Retail store I work at that is a large Midwestern hardware store is garbage in terms of its treatment and relations to workers. I’m not saying I will singlehandedly unionize it, but how can I start spreading the seeds of pro union rhetoric?
I thought about “dropping accidentally” pro union pamphlets and papers around. Maybe talking to more workers in secret and hushed tones about what they think.
Any thoughts or advice?
Please reach out to a local union if you can. The IWW has a great Organizer Training 101 that they’ve largely moved online with COVID, and it’s honestly a great resource. When I took it, it was a weekend class, but they’ve stretched it to like two weeks as just evenings in some cases to accommodate people’s schedules.
The important things are to avoid saying “union,” and to keep it a secret from the boss for as long as possible. We are extremely propagandized and house broken to react negatively to “union.” Once the boss knows a unionization drive is occurring they will hire a union busting firm. Bosses will spend well in excess of what acquiescing to their workers would cost to prevent a union from forming.
Also, really focus on peoples’ individual issues. Talk to your coworkers one on one, preferably outside of work as well. Figure out what pisses them off about work and use it to agitate them. Then provide them a solution of coming together and fighting to get an easy win. Then, use that easy win to get more people involved and go after harder targets, but keep it progressive. Don’t try to start a strike to turn it into a workers’ coop on day one. Something like ten of you marching on the boss to deliver a demand (that that boss can fulfill) is much more likely to succeed.
Agitate (about specific issues)
Educate (about how organizing together is the solution)
Inoculate (against antiunion propaganda)
Organize (delegate tasks to other to keep from burning out)
Union (the last step of this process)
I was a paying member in the IWW for about a year or so but I stopped in order to focus more on the PCUSA but I went through and read a bunch of their literature while I still could (maybe I still can I’m not sure).
I brought up to one coworkers that we should unionize due to explicitly our low wages and they agreed, but it’s a large store and I already overheard another coworker in a different department say the “increasing wages increases prices” line to someone.
How does one decide what union to look into or to form a contract with? That part I am clueless on.
How does one decide what union to look into or to form a contract with? That part I am clueless on.
I don’t know, honestly. The IWW model is you organizing your shop yourself and they give information and advice, since there are no paid organizers. The more conservative business union types have paid organizers they can use, but they’re also business unions.
My suggestion is to at least start with the IWW model of self organization, but start reaching out to every union you think has even the slightest relation and see who bites.
Remember, your first few tries are almost certain to fail. Not to quash hope, but we’re all on square one these days, so don’t get too put off when it doesn’t work out right away.
I think I know which Midwestern hardware store chain you're talking about. Even a hushed whisper about unions not being literally Hitler and John himself will crash his pickup through the front door of the store to come and fire you. They refuse to hire people who formerly were in unions (even many years back), and sometimes will even refuse to hire people who once worked in industries he associates with union involvement, whether or not the individual was unionized. I swear, the dude is the most violently anti-union person on the planet. The only way that agitating isn't going to result in your immediate termination is if all of it is done outside the store and at a second location.
I’m several states away from him. But I was in a union and a steward for a bit in my old job. Obviously that wasn’t brought up when I was hired. There are protections under the NLRA but I would be as secret squirrel about things as possible. I at least want to agitate as much as I can.
I'll be honest with you, it's gonna be the hardest uphill battle you'll ever fight in your life. All management associated with the store, even the most lowly of the low, gets a 60% pay cut if the store unionizes, and they're all well aware of it. They send just about every manager to a week-long union busting class. They have a huge material reason and the knowledge to come down on you as hard as the owner would about that. Keep all of it off the property, don't talk to anyone you think might tattle or even just mention it in passing at work like a blockhead.
If you manage to make any headway, that's badass. Just start working on getting another job in the background, because the odds are extremely high that you'll get termed. Sorry to be a turbo-bummer, but it's broadly considered the most anti-union company in America.
It’s always an uphill battle here unfortunately. The 60% thing blows my mind but I’m not surprised they would resort to those tactics. I don’t expect to get a stew unionized, but if I can at least educate some people and agitate for the working class even a little I will be satisfied.
I wish I had know. How anti union they were before I started, but I was desperate for a job when I moved. I appreciate your concern and honesty comrade.
Break rooms, maybe near their departments, or by their stuff. Toilets wouldn’t work in this case because they are public restrooms but maybe.
also , people (no matter what they Talk) are receptive to Authority... "We gonna Unionize" carries alot more power then "we should discuss if we should maybe" ...
Frame it in a "its gonna happen way.. "
