The AFT MC/IO Program and the Four Pillars

of Effective Internal Organizing

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Unprecedented research and analysis is providing overwhelming evidence:

• To be more effective attracting and retaining members and turning members into activists, activists into leaders . . .

• Many local unions have to fundamentally alter how potential members come to know the union in the first place, how they experience it on a daily basis (especially at work) and the nature of the relationships we form with them.

• Extraordinary effort required—not just a matter of better “marketing.”

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Consider these challenges . . .

• Without fair share, AFT local unions struggle to build membership beyond 50-65%.

• Number one concern of most AFT local union leaders? Low levels of membership involvement. Aging of core leadership. No “bench.”

• Seismic demographic shift within AFT. Example: One half of UFT’s members have been on the job five years or less! New generation of membership with no “union experience” of their own.

• MC/IO polling and focus groups reveal alarming disconnects between the union and its potential members/members.

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The key disconnects . . . Who did this to us?

• Introduction to union not spoken of as a positive experience. Union not seen as a source of support by new employees.

• Union is “they”—not “we”—and nearly invisible at the worksite.

• Functional view of the union vs. a substantive one.

• Union membership is a passive proposition, more like “buying insurance” than being part of a “community of colleagues united for the common good.”

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The key disconnects (continued)

• Union is to protect people from bad things—not a means to accomplish good things.

• Garfield the cat, the Yetti, a hibernating bear, a salmon swimming upstream and a gnat are among the animals that would describe the union.

• Union involvement? In what? View of it as high stakes, high commitment undertaking rife with negative repercussions.

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The key disconnects . . . Who did this to us?

• Introduction to union not spoken of as a positive experience. Union not seen as a source of support by new employees.

• Union is “they”—not “we”—and nearly invisible at the worksite.

• Functional view of the union vs. a substantive one.

• Union membership is a passive proposition, more like “buying insurance” than being part of a “community of colleagues united for the common good.”

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The key disconnects (continued)

• Union is to protect people from bad things—not a means to accomplish good things.

• Garfield the cat, the Yetti, a hibernating bear, a salmon swimming upstream and a gnat are among the animals that would describe the union.

• Union involvement? In what? View of it as high stakes, high commitment undertaking rife with negative repercussions.

• Apathy and anti-union sentiment are not the problems. Lack of information and personal connection to the union are! (What to see for yourself? Let’s go to the videotape!)

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Transactional vs. Transformational

RationalBenefits, services

PassiveMarketing, sales

Talking, sellingEvent

Union is protectionMember

• Psychological• Issues• Active• Relationship, experience• Listening, connecting• Ongoing activity• Union is power• Unionist

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The case for the transformational model:

• Most convincing arguments for membership/involvement suggest a high involvement union active on the issues.

• General understanding that numbers create power.

• Members/potential members prefer a “Statement B” union (community of colleagues vs. insurance policy).

• Their message to the union is an “if-then” statement in which attention to the issues will result in membership/activism.

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How to achieve changes needed? By building the “Four Pillars”

• Better Use of Data

• Issues-Based Organizing

• Reps/Stewards As Organizers

• New Employee Outreach

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Data Collection and Management, Assessment and Targeting

Maintenance of a comprehensive database that contains up-to-date, accurate information on members and potential members (e.g., name, home address, phone number(s), work location, e-mail address, job title or classification, date of birth, date of hire, voter registration status and political affiliation).

Enhancement of database using the results of periodic, personal assessments of individual potential members to determine degree of support for the union, thereby allowing the union to determine priority targets for organizing, either individually, by interest group or on the basis of worksite type or specific location.

Enhancement of database by collecting and adding information specific to individual potential members that can be used to guide organizing strategies specific to them (e.g., issues of concern, professional interests and associations, union events attended, interests and activities that bring them in contact with union members outside of work).

Regular use of polls, surveys, focus and discussion groups to collect information supportive of effective organizing (e.g., job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, issues of concern, union performance ratings, effective appeals for membership, identified, objections to membership).

Effective utilization of data to identify priority targets for organizing and to inform the development of programs and issues advocacy

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Issues Advocacy-Based Organizing

Regular development of advocacy campaigns on issues of concern to members and potential members that seek to maximally involve them in the resolution of these issues (e.g. in collective bargaining, in school district and administrative policy-making processes, in political and legislative action, in public outreach).

Utilization of such campaigns as a vehicle for assessing individual potential members on their degree of support for the union and for engaging them in activities that move them closer to union membership and activism (e.g., completing union surveys or participating in union discussion groups, petition signing, letter writing, phone banking, attending rallies or demonstrations, leafleting, monetary contributions, public displays of support).

Development of effective appeals for membership based on the union’s recent accomplishments or current efforts in issues advocacy and incorporation of these appeals into all forms of union communications, including one-on-one contacts, publications and websites.

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Building Reps as Organizers

Programs of training and ongoing support to encourage building reps to act as leaders of internal organizing in their worksites—internal organizing that draws upon the abilities of all union members to serve as goodwill ambassadors and membership recruiters for the union.

Development of internal organizing plans specific to worksites, utilizing worksite-specific data on, and assessments of, potential members to develop priority targets among potential members for organizing and, when possible, worksite-specific issues.

Emphasis on transformational (vs. transactional) organizing that positions the union as a cause (vs. a service) and is based on developing personal relationships between union members and potential members over time, using continuing contact to motivate potential members to higher and higher levels of engagement and involvement with the union that leads to membership and membership activism.

Ongoing attention to maintaining an optimal environment for internal organizing as the worksite level (e.g., effective employee advocacy, union visibility, union site meetings and other forms of two-way communication, social and good and welfare activities).

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Comprehensive New Employee Outreach

Timely identification of newly hired potential members.

Quality, personal introduction of new hires to the union as soon as possible utilizing methods that complement “captive audience” opportunities such as orientation events.

“First friend, best friend” programs that make the union relevant for the variety of ways in which it assists the newly hired get acclimated and become successful on the job (e.g., helpful resources, professional development programs, hotlines, mentor and buddy systems, rap and support groups, social activities).

Specifically defined outreach programs led by union building reps and membership at the worksite level (e.g., walkaround tours and introductions, union and contract orientation, ongoing personal support, periodic drop-in visits).

Integration of issues of concern to the newly and more recently hired in the union’s issues advocacy agenda.

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MC/IO’s Four Pillars of Effective Internal Organizing

• Better Use of Data

• Issues-Based Organizing

• Reps/Stewards As Organizers

• New Employee Outreach