Going One on One with Your Members
TWU has invested a lot of training resources on grassroots organizing or what is also called membership mobilization. By that we mean reaching every member personally on important bargaining and political issues. Think about it. What kind of a message could your local transmit to your employer if every member could be called upon to sign a petition, send an email, march or demonstrate, or wear a union button or shirt?

The process works if the steward or the local union activist speaks directly with members on the key issue.

For example, suppose your contract expires in the next few months. Your union usually needs some input as where the members want the bargaining process to go. Do they want a long contract or a shorter one? Should the health plan be changed? Should the union be bargaining for longevity increases?

Locals usually take the members’ pulse through a contract survey. Traditionally, surveys are conducted through the mail. But the answers received by the local might not truly indicate what all the members want. Not everyone bothers to respond to a mail survey. If the stewards instead asked each member to fill out a short questionnaire during break, the union might get a higher proportion of surveys filled out. Then the local would be in a better position to understand what the members really want to achieve in negotiations.

This procedure is one part of what we call one-on-one or internal organizing and it produces some important results. First, it insures that there is a connection between the steward or activist and the member. The member is asked to do something that is simple but important in fulfilling his/her role as a union member. This is the beginning of a longer process in which the member becomes a more active member. The local gets feedback directly from the rank-and-file.

Once the local begins this process, it becomes a lot easier to involve the membership regularly. How many times have you heard from members that they don’t get information from their local? This is one method that can supplement the monthly meeting, newsletter and bulletin board as a way of communication. And it functions in both directions.

First, the local needs to convene a meeting of its officers, stewards and its grassroots coordinators who will be running the mobilization. They need to divide up the workplace so that the stewards and activists will meet every member within the time period that has been set aside for the campaign.

Once the issue of the campaign has been decided, the committee then has to give out assignments. Suppose the local has a contract survey to be filled out. Some thought has to be given to how it will be distributed so that the local can get an accurate and good response.

The steward may meet some resistance. We’ve all heard the responses: "I don’t have time to fill out the survey." "It doesn’t matter, the union won’t listen to me." "Next, you’ll ask me to be a steward." We call them "yeah . . .buts."

The committee needs to anticipate these objections and develop responses to each of them. Take the objection that, " Yeah, but it doesn’t matter, the union won’t listen to me." Think about some real responses. One might be: "You might have felt that way in the past. But we are going personally to every member to listen to what he or she wants. Does that sound like the union isn’t listening?" Do this with all anticipating objections.

Then the group must sit down and role-play the responses. The more you practice, the more confident the committee will be when it begins the mobilization. Practice the basic rap. And then begin the process.

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