curmudgeonthefrog [he/him]

Hey Katy, I agree with others about the pamphlet maybe not being the best language for the intended audience. I’d also be careful handing things out, even if you talk to workers you know have good intentions, they might lose it and leaving union stuff lying around too early will tip off management. With that said I do think having written material can be helpful as something to talk about. If there’s a union in your sector try to find some one-pager that basically just shows unionized wages/benefits/rights compared to yours. If there’s literally no unions for your type of job try to find some before union/after union material.

Management and HR get frequent “trainings” about existing unions and so even if they weren’t predisposed to anti-union beliefs, they very quickly will fall in line. Management will tell them the same lies they tell workers like they can’t approve raises, can’t approve promotions, can’t help workers etc because “the union” is “in the way”. It’s hard enough to convince workers they literally are the union but management has no incentive to believe that and will do everything in their power to third party the union so unaware workers get fed up. It starts with painting organizers as troublemakers.

Hey there, glad to hear it went well! A few other things that I’ve found helpful in one on one organizing conversations. (for full disclosure i was a staff internal organizer for a big local for a number of years, so external organizing is a little different, with that said)

1. Practice! I know some folks mentioned IWW OT 101’s, these sound good. Honestly just find someone with some union experience to practice conversations with. It will help drastically.

2. Try to avoid “third-partying” your union. It makes forming a union sound like hiring a law firm or something. Forming a union is largely going to be about you and your coworkers. If you third party “the” union out of the gate, people will take less agency over it. And worse, when management finds out about the campaign, one of their big talking points is that the union comes in between workers and the company. So for convos instead of saying things like “You can help us out by joining!” or “We have been able to solve a lot of problems for workers!”. Instead, say things like: “Together, workers like you and I can win these rights through our union.”

3. Don’t shy away from the membership dues conversation. Dues are awesome, they aren’t a caveat. They’re a critical part of building the power of your union. The way to frame dues is to acknowledge that nobody working here is wealthy, and having a strong union means you and I will need money to organize, money to support ourselves if we went on strike, money for legal support. And since what you and I are building is entirely independent from the company, we wont get any money from them (obviously). Dues are the resources we pool so we can represent ourselves, bargain and enforce contracts our way, and win more rights. Each union you talk to will have different amounts and different percentages that go to different things but typically its 50% goes to the strike fund, 25% goes to the local you form at your workplace, and 25% goes to the international (which actually goes to staff supporting new campaigns like yours because dues dont exist until you and your coworkers sign the first contract).

4. In a good organizing conversation, the organizer talks 20% of the time and listens 80% of the time. You should spend a lot of your time listening to your coworkers. You can do this by asking open ended questions like:

“What is something you don’t like about your job that you would like to change? What is something you like about your job that you would like to protect?”

“What do you think it is going to take to get the company to budge on the issues that matter most to you?”

“What do you think about workers like you and I bargaining collectively and being able to achieve the gains that we’ve talked about through unionization?”

5. Virtually every question can be answered with a variation of one of three “magic” answers:

Magic Answer 1: We are the union. We know our own needs best, and we all share the responsibility for winning better conditions. We elect our own leaders from within our membership, and those representatives sit across from the company to represent our interests in collective bargaining. Magic answer 1 addresses any question related to “the union” doing something the person does or doesn’t like. It can be answered with some version of “you (and workers just like you) are the union (you will draft bargaining demands, ratify bargaining demands, meet with management to bargain the contract, ratify the proposed contract, etc…) would you do something like that/ do you believe that would be in your collective interest?” This is why it’s important to avoid third-partying because it undermines this answer

Magic Answer 2: Union=power in numbers=more rights. The union works because of power in numbers. The more of us participate, the more power we have, and the more rights we can win. Supermajority participation is critical, because it shows the company that we all stand together. You and I will elect leaders to sit at the table, and we have to stand united with them to increase pressure on the boss. Magic answer 2 can answer any question related to what “the union” can or cannot do. All questions relating to whether the union could really do “xyz” can be answered with “having a union means having more rights and power…would you like to have more (or less) rights and power?”

Magic Answer 3: We’re part of a massive, historic labor movement. This is an incredibly exciting time for the labor movement. (Point out all the new unions forming and any recent organizing wins from other unions in your sector) We are wresting control from our bosses nationwide, across many industries. Magic answer 3 is especially useful for helping overcome fears about retaliation about signing up as a member or other ways of supporting the union. I.e, we aren’t alone

Oh also, when I was first learning, this was one of my favorite videos about organizing conversations. It’s a super campy steelworkers video from the 80’s that shows a house call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJsQD6wmV0c

That’s cool! Didn’t know PSL was starting labor organizing campaigns. I put an effort post I saw on hexbear a couple years ago below so hopefully whoever you talk to shares similar materials/ideas.

Steps for initial union organizing:

1.Get a list of everyone at your site

2.Make a spreadsheet with your estimate on how pro-union they all are (5-point scale: would help organize, would vote yes on union card, neutral, anti-union but could be convinced, would rat you out to the boss so avoid talking union to this person)

3.Start talking to people about unions, carefully, and add them to the spreadsheet

4.If you find someone who’s super pro-union (5), give them access to the spreadsheet too

5.Keep going until everyone is in the sheet

6.If your sheet says you don’t have a majority, identify fence-sitters and the workers they respect, and work on recruiting the workers they respect

7.When you’re getting close to a majority, contact another union in your area and ask for advice and a lawyer recommendation

8.Make sure you’ve talked to another local union and a labor lawyer

9.Get the union card in front of everyone at once, as fast as you can

Special note: 51% isn’t going to be good enough for your majority. Unless you feel you need to take the risk (for some reason) of 1~2% flipping at the last minute and losing the vote, its probably a good idea to wait until you’ve got a solid (like rock solid) 60~75% pro union.

Chapo podcast on making the list: https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/288-so-you-want-to-start-a-union-feat-brace-belden-21019

No Shortcuts, the book. It’s long and detailed case studies: https://janemcalevey.com/no-shortcuts/

No Shortcuts, the interview. It’s honestly better than the book. Very good additional details, especially about step 6 above. I recommend this one the most: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/04/jane-mcalevey-on-how-to-organize-for-power/

Makes sense, we’re an empire in decline. American capital is stripping the copper out of the wires. Child labor is coming back. Slavery is coming back (and never really went away). For what purpose do you need an educated populace as a capitalist. AI being the last possible new market is way more important to them