About three years ago, I was part of an effort to organize a local business. It is fairly large, as far as retail establishments go, and it is one of the few industries where independent businesses have seen some effort from the employees to be organized. However, the employees at the bookstore where I formerly worked chose not to join ranks with their counterparts at Powell’s.
Especially on a day when Senate Republicans killed legislation to help workers organize, a couple of reflections on the organizing process and why we didn’t succeed below the fold.
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So, as I learned from the Sound of Music, the beginning is a very good place to start. Several of us who had worked at the bookstore for several years were fed up with the salary freeze. We kept being told that sales were down. However, that didn’t stop the owner from taking many weeks of vacation (at least two months worth) to various international destinations. We were convinced that we were suffering the brunt of any slow down in sales, whether in the form of reduced schedules or no raises.
One day, one of the key players said, "we need a union."
Before long a group of the employees were meeting and actively seeking a union that would represent us. Most unions said, "no," if they even returned our call. The UFCW local 7, jumped right on board. Locally, they are best known best for representing grocery store workers.
We had a larger gathering, formed our organizing committee, and divided up the list of employees to contact and ask them to sign a union card. At the same time, the Union sent a letter to the management saying that we were attempting to organize. Immediately tensions arose, especially toward those of us on the organizing committee. Nothing really illegal, but minor intimidations for sure. Lines were drawn, and those who were for the union and those against gathered into camps, and there were many people who were just in the middle. We continued our organizing efforts and management began a propaganda war.
The strangest part of the whole affair was that people had a loyalty to the management and the owner. I still do not understand this loyalty.
Yes, they had employed people for varying numbers of years, but they also had shown no loyalty to many of our compatriots, letting them go, and they had refused to give us raises. Yes, the management had claimed to fight for us and work to get us raises, but as soon as the organizing notice arrived, they showed where their loyalties were, and those loyalties were not to the people. And yes, it is easy to believe your boss is your friend when you work in the same room, spend much time working together, and you are friendly. However, that’s the boss, and the boss can fire you at a moment’s notice.
There was a large anti-union meeting, and then followed small group meetings with the owner. We did our best to make sure that a member of the organizing committee attended each meeting. These meetings didn’t go well for us. We did our best, but most of us had two jobs, lives, plus the stress of organizing. Management put everything on hold to fight us. The resource battle was lost before it had begun.
Eventually, a couple of pro-management people along with some fence sitters suggested that we keep talking, that we withdraw our organizing petition and postpone the election to the last minute in hopes of bridging our differences.
If memory serves, people were promised some small raise, like 10 cents an hour. That plus large Christmas bonuses and numerous tales of woe from the owner, and the momentum shifted away from us. Ultimately, we abandoned our efforts, since it was clear that we did not have the votes to win.
In hindsight, one of our biggest failures was that we thought people would see the emotional argument. We are being oppressed! The man is putting us down! Let’s make him pay us what we are worth!!! Management responded with "facts" and "figures" (I think we are all aware that anyone can spin facts and figures to tell any story); after all, we did not have access to these. Many people responded to the facts and figures and all of the pretty charts and graphs. We did not have anything, save handouts from the UFCW (which were good, but not that specific to our cause).
Another area that we failed was not thinking through our demographic. We live in a well-to-do area, and most adults here are part of the "owning class." Many of them work, but they also earn money off of other people’s labor. Very few people are blue collar. As a result, there was a bias against the union from many of the older or better-to-do employees.
Lastly, we did not anticipate that people would assume that management was on their side. Enough people believed this that we failed. I just don’t get that. I’ve always kept a certain distance from anyone who can fire me, realizing that they cannot be my friend since at the end of the day they have a job of evaluating me.
The UFCW was a great help. Our organizer gave us a tremendous amount of time, especially considering how much time he was putting into Wal-Mart! They were responsive and generous.
So, it was a grueling 6 months. It was a good fight, and I would fight it again. By the end of the following summer, everyone on the organizing committee left for something new, and universally, we moved onto better things. One person is now even working in the non-profit sector; the unionizing work made him want employment with purpose beyond the paycheck. Some of us, like me, found other crap jobs while we finished degrees. Others of us went onto new careers or resurrected old careers.
Let me say one last time that it was a good fight, and I’d fight it again. Only next time, I’ll be less naïve.