HOW TO MOBILIZE - Fact Sheet No. 1

Organizing Your Mobilization:

Setting Up Your Structure

Why Mobilize? Because THE STRONGER THE UNION THE BETTER THE CONTRACT!

Member involvement is essential to our growth, our strength, and our success. Successful organizing, problem solving at the worksite, political action, and contract negotiations all rest on our ability to mobilize our membership.

What is Mobilization?

Mobilization is a continuous process of organization, education and collective action.

Organization = Setting in place the internal local network to effectively communicate with each other, face-to-face, one-on-one.
Education = Learning about issues that confront us and what we can do about them as a union.
Collective Action = Doing something collectively to win changes.

How to organize your mobilization using contract negotiations as the example:

First, you must set up a workplace structure (or network) that allows the local leadership to communicate quickly and effectively with each member. Resist the urge to skip the somewhat tedious task of setting up your structure because organizing this internal local structure is the most important part of the mobilization program. It is the foundation upon which all else is built.

To set up your structure, first form a mobilization organizing committee. This committee is responsible for guiding and implementing your solidarity campaign for bargaining success. It works under the guidance of the elected negotiating committee. One way to look at it is that the job of the negotiating committee is to handle negotiations at the table; the job of the mobilization committee is to handle negotiations away from the table.

Ideally, your mobilization committee will consist of members from each work area and will reflect the workforce in terms of age, sex, race, job title, and work unit. In many cases, stewards will make up the nucleus of the committee. However, in other cases, you might want to reach out to members who are not active in the union but who are good unionists. Find rank-and-file members who would be willing to pass out flyers and talk one-on-one about the issues and actions.

The first task of the negotiating committee is to establish leadership for the mobilization committee. One good way to maintain clear lines of authority and communication with the mobilization committee is to assign one member of the negotiating committee to lead the mobilization committee.

Sometimes, also, alternates to the negotiating committee can be involved. Initial training for the mobilization committee should consist of a summarization of the history of the local union, discussion of the current state of employer and employee issues, and a session on how to communicate effectively with co-workers. (See How to Mobilize Fact Sheet 2).

At your first meeting, the committee should also set goals and develop a plan of action. Later, the committee should develop functional subcommittees to carry out the action plan.

Once the structure is in place, set specific goals for your solidarity campaign and define some actions to help you reach your goals. For example, your goals could include: strengthening the union's negotiating muscle by demonstrating that the members are actively backing the committee, involving more members in the union's activities, and educating the members (and non-members) on the importance of active membership participation. Some activities to help you reach your goals could include: writing and distributing fact sheets on the demands; planning and holding a meeting to discuss the various proposals; wearing solidarity buttons and using solidarity stickers; conducting plant gate or union hall rallies; setting up informational pickets outside the plant; planning focus group meetings on some of the issues like health and safety problems for example; holding special "ratification" meetings to unanimously reject especially lousy company proposals, etc.

Once the decision is made about which activities are most appropriate to dramatize the issues and send a message of solidarity to the company, develop a calendar for when these activities should occur. Plan the activities so that the involvement and interest of the members peak at the most appropriate time to have the greatest impact upon the employer.

Worker Subcommittees

The mobilization committee should establish worker subcommittees to effectively reach the membership and increase the involvement of the other members. Possible subcommittees include:

The one-on-one workplace canvassing subcommittee:

Members will make a commitment to talk to a certain number of other workers each day about the contract issues, the upcoming negotiations, and the need for solidarity.

The communications/ newsletter subcommittee:

Members will write and distribute on a regular basis fact sheets on the issues and updates on the negotiations along with any requests for solidarity actions.

The bulletin board subcommittee:

Will make sure all bulletin boards are used to inform and mobilize the membership.

The media subcommittee:

Functions of this subcommittee include keeping reporters informed about events at the local and the progress of negotiations, and asking members to write letters to local papers explaining the union's positions.

The strike preparations subcommittee:

An important part of any campaign for a fair contract must include the full preparations for carrying out a successful strike, should the need arise.Various other functional subcommittees might be necessary, depending upon the needs arising out of the plan of action.

Other Opportunities

A SUCCESSFUL MOBILIZATION STRUCTURE ALLOWS:

For more information on How to Mobilize contact:
OCAW Research & Education Dept.
P.O. Box 281200
Lakewood, CO 80228-8200