How to Start a Union in Ten Steps (tags)
(below are the lessons taken from a successful organizing drive in 1997) 1) Be the best worker at your workplace If you are to influence your co-workers to join a union, you’d better already have their respect at work. This doesn’t mean that you must be the absolute best, but that you are a leader and rank among one of the best. This first step is the all-important foundation for your effort, directly or indirectly affecting EVERY other step toward forming a union. It helps also to be the best liked co-worker. Not that you need to be prom-king/queen popular, but that you are easily approachable, social, and generally kind. In being so, you’ll make your job of talking with your co-workers about a union – which constitutes 95% of the work of organizing — MUCH easier. If your trust is earned as a good worker and friend, you can better expect that your ideas will be not only better received, but kept away from management during the initial stage of secrecy.