#Union Boss

[cannedcream]

Gaslighting isn’t real, Harry. Why would I waste valuable union time on something that wasn’t real? You’re being crazy, Harry.

[jonasgoonface]

Heyyowhattup! Cub foods strike this weekend! All the cub foods in the Twin Cities metro area unionized with UFCW local 663 are striking and you should get out there and hold the line with them. heres a map of all the stores Do a cub crawl and see whos parking lot got the best snacks and chants. If there's a store that's open go in and ask for the manager and tellem Jonas says they're a rat, then shoplift as much as you can carry on your way out 🐀  I want my pals to not be exploited! But that's not the extent of what we need from a union. It's not enough to want a "fair share" of the wealth america extracts from the rest of the world. We cant be the exceptions to capitalism, we need to be it's destroyers. Lets learn our power and sharpen our claws and make bosses across Minnesota feel kinda weird!

[dispatchesfromtheclasswar]

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I worked at the Pope factory that mass-produced Pope Francis. My boss was The Megapope™ and he was an anti-union piece of shit.

[nando161mando]

[tips-from-a-tech-worker]

An overview of workplace organising

So you've started a new job and, unfortunately for you, there's no union. Not even a place where you and your co-workers can winge about work. So how do you resolve that? How do you Organise™?

Organising activities generally fall into the following (and often overlapping) groups:

Mapping and charting

You cannot even start organising without first understanding your workplace. Where do people work? Where are the break rooms? Who is friends with who? What positions and responsibilities do they have? How do you contact them? Etc, etc, etc.

Answering these questions is key - and often required before you can even begin talking to co-workers. Of course, this is a continuous process and, once you've got a few folks on your side, this can be a collaborative process.

One-on-ones

In organiser circles, there is a tendency to want to leaflet everywhere to announce your presence, and then immediately gather all workers together in a big meeting to then discuss unionisation efforts. This is an almost surefire way to get yourself fired and kill any appetite for organising among co-workers. On top of that, it is incredibly impersonal, shyer voices will get pushed to the side for more vocal, and potentially more conflict-driven voices.

In the IWW, the union I organise with, we emphasise the importance of one-on-one conversations, as you can find a lot more about your co-workers that way, and often things that might get lost in a huge meeting.

Of course, there is no harm in these larger meetings once you've got the ball rolling. But starting off, one-on-ones are key.

Identify movers and shakers

Some co-workers will be well-connected in the workplace. Some will be naturally more likeable than others. Some might have held social events or helped out a few other co-workers in the past. These people are your social "leaders" (for lack of a better word).

You usually want these co-workers on side as soon as you can. If you don't get them on your side, the boss or management will get them on theirs, which makes unionising efforts so much harder.

They are also very useful during organising efforts and can help out with one-on-one conversations.

Recruitment

Asking people to get involved in a union, especially in a workplace that is hostile to them, can be very tricky (and terrifying). But this is a crucial step.

Get people involved in the organising committee, create officer roles to carry out particular tasks, fill those roles democratically, and recruit your co-workers to the union.

You will actively have to reach out to people in this step. We cannot rely on the "self-starters" who are already interested and are bold enough to ask "How do I join?". A workplace is made up of everyone in it, even the shyer workers - especially the shyer workers in my experience! The union is for every worker.

Additionally, as time passes, it gets very difficult to ask people to join. Some people will start seeing benefits in their workplace but without actually putting in any of the work and think "Well, why bother?"

Planning

Once you've got a few co-workers together, have an active group of you mapping, charting, reaching out to members, and identifying issues, then you've got to start planning how to address these issues.

Pick something, anything, no matter how small. Sometimes it can be an issue where the workplace hasn't got enough office stock. Sometimes the door to the building jams and needs a couple of people to shove it open. Find the issue you want to organise around and plan how to resolve it, together.

The issue you identify can also be used to recruit more people to your cause.

Public actions

Finally, it's time to go public. But what does this look like?

I outlined a lot of actions in my previous post here. But a lot of these may be overkill depending on the issue. Sometimes you can get away with less aggressive action.

The typical way this is done is a march on the boss. This is a great way to start the escalation process and sometimes will get you what you want immediately. Of course, no action is perfect, and you'll have to get creative as the boss pushes back more and more.

In conclusion...

This was a general overview of the organising process. Of course, for brevity, a lot was skipped over. Before trying to carry any of this out, I'd recommend you take part in some form of organiser training with your respective union - the IWW Organiser 101 training is fantastic, just as an aside!

Best of luck in all your organising efforts!

Stay safe and solidarity, fellow workers! xox

[bothpartiesarebad]

(via (72) Pinterest)

[liaroflesbos]

i think my favourite part of dunmeshi is that Chilchuck is a union leader

[thegoodmorningman]

Good Morning!!! Happy Labor Day!!!

Enjoy Capitalism! There is no escape!!!

[brazen-art]

Gang's on the move

(a pipe burst in the hoard storage room)

[ladyluscinia]

I didn't even trust these writers to tell a revolutionary queer story or whatever I literally just trusted them to write me a fun ensemble romcom with a pirate theme??? And they fucked it???

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I've always liked Cucurucho because he's a weird little dude, he's fun for the narrative, and whenever he shows up you know something interesting is about to happen.

HOWEVER I have never in my life sympathized with Cucurucho more than I did in that moment where he opened the door, saw the dark matter infecting everything, and just stood there in silence for a moment clearly thinking "Oh, FFS."

Man's an overworked underpaid unappreciated office worker who's dealing with stuff way above his pay grade while his boss is off doing who knows what. I'm grabbing my screen and shaking it rn like "I GET IT CUCURUCHO! I GET IT!! I'VE BEEN THERE BEFORE, I UNDERSTAND!!!"

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

Unpopular opinion: even if every single actor from Tom Cruise to the guy lying on a slab in the background of a CSI morgue were a millionaire, it would still be justified to strike. It's not just about how much money you, personally, are making but how disproportionately more money your bosses are making from you. If every single person on set got paid a million dollars but the execs got a billion, they should still strike for a bigger piece of the pie.

Your boss is always going to pay you the absolute lowest amount they think they can get away with, even if that is $1,000,000.

It's always good to put the fear of god (union) in them.

[writergeekrhw]

REFLECTIONS ON TWITTER

Some things I miss about Twitter are the group celebrations of things like Warnock winning, or being able to trumpet the UCLA Bruins winning their 120th NCAA championship, or mocking Mitch McConnell for getting a tiny bit of comeuppance. Those don’t really feel appropriate here.

But there’s no way I’m providing content for a company that welcomes back actual fucking Nazis and traitors with open arms. So I guess it’s a reasonable trade off.

Or to put it another way…

[alto-tenure]

*remembers I never posted my aitsf shitposts out of discord*

[neverwhere]

MY COWORKER IS AT THE WHITE HOUSE TO DISCUSS WORKERS' RIGHTS TODAY 🙌💪🎉✨

I'm so proud of our union and all the people in it! 💙