Long-term activism – Never give up, Never stop campaign

There were many offsets in our unionization campaign. Many people had disagreements, felt hurt, and left. One UAW staff once said to me, “If you want to make something happen, you need to build up power. It is like growing a snowball” And the people who started this caucus choose to keep building up power and organize at every opportunity.

If leaders disagree with you, organize on your own!

If your leaders aren’t the ones you hoped for, it may be up to you to change the culture and shape the future of your union. The first step is to get past disappointment or despair. Commit to action.

As in any union situation, don’t act alone. Talk to other co-workers. Your purpose isn’t to convince anyone, but to ask questions. For example: How do you think we’re doing, as a union?

If you get a sense that others share your heartbreak, get yourself ready to talk directly with the union leaders. Be calm, curious, and respectful.

Your leaders may reject your suggestions. But don’t attack the leader, or spread hostility. Instead, figure out a way to build a base and take action. Find a cluster of other union members who are ready to do something. You may want to keep your leaders informed, but don’t ask for their permission. If there’s inadequate information flowing in the union, start an informal channel to share and solicit ideas

You don’t need any permission from current leaders.

https://labornotes.org/2020/02/stewards-corner-what-do-when-your-union-leaders-break-your-heart

Don’t read the air

Many Asian people think they are not welcomed if they are not invited directly. But in reality, it could be that people just forget to email you and you don’t need to get permission to do things.

Educate, Agitate, Organize

These are the three basic steps of organizing. And you can build up power by iterating them at every opportunity.

Educate: Many people may don’t know what happened or how bad it is. People are always busy. You need to talk with them and share information. .e.g. How workspace bullying & discrimination are happening around us; How an international student was fired. (Our article in Chinese);At the last chance action picket line, I talked with people on the picket line, asking them what is their expectation of wage, and asking them do they know our current wage proposal. Surprisingly, no one knows our current wage proposal. You can print booklets and spread them out at the picket line, hand out to people in their office, it is your right to do so.
Agitate: You need to motivate people, and let them know the current situation is not okay and change is necessary.
Organize: You need to turn feelings into action.

Keep escalating and growing up power, don’t stop

It is very likely that you won’t succeed with your first attempt, but don’t give up. Our bargaining campaign is based on escalating, the same is true for rank-and-file organizing. If your union leaders think you are only a small number of people and try to ignore you, don’t give up, keep on growing your influence in your union. I was asked by our bargaining team “Are you the only one thinking so?”, “Who else thinks the same?”. People may fear speaking up against union leaders, and maybe worried about retaliation like sidelining. I choose to speak up alone or with only a few people. But you can do it differently.

Transparency and democracy can change everything

All establishments don’t want change, they hide everything they did wrong, which is also true for union leaders. Don’t overlook the importance of transparency. There was an event by Stop LAPD Spying with several USC student organizations. The person mentioned that LAPD tried to hide police brutality, but they used transparency law to hold those police accountable. They also build coalition with policymakers, trying to improve the transparency law. They have Cop-Watch videos of how cops were beating people and use their database to trace the cop. They use those information to educate people about the police system and promote social change. They campaign whenever something happens, which is reactive organizing. They also organize on a regular basis. It is very similar for us in our union.

How to organize a caucus?

We didn’t do it well, but here are some suggestions for future leaders. Some are based on our failures.

Listen and talk: Don’t assume anything, be humble, ask more open-ended questions, and encourage people to express their opinions.
One-on-one conversation: Group chat doesn’t always work. People can easily get out of the loop when things are happening too fast. If you find people are lost, you may need to talk with them one-on-one in person. There was a case when a person failed to follow up, and we spent more than one hour talking about what happened just in recent weeks.
Be transparent: Share everything you know, good and bad. If your union leader is not sharing information, not telling people there are other options, but you are sharing people those information, people will trust you better.
Social events, get some food: We started in someone’s kitchen/restaurant and people meet for food very often.
International students: We build up our WeChat platform for Chinese international students. Whenever we found someone may be interested, we invite them to contribute a little, like translating, formatting, and writing.
Decision making: This is a good comparison of different decision-making methods. At another USC student org, we proposed a hybrid voting method, people who on zoom can vote. For people who failed to join the meeting, they can vote by emoji reactions within 24 hours. Everyone can make proposals for people to vote.

Organizing Skill

Conflict resolution or How to work together while having disagreement. slide
involvement in decision making can lead to commitment, greater innovation, and productivity.
Aim for the bullseye:

From the organizer’s point of view, think of your fellow members distributed on a dartboard. Your goal is always to move people one step closer to the center of the circle.
In the center is your core group: the people (maybe you?) who are always thinking about organizing and how to get others involved, even on their time off. They might be elected leaders or shop stewards, or not.
In the first ring are the activists who can be counted on to help when an issue heats up. They will take responsibility to get the word out and will ask other people to take action, too.
In the second ring are supporters: people who will wear a button or sign a petition, but don’t take responsibility for getting anyone else involved.
In the third ring are the people who appear most disengaged. They don’t see the union as a factor in their lives, so they don’t participate.
There are also people outside the circle who aren’t just uninvolved—they’re hostile to the union. Don’t waste your time arguing with the haters. Maybe one day something will open their eyes, but it’ll probably be an experience, not a debate, that does it.

Slide

from LABOR NOTES: Secrets of a Successful Organizer. Handouts