I work at a non profit and we just won union recognition and are slowly moving towards first contract negotiations and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING. Would love to chat with some folks about their experiences, especially if you’ve negotiated around contracts/grants/etc.
This is such a based fucking response thank you so much
I’ve shared a ton of info in other responses, but basically I feel like my particular union is pretty weak, im convinced that my union rep is inept as hell. They are currently bargaining a first contract with another BU in my agency so hoping that can move things along for us in terms of boilerplate language but we will see. The agency hired some of the top union busting lawyers in the state, who in a news article, admitted that a tactic of theirs is to force impasse. It’s been one full year since they were recognized and they are getting down to the Financials of the contract, where management has attempted to cut benefits that exist already (sick time accrual specifically).
I just started disseminating our BU survey this week and are going to have a first kinda celebratory party/mixer in a couple of weeks, I’m really hoping we get some folks but I think everyone is so burnt out from the structural trauma going on and the everyday trauma of our jobs; my coworkers have been responding to overdoses at least 1-3 times a week for months (we work with people who are unhoused/use drugs/have mental health issues or some combo). I’m starting to get pretty upset and demoralized because the organizing committee seems to be totally checked out since we won recognition, like I’m still going to union presentations online and doing research on bargaining strategy and trying to gather info and it’s just crickets from nearly everyone else. So I dont think we have any other people who have a fully vested interest right now, but also I think are mostly just distracted by the work. That’s really what I’m struggling with right now. I want to build that momentum so we CAN win a good contract but I can’t force it and that sucks.
Of course, comrade! Happy to help any way I can.
Union staff is usually meant to fill in when full-time workers can’t (ideally you have high engagement and spread the work among workers instead). So you’re in a tough situation by having low engagement and presumably ineffectual staff. It’s not impossible, but the bad news is it’s usually a lot of work for the people still ready to fight.
How are you all doing in terms of lists and actions, and when was your last action? Members usually need three things: (1) to see activity and build solidarity with one another, (2) to see that collective actions create material movement (e.g. forced to bargain or TA an article), and (3) think that admin sucks and needs to be fought. I mention this because messaging and organizing has to strike a careful balance of not just stressing how much admin sucks in lieu of 1 and 2, otherwise people start to think, “what is the point of the union?”
Basically, I think you should consider doing a mild structure test and use that to build a more militant action to achieve your next goal (force to bargain, e.g.), and prepare to escalate to a strike given their tactics. You don’t want to go straight to a “big” action because it might look small and have the opposite effect.
For an idea: organize for an all-hands meeting to lay out what’s been happening, why it’s important to come together and act, and to get volunteers for planning the action. Emphasizing the importance is key, and ideally you could invite someone to speak about a successful contract campaign in your area (use that to get people interested in attending).
If you can confidently set a date a couple weeks out, do that and begin talking to every single person to get them to commit to going to the event. Make it easy to attend. If you can, have your most persuasive people do the talking/calling.
Attendance of the meeting is the structure test. If you get good attendance, you’re golden to do a real action. Here are some achievable options:
Show up en masse to management’s offices, demand to bargain, come with stories about why you need money/better working conditions, come with chants. Take pictures and videos (announce it if in a one-party state). If you have media connections, have them come to the action and write a story. If you don’t have those connections, start asking around and try to make them.
Do a picket in a small space. Exact same idea but it’s at a building entrance or something public.
Begin tabling for your campaign. Talk to the community and get signatures of people on a petition that says they support you. Get contact info so you can build a community support list. Make direct asks for your strike fund. You can get $100-$300 per hour in a busy area and a good location. Do farmer’s markets, storefronts, sports events - crowds (on a public sidewalk). Get a couple hundred or more signatures and present the numbers to your membership and to msnagement. Don’t tell anyone your exact fundraising, but say thousands if you get at least $2k (make that your target).
Target the funding. Whoever is the source of income to the org. If they are sympathetic, first contact them, then consider a mass action / demand session when they are present, phone banking them, getting them to agree to apply pressure, etc. If they are not sympathetic, print flyers that shame them and leave them all over a location where their funders go, put yourself on their radat. Keep going up the chain to get sympathetic pressure or a shaming campaign.
Obviously you can get creative based on your particular conditions. The idea is to make them pay attention and for your members to see some kind of win, even just carrying out the action.
Involve local politicians if any of them want union cred.
At a meta level, get local labor connections. Get other unions and socialists to show up to these things and do work with you.
Obviously the hard part is that initial piece: getting people to show up to 1 meeting. Do everything you can to make that a success. Get other unions to speak there. See if anyone can provide food in solidarity. If you have friends in a band, do a freeish concert. That kind of thing. Socialists, anarchists, etc can often help with this. And take attendance at the meeting.
All easier said than done, I know, but I hope this gives some inspiration or an angle you can latch onto.
In terms of the impasse angle, there are two common options. Tge first is rhetorical at the bargaining table (make sure someone is taking verbatim notes), i.e. finding ways to move (even small ways) and identifying when management is itself stonewalling when you have already countetred. The second is to use actions to make them move. The second is the important one and it’s why it’s all I’m focused on lol.
Solidarity and let’s keep chatting.
thanks for this again. Is it okay for me to message you about it a bit more?
Sure!