Getting nothing but complaints and no workable grievances?

This is a very common problem especially with young or inexperienced groups.  But don’t think it can’t happen do you because your group has been around a while.  It can.

Many times members will bend the Local’s ear with complaints about what the company is or isn’t doing and they will expect the Local to do something about it right then and there.  But when you asked them to sign a grievance or provide a statement they said “I don’t want to get involved” or “I’m afraid of retaliation”.

Sound familiar?  It did for me but for a different reason.  See I worked in “law enforcement” as a guard for many years prior to getting involved in the Union and this was a very common problem when officers would get called to respond and the citizen demanded that they do something about it right then and there.  They would also get a similar response when it came time to swear a complaint out.  “Oh, I don’t want to get involved” etc.  You get the picture.

Marshal Dillon

So how to you get around this?  That is the $64,000 dollar question after all.

First and foremost you must work hard to communicate and explain to the Member what could, would or should happen.  Walk them through the steps should they decide to file a grievance and tell them what could happen as well as what should happen.  But don’t forget to tell them what won’t happen if no one steps up to do the right thing.

Think of a Local like a small town or village just starting out.  In the beginning everyone had to fend for themselves.  Those with power took advantage of those that did not until the people banded together and formed a governing body to watch over everyone.

This governing body had to write and pass the laws that were going to bind everyone and after that they had to set up a mechanism of enforcement and justice.

Deputy Barney Fife

In the early days the village only had a sheriff with maybe a couple of deputies to help out part-time.  As time went by the village grew into a town and finally into a city with a government that grew to fill the city’s needs.

Local Unions are that government and the Stewards are the “Cops of the Shop” and just like the law in your town they also had to deal with reluctant citizens who would rather complain than act.  It’s your job to educate and encourage those citizens to do the right thing.

Albert Einstein once wrote that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.  You need to tell the member to stop complaining and start filing grievances.

How to Look up Your Union's Financial Information

Believe it or not anyone can look up the financial information of any union in the United States by following a few simple steps:

• Go to www.dol.gov
• At the top of the page, click where is says A to Z.

• At the A to Z Index click on the letter O.
• At the O Index click on Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).
• Click on View a Union Report

• Click on the drop down menu next to Union Name by Abbreviation and start typing the name of your Union and click on it when it shows.  Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the page and click submit.
• This should bring you to a list of all the Locals within that Union.  Simply find the Local you are looking for a click on it.
• Finally, you will see a list of that Local's financial reports by year.  Click on the one desired and start reading.

How to breath new life into a flagging local.

So once again it’s time for a Local meeting and once again the same three or four people show up who always show up.  It’s enough to make you doubt your own resolve.

What’s a local to do?

I recently watched a video entitled “History of Activism – Causes.com”  (you can find it  at History of Activism - Causes.com).  This video takes us on a short tour of human activism from 400 BC to the 1990 and the fall of the Berlin wall. 

It goes on to talk about timeless principals of grass roots organizing and it was this part of the video that caught my attention and it is these four principals which I want to bring to you.

Bring together people who have shared interests.

Form common identity through dialogue.

Build capacity by distributing responsibility to as many people as possible.

Act collectively to exercise influence.

That’s when it became clear to me.  As Union leaders we need to take these principals and apply them to our Locals. 

Bring together people who have shared interests. Each and every member in your local has shared interests and it is in their best interest and the interest of their fellow members to come together.

Form common identity through dialogue.  We spend the majority of our lives identifying ourselves as individuals that many of us have forgotten what it means to truly belong to a greater cause.  Many of us need reminding.

Build capacity by distributing responsibility to as many people as possible.  Do you tell members what the Local expects of them?  Do they know what is required of a member? Do they know how they can support the efforts of the group? And if they don’t, how will they ever succeed as members?  Make everyone in the group personally and individually responsible for the results attained by the group.

Act collectively to exercise influence.  Let’s face it.  The Boss has more money and more people who are willing to not only jump when he says so; they are climbing over each other to see how high they can go.  Yet when it comes to sheer numbers the Local wins but only if it can forge those numbers into a solid wall of force.  It can be done.  I know we have all heard about it, read about, maybe even seen it. 

So how do we go about putting this into place? 

1.  Communicate with your members on a regular basis.  Don’t wait for them to come to you.  If you do you will never see them until it’s time to file a grievance.  Publish something on a regular basis, a newsletter, a blog, website, a letter, something to let them know that you are still out there fighting.  Tell them what is going on and what is coming up.  Invite their comment and invite them to a meeting.  Make sure to let them know when and where.

2.  Tell them what the Local does, will do and can do.  Most of your members probably have a distorted view or expectation of what to expect from the Local.  I can’t count the times I have had a member demand to know what the Union did for their money.  By the way, if you don’t know how to answer this question, contact me at mhough@unionbastards.com.

3.  Make sure they understand what the Local and the Union expect of them.  It is guaranteed that if you do not do this you will never achieve the results you desire.  If you don’t already, I highly recommend you swear every new member in at least once if not more often.  It serves to remind everyone of the obligation that a member incurs as well as helping to create and foster that common identity that was mentioned earlier.

It takes hard work and tireless dedication to keep a group together long enough just to get a CBA in place and it takes twice as much work to hold on to everything your members have fought to gain.

Keep up the good fight.

Michael P. Hough

 History of Activism - Causes.com