chapotraphouse

So many good resources and advice in here. You will find what I say through any of these resources, but one I want to highlight is organize yourselves and then get a union involved.

Unionizing with an organization can often give you a false sense of security that they will protect you if you or any of your coworkers get fired. They most likely won't. They don't have the money or resources necessary for a lengthy court battle for non dues paying members. And organizing yourselves gives you power during negotiations so the org doesn't have as much power over the workers bc you did it for yourself.

Get to know your coworkers and get them to trust you. Talk to people you haven't talked with much. Organizing is won in personal relationships. It's not won in emails, flyers, etc. also get to know their issue and how it affects them personally. Questions like "What's that like for you?" "How does that affect you and your family?"

Another quality question: "Do you think the boss should make 100% of the decisions about our wages, benefits, and working conditions or do you think we should be apart of that decision making process?"

Most workers will say things like I will sign a card when the time comes or I don't really care about this job. These discussions are a lot easier when you have a personal relationship.

Super key is inoculation, tell your coworkers what management is going to do because there's nothing worse than you start getting close to winning then management gets wind of it and starts doing all the things and everyone flips because they weren't aware it would be happening. 3 top phrases from bosses. You're not allowed to talk about that at work... you are, they're lying. It will be so expensive... people mostly want a union for more money no one is going to agree to lose money... A union is a third party going to cause disruption... a union is you and your coworkers. They will also offer raises and coffees and all sorts of perks. Once the threat of the union is gone so is all of that.

Organizing convos:

1. Talk about things they like about working there
2. Things they want to change.
3. Point to how both things they like and things they want to change are solely in managements control.
4. Find a union win in your job sector. Point to what workers did to win that and ask what it would mean for them to have that. (Bonus if it connects to their issues which is why you want a bunch of these in the back pocket).
5. Ask them if they support forming a union. (Clearly and directly)
6. Inoculation as i mentioned earlier.
7. This is how we win... Getting list of all coworkers. Talking to them. And building support. Stop talking to people who aren't supportive immediately about anything Union related. Get to 60-70% support. Take it to a Union. Vote.
8. Action. Who can you talk to? What list can you get? Who can you start building relationships with?

At some point create a group chat so people can get updates and information about what's happening and it's relayed quickly.