Learn the secret to holding union meetings with high attendance and high participation. In this interactive workshop, we’ll hear what has worked at different workplaces, such as parking lot meetings, 10-minute meetings, contract clinics, and monthly union meetings, member to member. Every participant will get to have a one-to-one talk about creating their own union meetings in the workplace.
This workshop is designed to take participants (new or experienced in bargaining) through each stage of the process. We'll cover best practices for preparing your team and drafting proposals, tactics at the table and pacing during bargaining, ratification once you reach a tentative agreement, and implementation. You'll leave with notes, ideas, and a useful packet of materials.
Increasing participation and democracy means increasing power. So how can you as a union leader move beyond administering bureaucracy, toward engaging members in all aspects of the union? You'll leave this interactive workshop with active plans to increase democracy in your union.
Without preparation, bargaining teams can spend their caucus time reacting to the boss and lose track of their goals. Learn strategies to use that time to build consensus, make key decisions, and push your bargaining forward with a unified team.
"These kids don't want to work any more!" "These boomers ruined it all for us!" Generational divides are played up in the media, and show up at our workplaces and in our unions. This session will explore what's behind generational conflict at work, and share strategies for building unity.
Are you a blue-collar worker toiling in a factory building stuff? Share strategies and learn from other workers in the manufacturing sector about how they've won stronger contracts and transformed their unions.
Unions can’t expect workers in our shops to line up for a membership card or get active in the union—we need to go out and engage them. Hear from organizers who have taken on the challenge.
Women and gender-nonconforming workers face a host of additional challenges on the job—not just from the boss, but also sometimes from co-workers and union officials, particularly in male-dominated jobs. Join us for solution-oriented conversations about being the “only” on a job site, sexual harassment, pregnancy and childcare, gender discrimination, the importance of mentoring networks, and solidarity on the job. Transgender and nonbinary workers are welcome.
A huge portion of your tax money goes to the Pentagon. This money, used to wage unnecessary wars, could be spent instead on programs that support the real needs of workers. Besides taxes, we pay for excessive militarism in other ways: lost benefits, deaths, and trauma. Yet labor has often endorsed wars. How can we get our unions to endorse cuts to military spending? How can labor and anti-war veterans work together?
If the right to strike is our most powerful weapon, why do we give it away in exchange for a union contract? Can we bargain loopholes that allow us to strike while the contract is in effect? What strategies can we use to water down no-strike clauses so we can use our collective power more effectively? If you and your co-workers ever wished you didn’t have to wait until your contract expired to strike, this workshop is for you.
