I know this is going to sound really dumb, but I want to help unionize my state, and I am aware of two heavily exploited and under-represented groups.
I am qualified to work in entry-mid level positions in both of these fields but… I want to unionize them from the outside instead of dealing with the shit from the inside. I can’t work those places because they are pretty abusive and I have an exceptionally low tolerance for that crap at this point, plus I’m kinda very much a communist, and this whole model we have doesn’t work for me.
Instead, I want to form/expand an organization for at least one of them. The one I’m looking to focus on is lab workers, and if that works, go from there. What would I need to do for that to happen in Wisconsin? Is it even possible to form an external workers union? I know there’s some limits to public sector bargaining in Wisconsin, and while I don’t think that applies to private sector, I don’t know whether a private company with government contracts (which a lot of them have) would count as public.
Are there any resources for this sort of thing? Maybe national unions that would want to expand if there’s enough interest? I’m super serious about doing this, so I’m really soliciting information.
Talk to an existing union? My understanding is most unions don’t start from scratch, it’s too much work.
The problem is so many big unions are run like corporations and just dont work enough for the members.
I wonder if there was a way to use something like a DAO to run a union.
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) does external organizing, but it’s not quite what you’re talking about, I think.
The structure of it is that there is a branch in the local area (in Wisconsin, there are branches in Milwaukee and Madison, although I don’t know how active they are) which workers trying to organize their workplace reach out to, and they provide External Organizers (EO’s) to coach the workers on how to systematically organize their workplace. They meet up, talk about the structure of the workplace, set goals, and then meet regularly to help push the organizing along.
There is another tactic called salting, where a union will get some of their members hired at an employer they are targeting to start the process.
Other unions use these tactics as well, I’m just less familiar with them as they’re less radical. To be an EO, you have to go through some training and gain some experience at your own workplace or shadowing other EO’s.
If you’re kinda very much a communist, the IWW can be a good organization to be a part of. It very much attracts anarchists and syndicalists more than Marxists, but we’re here too, and it’s generally not a big deal if you don’t make it a big deal. Other organizations also do workplace organizing. I am aware of workplace organizing campaigns by CPUSA and even DSA.
Hope this helps!
That sounds like a good place to start, thanks! I’ll get in touch with them and see what happens. I know a place indirectly through a friend who just moved on (who thus knows a lot of people still there) which is ripe for unionizing, due to disrespect of the existing workforce. So I have a start point in mind.
You mean like an external organizer? At some point, someone from the inside is going to have to get involved.
You can make a legally recognized labor union without actually representing anyone, but you should probably work on 1-1’s and convincing guys on the inside before you try anything like that. Maybe contact EWOC or the IWW, and try to be an external organizer helping others campaigns?
Yeah I just want to get an idea of what the process might look like for an external person, I have a place in mind to try reaching out to to start, so I’ll contact those orgs and see what I can do, thanks :)
