company does not have to recognize the outcome of that vote, however. The community campaign is an essential part of legendary labor educator Harry Kelber 's "New Game Plan" for union organizing.

Strike for Recognition

A sizable majority (at least 50% plus one person, but ideally 60% or more) agrees to a short strike to force Borders to recognize the union. Workers who engage in a strike for recognition are protected by the NLRA. Supervisors at Borders may not be.

• Positive effects of striking for recognition include skipping a lengthy election process, and if you are successful, you and your co-workers will gain a very strong sense of empowerment.
• However, striking for recognition is a very risky strategy. If you do not have near unanimous support, those in your workplace that oppose unionization will most likely be even less supportive of your efforts. Also, if your boss has the economic and political means to withstand your strike, you could find yourself out of a job.

NLRB Election Process

Once 30% of the people in the bargaining unit sign union cards, you are entitled to submit them to the National Labor Relations Board, which views 30% as a sufficient number to warrant an election, that, if won, will certify the union in your workplace. Unofficially, you should get as many signatures as you possibly can. To win the election, you need a majority to vote 'yes' and it is not unusual for some individuals who signed cards to end up voting 'no.' A good rule-of-thumb is that if you can't get at least 60% of the people in the bargaining unit to sign cards, you won't win the election.

Once you have submitted the cards, the NLRB will contact the employer to schedule a hearing to determine the actual bargaining unit, and to schedule the election. At the hearing, the company will most likely try to exclude supervisors and any employee with access to personnel records. The union's lawyer will most likely handle things at this stage, so don't worry too much.

Once the bargaining unit is made final, the NLRB will schedule the date of the election. The election is secret ballot, overseen by an NLRB agent, with the ballot asking the question, 'Do you want the 'whatever union' to represent you in contract talks with 'whatever employer?'' or something similar. A 'yes' vote is for the union, a 'no' against. A simple majority wins.

If you win: congratulations! The company must enter into contract talks with the union regarding wages, benefits, and working conditions.

 

Finding a Union to Contact

You must decide what union you wish to approach, if any. (You do not need to affiliate with any union; workers who engage in concerted action are also protected by labor law). Talk to as many unions as you can, find out what they have to offer, how they organize, resources, etc. Don't be afraid to approach any union, regardless of their name: bookstores have been organized by the Longshoremen, office workers by the United Auto Workers. A good place to get phone numbers for unions is under 'labor organizations' in the yellow pages.

For NLRB Elections - Determine your bargaining unit - the Supervisor issue

Under the NLRB organizing process the bargaining unit consists of employees who are eligible for union representation. If you choose to have a secret ballot vote that is conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, managers and security guards are excluded from the bargaining unit.

If you are having a vote, it is up to the NLRB to determine whether supervisors can particpate in the union. The NLRB allowed supervisors in Ann Arbor and Minneapolis to be in the union, but excluded them in Gurnee, Marlton and Springfield. Why? Borders asked the NLRB to exclude them because Borders believed they were pro-union. A legal challenge to the exclusion by the union would have delayed the vote. Unfortunately, the local NLRB boards have not been consistent on the supervisor issue and each case is different

Talking to Co-Workers

Basically, when you are going around seeing how much support you have in the beginning, you are organizing. Its not rocket science, but it is a science. Here are a few suggestions.

Don't assume a person saying no to their union is not ready to support one. They just don't know how their union can help them yet. Thats going to be your job.

Don't count on short conversations at work to tell you anything. For one, people are afraid to talk at work and may be instantly alarmed at the word. You need time and the sense of security to hear people's true feelings. Try to meet people one on one or in very small groups outside of work. Try lunch, breaks or some manufactured reason to get together, like offering someone a ride in bad weather or to meet to discuss something else not store related. Unless you are certain they are a friend or a sympathizer, don't ask someone to meet you to talk union. Most people greet that like a root canal. You are putting them on the spot with a strange topic that scares them. Do it gently, with empathy.

Wtih people you trust you can be relatively forthright to start. If they say they want no part of a union, ask them why. Then shut up and listen. Ask them what they like and don't like about the job. Shut up and listen. If you have a response to their fears or how a union can help them in that moment, try it. If not, shut up and listen and find out what they like and dislike about work, what they fear or dislike about unions. Make some notes for yourself so you can keep straight everyone's concerns to go back later. When prepared address their concerns and show them how their union can help them, IF IT CAN, of course.

Anyone you talk to pro or con, ask questions, shut up and listen. Don't try to 'sell union' or argue union or build a union outright just yet. Make 'I've heard about a union movement out there' and 'boy does this job suck I wonder what we can do about it' two separate parts of the conversations. At your best, a union in your store will be THEIR idea.

Start with trying to organize one or two other people, best case scenario the hardest working senior employees in the store, if you feel you can trust them, of course. Once you have someone else visiting here and in deeper conversations with you, you have someone else organizing with you.

Get your facts down pat so you can address immediately the fear of getting discovered or fired and any previous bad union experiences. If you don't have a good answer, let it go, think about it and come back with one. There usually is a set of reasons people don't think they want to start a union. Soon enough, you'll be able to address all those negative responses on the spot.

If someone is dead set anti-union don't give up on them, but don't push it either. Half agree with them, then get the hell out of that conversation to have it again later when you have more support.

If someone is pro-union or leaning that way, work to involve and invest them personally in the process. Ask them to help with specific tasks. Make certain they know their union needs them. Follow up with them to continue to gauge their support and address concerns they have as they come up.

If workers are generally happy with Binc or your management, remind them unionizing is not a punitive action against a bad employer. It is an empowering action towards having a stronger voice in dealing with ANY employer.

Once you have two or more people on board, start having regular meetings to discuss where you are at and where to go. Not bitch sessions, union meetings that work on building a unified voice, not beating up Borders. Be a pain about getting people to meetings, follow up on those that didn't show, make them fun (like a bowling thing or regular breakfast or a bar night) following an agenda.

Don' t the impression or allow the misconception that people cannot talk 'anti-union' to you! They shouldn't feel they will hurt your feelings, piss you off, lose your friendship, or alienate you.

A union must be maintained over time. It is maintained by LISTENING, not forcing opinions, a true sense of shared ownership and investment, by making certain every member feels heard, important and inside the loop. Remember you share the same goals, you may only disagree on how to get to them.

Lies the Boss will tell You

This page is from the Organizing section of the IWW web site.

Here's a checklist of employer behavioral traits which you can expect to witness during union organizing campaigns. These are not the only lies a boss might tell, but they do represent a fair sample. You and your organizing committee must anticipate anti-union lies and should prepare to respond to them. It is even helpful to "role play" or parctice dealing with workers who fear the consequences of these lies (and others).

What Your Employer Will Have Their Management Say About Unions:

• The union is a third party, an outsider;
• The union will disrupt the happy family environment, we've created here;
• All the union wants is your dues money; give us another chance;
• We just got our wake-up call from you and we're listening;
• The union will make you go out on strike;
• You will be fined if you cross a picket line;
• The union will ruin this organization and make us go broke;
• We'll lose our funding if a union comes in;
• Unions are corrupt and undemocratic;
• The union only wants to run the employer's organization;
• We would increase wages and benefits but now we can't because of the union.

What Employers Will Do:

• Hire a union-busting outfit/consultant for $200 per hour;
• Give employees wage increases or improve their benefits;
• Hold captive audience meetings with employees during work time;
• Increase the number of staff meetings and the level of communication;
• Be nicer or meaner to workers;
• Hold numerous management meetings;
• Delay the election process with technicalities to break the union momentum;
• Quote union by-laws out of context to distort intent or purpose;
• Use press clippings of other unions to convey negative union images;
• Convince employees that authorization cards are for other purposes;
• Have employees start asking for their cards back;
• Create false divisions between workers and blame these on the the union.

What Your Employer Won't Tell You:

• with a union employers cannot reduce your wages, health benefits, vacation, sick leave, life insurance, holidays, pensions, or other working conditions without your agreement;
• that you've given them every last chance and another one won't make a difference;
• that you can't be fined for crossing a picket line (you can be ostracized though);
• that workers in a union make sound and rational decisions;
• that union delegates or officers cannot "take" you out on strike--strikes only happen when the workers vote to strike;
• that union workers do not bargain themselves out of jobs;
• that the union is not an outside, third party; but is comprised of you and your fellow workers;
• that union workers earn, on average, twice as much in benefits alone as non-union workers;
• that without a union you work under "at-will" conditions, with your employer in complete control;
• that a union grievance procedure has a neutral arbitrator, not management, as the final step;
• that a workplace without a union is undemocratic;
• that most workers who are aware of the facts believe unions are necessary and valuable;