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