Ask a Union Organizer: What can I do to make our union less complacent?
Dear Ask A Union Organizer,
I am represented by a union already, and my job has had a union for a long time. However, the union is undemocratic, seems to arbitrarily cover workers, rarely meets, and I would describe it as far from being as militant as it should be. Some workers feel left in the dark about the union process and our contact at union doesn’t answer our emails. We've given significant concessions during the last contract fight and union leadership seems complacent. How can I best energize union members to fight for democracy and better demands during our next contract fight? Should we caucus for better leadership?
— Curious About Complacent Comrades
Dear Curious About Complacent Comrades,
That sounds hard, but not impossible! There’s two different parts to this—your union leadership and the union’s staff. Even though your union seems undemocratic, your bylaws DO protect the process and determine who is elected and how often. You can have a change in leadership, but it may not make any changes for your current contract. Start organizing your co-workers!
Hired staffers—not elected union leaders—handle the nitty-gritty of negotiations and the daily operations of your local. Business agents, office managers, and organizers are paid employees of the union—your dues pay their salary. Taking the time to facilitate member meetings, listening to you, answering your emails is all part of their job. You shouldn’t have to beg them to do their job.
Unfortunately, you’re probably not the first person they’ve ignored. You’ll need to get their attention, which means you need to go higher up. You might try:
Reaching out to any and all staff members with contact information listed on the website or social media.
Emailing and calling the union’s Statewide Director of Organizing.
Calling your union staffer. Be specific about what you want and when you want it, be clear and direct in your language.
If you still get no response, step into your power and take the lead. YOU are your union, and you certainly don’t have to wait around for permission to meet, to strategize, or to test out your power.
Make face-to-face or hard asks to get people to attend the next union meeting, and consider getting together a call-list for night-before-meeting invites. If your union is not already coordinating monthly meetings of your members, they should be.
Sometimes organizers claim low member interest has caused them to cancel their concerted efforts, but I think you and I both see right through that. Think critically about the barriers your coworkers face in attending the union meeting: do you meet in an inconvenient part of town? Does the time work well for people? Adding a meal and childcare are critical components to increasing attendance and creating an inclusive, welcoming space. Additionally, compelling guest speakers, having non-union topics for general discussion, or allotting time for socializing before or after the monthly union meeting can strengthen your contract negotiations by creating opportunities for authentic connection within your unit. I also find that the less time any one individual spends talking, the better our meetings are.
Simply ask each one of your coworkers: “Have you read the contract?” A website, social media accounts, printed infographics, or pamphlets can help outline important or complicated sections of your Collective Bargaining Agreement. If your workplace doesn’t have a designated Union Steward, approach union staff on every level about instilling a Stewardship Strategy.
Send regular emails explaining what is going on with your union. Make them fun! Private Facebook groups and Slack channels can help build your sense of togetherness—but remember to keep conversations vague or lighthearted on unencrypted platforms, and off of your work devices.
Having success in union contract negotiations takes a lot of digging—and your union should do more than hand you a shovel. Get together with other union locals within your International. Ask about their wins and losses. Come together on your shared values and combine forces to impact the union’s internal culture: by running for leadership, building caucuses, and making motions for resolutions, you can shift political endorsements and promote organizing strategies that energize members to actually win.
The reality is some unions are well-managed, but poorly-led. Too many unions have grown to resemble the industries they hoped to dismantle, and membership often feels robotic and purely transactional. If you think there is gender discrimination at play, you could be right. Unions historically prioritize male-dominated industries with their time and resources. Patriarchy is everywhere; unions can be very good at keeping mediocre white men in positions of power. However, chances are whoever has been assigned to your bargaining unit is simply overworked and underpaid. Overall union culture is pretty masculine and it’s certainly not trauma-informed. But today, there are more women and femme-identified union members than ever before, and it is time for the take-over.
In the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements, we like our organizing transformational. We make direct action a form of self-care, and believe hope and authentic connection moves people to impactful action. Pleasure Activism taught me that organizing doesn’t have to feel like a burden. That feeling uplifted after a meeting is more important than getting to all the items on our agenda.