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A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers.

In most unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing model. The organising model, as the term refers to trade unions (and sometimes other social-movement organisations is a broad conception of how those organisations should recruit operate and In other unions, the organizer's role is largely that of servicing members and enforcing work rules, similar to the role of a shop steward. Union Steward (aka Shop Steward) is the title of an Official position within the organizational hierarchy of a labor union. In some unions, organizers may also take on industrial/legal roles such as making representations before the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions, tribunals, or courts. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission, or AIRC (known from 1956 to 1973 as the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, and from 1973 to 1988 as the A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its

In North America, a union organizer is a union representative who "organizes" or unionizes non-union companies or worksites. Generally a company is a form of Business organization. The precise definition varies Though some organizers may be volunteers from the union rank-and-file, they are more usually paid professionals. Organizers primarily exist to assist non-union workers in forming chapters of locals, usually by leading them in their efforts.

Contents

Methodology

Organizers employ various methods to secure recognition by the employer as being a legitimate union, the ultimate goal being a collective bargaining agreement. Collective bargaining is the process whereby workers organize together to meet converse and compromise upon the work environment with their employers The methods can be classified as being either top-down organizing or bottom-up organizing. [1]

Top-down organizing focuses on persuading management through salesmanship or pressure tactics. Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise The salesmanship may include offering access to resources such as to a well-trained and skilled supply of labor or access to union cartels of contractors. A cartel is a formal (explicit agreement among firms Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve Pressure tactics may include picketing with the intention of embarrassing management or disrupting business, as well as assisting the government in investigating employment law and labor law violations. Labour law (also known as employment or labor law is the body of Laws administrative rulings and precedents which address the legal rights of and restrictions Labour law (also known as employment or labor law is the body of Laws administrative rulings and precedents which address the legal rights of and restrictions [2] A strict enforcement of these laws might result in fines and might serve to hurt the violator's chances in a competitive bidding process. Top-down organizing is generally considered easier than bottom-up and is practiced more in the construction industry. In the fields of Architecture and Civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the Building or assembling of Infrastructure [3]

Bottom-up organizing focuses on the workers and usually involves a certification process, normally overseen by a labor relations board such as the NLRB in the U. The National Labor Relations Board (or NLRB) is an Independent agency of the United States Government charged with conducting S. The process entails either a secret ballot election or, in some cases, a card-signing effort (called card check). In either case, should a majority of the employees agree to union representation, the results bind the company to recognize and negotiate with the union. Normally, both sides are given a chance to campaign for or against unionization, though management has a decided advantage due to their greater access to the employees. It is in this electioneering model where the organizer really organizes: arranging meetings, devising strategy, and developing an internal structure known as an organizing committee. A committee (some of which are titled instead as a "Commission" or other terms discussed below in) is a type of small Deliberative assembly that is usually intended It is from the pool of activists recruited to the organizing committee that the union typically later draws its shop stewards. Activism, in a general sense can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change Though some mistake organizing as strictly being a recruitment effort, numerous obstacles emerge which require more than simple enlistment and promotion of the union. During organizing, management has greater means to reward or punish workers, far overshadowing methods available to the union. [4][5] For this reason, in most countries, laws such as the U. S. National Labor Relations Act, guarantee the rights of workers to seek union membership and forbid management's use of undue influence such as bribes or threats. The National Labor Relations Act (or Wagner Act) is a 1935 United States federal law that protects the rights of most workers in the Private sector Nonetheless, such charges are hard to prove and the labor movement believes the entire process to be slanted against them in enforcement and interpretation of labor laws. [4][6] Sometimes, organizing involves legal wrangling over issues such as voter eligibility. In such cases, issues are often settled by appeal to the Labor Board who serves, essentially, as a referee during the process. Intrigue during heated campaigns is not uncommon. In various cases, one or both sides have used spying and information-gathering techniques tantamount to industrial espionage. Industrial espionage or corporate espionage is Espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of National security purposes

Personality

Organizers must be determined, charismatic, and persuasive individuals able to sway groups to action under trying circumstances when jobs are on the line. The word charisma (origin from the Greek word χάρισμα (kharisma, "gift" or "divine favor" from kharizesthai, "to favor" [7] Organizers must be strong enough to stand up to constant confrontation and must be willing to take risks and to risk failure. Since failure rates of organizing campaigns are high, "burn-out" among organizers is prevalent. Organizers frequently work under the constraints of limited resources (see sections on organizing as cause and controversies). [8][9]

Cause within a cause

Within the labor movement, organizing is the cause within the cause. In most industrialized nations, there has been a steady decline in union membership and in the influence of organized labor since the 1950s. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive A response to this decline has been a renewed organizing effort. The heads of unions are well aware of the problem. In the U. S. , many labor activists have blamed John Sweeney, the current President of the AFL-CIO, for not doing enough to organize. John Sweeney (born May 5, 1934) is the president of the AFL-CIO. American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL-CIO, is a National trade union center, the largest federation of [10] In fact, this has been cited as the genesis of the split within the American labor movement that led to the formation of the Change to Win Federation, a rival umbrella organization of North American unions set up as an alternative to the AFL-CIO in 2005. The Change to Win Federation is a Coalition of American Labor unions originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO For the fictional company set in the Resident Evil videogame series see Umbrella Corporation. Many unions see organizing as a way to ensure the future of their organization. Unions who emphasize organizing and are expansionist and are said to have the "organizing model. In general expansionism consists of expansionist policies While some have linked the term to promoting Economic growth (in contrast to no growth / Sustainable policies " By contrast, other unions are said to have the "servicing model," spending most of their resources on providing services to the existing membership (i. The service model (or servicing model) generally describes an approach whereby unions aim to satisfy members' demands for resolving grievances and securing benefits through methods e. , non-expansionist).

Controversies

Within the labor movement, there is some resistance to organizing, though more in deed than in word. Organizing can be seen as a drain on scarce resources with insignificant returns and with results tenuous. [11] Most unions in the U. S. adopt a service model and eschew organizing. In transient industries such as construction, an increase in the supply of labor from newly organized shops may cause the supply of jobs to dwindle below what an increased membership can absorb. In Civil engineering, a transient is used to refer to any pressure wave that is short lived (i [12]

Most disputes between unions are jurisdictional (territorial). In Law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak" is the practical Authority Union jurisdiction is based on geographic scope, craft, industry, historical claim, and compromise. Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena A craft is a Skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a Trade or particular art For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Unions have overlapping jurisdictions. Critics within the labor movement have blamed the movement itself for the fractious effects of union-on-union competition and perceived issues of raiding. Competition is a rivalry between individuals groups nations or animals for territory or resources Expansionism and the scramble for members in organizing programs bring to light these border issues.

Opponents of organizing, mainly in management and business, argue that unionization divides employees against their employer and results in increased costs. Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise Such accusations are not entirely without foundation: Indeed, a successful organizing campaign usually demonstrably benefits the union at the expense of management. Critics will often circulate horror stories about plant closures and retaliatory firings to discourage union activity and uptake among the workers. Real or imagined, such horror stories are taken as warnings and have a chilling effect on voting. Though illegal,[13] retaliatory terminations remain a problem for organizers to overcome. [14] Fear is the leading obstacle to organizing. [15]

Counter organizing

In bottom-up organizing, management and labor are pitted against each other and management often schedules retaliatory, aggressive tactics in an effort to break the chapter, called "union-busting. Union busting is a practice that is undertaken by an employer or their agents to prevent employees from joining a labor union, or to disempower subvert or destroy unions " The intention of such union-busting may be to "nip it in the bud" before getting locked into a costly collective bargaining agreement that normally will entail improved wages and benefits for workers. Management may feel that the organizing campaign encourages and capitalizes upon worker disobedience and perceived disloyalty. [16] For this reason, management may hire anti-union consultants or lawyers known as "union-busters" or "union avoidance consultants. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person " With the goal of thwarting organizing, union-busters typically have a two-pronged approach: firstly, management will cut deals with individual workers to betray the union and secondly, to exploit loopholes in labor law in an effort to derail or sandbag the election process. The emergence of union-busting as an industry is a relatively new phenomenon and is described in Martin Levitt's book Confessions of A Union Buster. [17] Prior to the emergence of the union-avoidance industry, practitioners were mainly "goon squads" also used for strike-breaking. [18] In the U. S. , the largest and most well-known goon squad for hire was the Pinkerton Detective Agency,[19] still active today, though in a different capacity. "We Never Sleep" the famous motto of the Pinkerton Agency redirects here William W. Delaney's "My Father Was Killed By Pinkerton Men" is a song about the violence that often surrounded early American labor strife.

Organizing in popular culture

The most famous movie about organizing is the 1979 factually-based film Norma Rae, the story of a Jewish organizer from New York who came to the American South to organize a textile mill. Norma Rae is a 1979 film which tells the story of a woman from a small town in the Southern United States who becomes involved in the labor union PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous South is one of Cardinal directions and is opposite to the North. A textile is a flexible material comprised of a network of natural or artificial Fibres often referred to as thread or Yarn. A cotton mill is a Factory housing spinning and Weaving Machinery Cotton was a leading sector in the Industrial Revolution, as cotton He recruits Norma Rae, played by Sally Field. Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American two-time Academy Award -winning actress Norma becomes a key union activist who defies management at great personal risk. Activism, in a general sense can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change

The 1987 production of Matewan is another factually-based story of an organizer who visits a small mining town in West Virginia and who is able to unite rival ethnic groups against a common enemy: the company. Matewan ( 1987) is an American drama by John Sayles, illustrating the events of a Coal mine -workers' strike West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by

Both of these stories feature outsiders entering rural company towns and stirring workers up against exploitative management. Rural areas can be large and isolated (also referred to as "the country" and/or "the countryside over the course of time A company town is a Town or City in which all Real estate, Buildings (both residential and commercial) Utilities This is a common theme in organizing. The workers are cast as simple commoners being oppressed by powerful managers cast in the role of villains. In British law a commoner is someone who is neither the Sovereign nor a peer. Oppression is the act of using power to empower and/or privilege a group at the expense of disempowering marginalizing silencing and subordinating another group The organizer is portrayed as a liberator. There is some truth in these stories since companies did, in fact, historically hire armed thugs to break up organizing drives through unethical and oppressive means. [5] Modern unions work within the existing system, rather than against it, through sophisticated political action programs. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Most unions have reinvented themselves as streamlined, professional machines. [20]

10,000 Black Men Named George, released in 2002, is a movie based on the true story of A. Philip Randolph, the famous black organizer who organized the railroad company's largely black Pullman Porters. Asa Philip Randolph ( April 15 1889 &ndash May 16 1979) was a prominent twentieth century African-American civil rights leader Black is the Color of objects that do not emit or Reflect Light in any part of the Visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of Pullman Porter redirects here For the 1919 film starring Fatty Arbuckle, see The Pullman Porter The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded

The film Bread and Roses (2001) depicts the Service Employees International Union's "Justice for Janitors" campaign to organize cleaners. Bread and Roses is a 2000 Film directed by Ken Loach, starring Adrien Brody. Service Employees International Union ( SEIU) is a labor union representing more than 2 million workers In Florida a high-profile strike at the University of Miami Justice for Janitors is a Janitor organization movement and part of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU The story is also a love story between an idealistic young organizer and a female Hispanic immigrant among those he is organizing. In Western civilization, Idealism is the philosophy which maintains that the Ultimate nature of reality is ideal or based upon ideas values essences The so-called Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term

Both of these stories incorporate pro-union messages with ethnic determination. In the case of the Pullman Porters, Randolph is remembered as a civil rights hero. A hero (from Greek grc ἥρως hērōs) in Greek mythology and Folklore, was originally a Demigod, the offspring of a mortal and The Justice for Janitors campaign is about immigrants' rights, as many of the organized janitors are from Hispanic or Slavic countries. Hispanic (hispano hispánico hispânico Hispānus adjective from ''Hispānia'', the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) is a term that historically The status of the characters as minorities paints a picture of them as being outside of, or on the margins of, the American Dream, thus further casting workers and activists as underdogs. The American Dream is Belief in the Freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States to achieve their goals The underdog theme is an inspirational archetype in myth. An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer See also Mythology Myth is derived from the Greek word μύθος mythos, which simply means 'story'

In the 2005 action movie Four Brothers, one of the characters is a former union activist who turns the bad guy's henchmen against him by informally organizing them against their boss based on the common organizing themes of a greater share in the profits and respect on the job. For the jazz standard written by Jimmy Giuffre, see Four Brothers (jazz standard Four Brothers ( 2005) is an

In the 1997 action movie Grosse Pointe Blank, Dan Aykroyd's villainous character pursues fellow assassin John Cusack in order to include him in a ridiculous assassins' union. Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American Comedy movie directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM (born July 1, 1952) is an Academy Award -nominated and Emmy Award -winning Canadian-American AssassiNation is the sixth album by Krisiun, released in 2006 on Century Media. John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American Film actor and Screenwriter.

These latter two movies use organizing as a plot device, though they involve black market businesses and are far-fetched for this reason. Nonetheless, they demonstrate how, absent a union's presence, the same issues arise in any vocation. A vocation is an occupation for which a person is suited trained or qualified Also, both of the movies take place in the Detroit, Michigan area, a city which has historically been a hotbed of union activity and which has produced some great organizers. Michigan ( is a Midwestern state of the United States of America.

The 1992 production Hoffa, starring Jack Nicholson as famed labor leader Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters, begins the story where Hoffa's career began: organizing truck drivers and warehouse workers in and around Detroit. Hoffa is a 1992 Biographical film based on the Life and mysterious Death of Teamsters Union leader James Riddle ("Jimmy" Hoffa ( February 14, 1913 - disappeared July 30, 1975, exact TemplateInfobox Union for usage-->The International Brotherhood of Teamsters ( IBT) formerly known by the Jimmy Hoffa went on to become one of the most powerful labor leaders in U. S. history.

The 1978 movie F.I.S.T, tells the same story of Hoffa's beginnings as an organizer and of his rise to power, albeit with more liberties taken. FIST is a 1978 movie directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester Stallone plays Hoffa as a man with good intentions, dogged on both sides, by both sides of the law. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter.

Both Hoffa stories feature Hoffa as a tough "man of the people" and chronicle how his organizing swelled the ranks of the Teamsters. Hoffa was notorious for taking an "ends justifies the means" approach to organizing. Hoffa's legacy remains: his son, James P. Hoffa, is the current General President of the Teamsters. James Phillip Hoffa (born May 19, 1941) is the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

In an episode of the popular American sit-com The Office, the characters hold an organizing meeting which ends with a manager threatening to fire everyone involved. The character played by comedian Patrice O'Neal tells the boss, "This isn't over. A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience primarily by making them laugh Patrice Lumumba Malcolm Oneal (born December 7, 1969) is an American Stand-up comedian, Radio personality, and Actor "

The Fred Savage sitcom Working had an episode where the main character organizes his fellow workers into a union and tells management it’s because he really cares about the well-being of his coworkers, exhibiting solidarity. Fredrick Aaron Savage (born July 9 1976) is an American Actor and television and Film director, perhaps best known for

The song "Solidarity Forever" by Ralph Chaplin has become the anthem of large parts of the labor movement such as those in North America. "Solidarity Forever", written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915 is perhaps the most famous union anthem after The Internationale. Ralph Hosea Chaplin (1887&mdash1961 became a labor Activist, when at the age of seven he saw a worker shot dead during the Pullman strike in Chicago

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Breslin, Organize or Die, 2003, p. Labor unions in the United States function as legally recognized representatives of workers in numerous industries Collective bargaining is the process whereby workers organize together to meet converse and compromise upon the work environment with their employers The National Labor Relations Board, an agency within the United States government, was created in 1935 as part of the National Labor Relations Act The Employee Free Choice Act ( EFCA) is proposed Legislation in the United States which aims to "amend the National Labor Relations Act César Estrada Chávez ( March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) born in Yuma Arizona, was a Mexican-American farm worker Labor For the Baseball player Walter Ruether see Dutch Ruether. Walter Philip Reuther ( September 1, 1907 – The Battle of the Overpass was an incident on 26 May, 1937, in which labor organizers clashed with Ford Motor Company Security guards The Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, and also known as Joseph Hillström ( October 7, 1879 or 1882 – November 19, 1915 Mary Harris Jones ( May 1, 1830 or August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930) better known as Mother Jones, born in Samuel Gompers (January 27 1850 - December 13 1924 was an American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Sidney Hillman ( March 23, 1887 - July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader Labor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence committing sabotage sowing dissent or engaging in other similar activities typically within Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the Freedom of association, is the Individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively Labor history (or labour history) is a broad field of study concerned with the development of the Labor movement and the Working class. Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of Legal rights and claimed Human rights having to do with Labor relations between Workers Newsies is a 1992 Disney Live action Film musical starring Christian Bale, David Moscow, and Harry Van Arsdale II ( November 23, 1905 &ndash February 17, 1986) was the head of the New York City Central Labor Council Norma Rae is a 1979 film which tells the story of a woman from a small town in the Southern United States who becomes involved in the labor union Asa Philip Randolph ( April 15 1889 &ndash May 16 1979) was a prominent twentieth century African-American civil rights leader Wall Street is a 1987 American film directed by Oliver Stone and features Charlie Sheen as a young stockbroker desperate 16.
  2. ^ DeFreitas, "Can Construction Unions Organize New Immigrants?", Regional Labor Review, Fall 2006, p. 26-27.
  3. ^ Breslin, Organize or Die, 2003, p. 16-17
  4. ^ a b Diamond and Sneiderman, Organizing Guide for Local Unions, 1992, p. 52.
  5. ^ a b La Botz, A Troublemaker's Handbook, 1991, p. 8; Kelber, My 70 Years in the Labor Movement, 2006, p. 29-30; Murolo and Chitty, From The Folks Who Brought You The Weekend, 2001, p. 176.
  6. ^ Bai, "The New Boss," January 30, 2005, p. 40; DeFreitas, "Anxious Anniversary: Is Recession Stalking the 5-Year-Old Recovery?", 2006, p. 8.
  7. ^ Breslin, Organize or Die, 2003, p. 60.
  8. ^ Bai, "The New Boss," January 30, 2005, p. 44.
  9. ^ La Botz, A Troublemaker's Handbook, 1991, p. 211.
  10. ^ Kelber, My 70 Years in the Labor Movement, 2006, p. 343, 359-360; Bai, "The New Boss," January 30, 2005, p. 43.
  11. ^ Kelber, My 70 Years in the Labor Movement, 2006, p. 362; Breslin, Organize or Die, 2003, p. 60.
  12. ^ Fitch, Solidarity for Sale, 2006, p. 47
  13. ^ Office of General Counsel, A Guide To Basic Law and Procedure Under the National Labor Relations Act, 1997, p. 19, 23.
  14. ^ Diamond, Labor Law Handbook for Organizing Unions Under the National Labor Relations Act, 1991, p. 20; Kelber, My 70 Years in the Labor Movement, 2006, p. 29-30; Rundle, "Starbucks Union Battle Goes Before Labor Board," Metro New York, July 10, 2007, p. 4.
  15. ^ La Botz, A Troublemaker's Handbook, 1991, p. 178; DeFreitas, "Can Construction Unions Organize New Immigrants?", Regional Labor Review, Fall 2006, p. 28; Murolo and Chitty, From The Folks Who Brought You The Weekend, 2001, p. 177.
  16. ^ Kelber, My 70 Years in the Labor Movement, 2006, p. 39.
  17. ^ *Levitt and Toczynski, Confessions of A Union Buster, 1993.
  18. ^ Kelber, My 70 Years in the Labor Movement, 2006, p. 24; Diamond and Sneiderman, Organizing Guide for Local Unions, 1992, p. 12.
  19. ^ Murolo and Chitty, From The Folks Who Brought You The Weekend, 2001, p. 105, 131.
  20. ^ Bai, "The New Boss," New York Times Magazine, January 30, 2005, p. 41, 42; Breslin, Organize or Die, 2003, p. 9.

References

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