Unionizing

[ВАЛТЕР]

Idk why I'm bringing this up now, but whatever.

So, while I was in the US last year I decided to go into a local Walmart where a High School friend of mine was working as the Coca-Cola stocker (I think that is the name of the job. He basically comes and makes sure all Coca-Coal products are in place and he shelves them.) While there, I met some of the WalMart employees and every time I came in, I would chat with them. Eventually we got around to how much they made and the kind of bonuses they got. Turns out, one of the guys has been working there for 5 years, and has only gotten around a 25 cent pay increase in those 5 years! (This is only one of a many such cases.)They get shit for benefits and their bonuses are crap. While the store manager, after firing several workers got a 3000 dollar bonus for "saving money". I brought up unionizing, they quickly hushed me up. Saying that if the bosses even hear that there is talk of unionizing they will fire everyone in the store. I was shocked by this. So I spoke with them outside of their jobs. Some were skeptical of organizing, however after a bit of talking they seemed generally on board with the idea, but still feared the repercussions they may face. This brings me to my question. How do you combat a company which is willing to fire mass amounts of people just for mentioning unions? They can do this because they can replace the workers there with workers from another store.

I figured it would require secretive organizing of every store in a large area in order to shock the company into submitting rather than simply replacing the workers with those who work at the other stores. Although this sounds extremely difficult to organize and would be easily compromised by a scab.

I didn't want to risk some of them losing their jobs because of me, and I felt it would be a little condescending for me, a 22 year-old student to try and tell these working people what they should do and risk their livelihood because of some scheme I thought up. So I dropped the subject and left them with the idea.

Thoughts on the subject? How do workers organize under such conditions?

[Rugged Collectivist]

Walmart has been really good at resisting unionization. I've never done any union work so I don't know how to pull this off but I like your idea.

I think you would need a massive strike all over the country to even bring Walmart to the negotiating table.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Just bumping this thread up. I would really like to hear some more opinions on the matter.

[Tjis]

I think the first priority in such conditions is not building a union, but just making sure that people from the different shifts, divisions and stores get to know eachother. A fledgeling union can and will be easily crushed, but some friends who happen to work at different stores who meet after work for some socializing is far less threatening. Furthermore, it will get the workers from the various division to actually care about eachother.
Such a social gathering can lead to great things. Even without a union, workers in an alienated environment learn to cope, learn little tricks that help them get through the day and deal with annoying management. Just having a regular social gathering will allow this knowledge to spread. It also allows for the development of new techniques which, though effective, are not yet as 'extreme' as strikes, walkouts, etc, which is probably what you'd arrive at if you started thinking from a union mindset right away. Little by little, the crushing alienation of the workplace can be combatted, pulling more and more people into the group. At this point it should become clear who the natural organizers are within this group, and an effort should be made to turn them into a proper cadre.
Eventually of course management is going to catch on, at which point they'll try to break up the group. That is the moment to attempt to turn it into a proper union. The group should have the means to actually pull off proper syndicalist actions such as a strike or an occupation, having cadre members in multiple stores and the support of many more, including various workers who'd never have considered themselves to be political, but who recognize that the alienation they experienced has reduced because of the actions of the group, and are thus willing to defend those gains.

To me, this seems like a viable strategy but having no organizing experience myself I can't be sure. Just thought I'd add this to the discussion.

[Ostrinski]

I worked at walmart for a few months. The first thing they do is indoctrinate you with a long ass anti union video.

[Lynx]

Have them join an international union, like the IWW. One big union = massive general strikes. The target should be capitalism, not WalMart.

[Ele'ill]

I like the question "What to do when workers don't want to or can't unionize but are still with you and mad as hell?"

[Jimmie Higgins]

Wal-Mart is of course very anti-union and there have been numerous attempts at organizing by workers. Wal-Mart even closed a store in Canada just because they had no other option left that would prevent unionization.

So it's definitely a tough nut to crack and it would be precedent-setting. I also think that it would gain a lot of popular community support in the current climate because of the previous dislike of Wal-Mart and the current increased awareness of class divides.

As far as how a worker there might go about trying to organize. I think it would be key to start slowly and bring some people around. A worker might find a couple of sympathetic co-workers and start a blog together that's kept anonymous and acts as a sort of newsletter where people can discreetly report stories about the job and then workers can begin to generalize their experiences and see how people in other departments and mistreated and begin to put the whole picture together. If there are some regular people who want a union but aren't sure, maybe put together discussions and read about shop-floor strategies and figure out options for unionizing.

Ultimately I think there would have to be a national campaign and a lot of support, but it's possible for Wal-Mart to unionize. But in the short term, just trying to break down some of the divisions at the work-site and allow people a space to collectivly air and hear eachother's stories from the job would begin to active co-workers and would be a way to gauge what it possible at that workplace.

[Sir Comradical]

How do you combat a company which is willing to fire mass amounts of people just for mentioning unions?

Bluffing. If they tried firing all staff including the loyal ones with no unionising ambitions, they'd be sending the message that you may as well side with the union. If they're dumb enough to do something like that, it would be a godsend for any organiser.

1. Find out what their union is and contact an organiser.
2. Print out dozens of forms with a letter on the back (maybe also in spanish?). Here's a template I used when I was doing organising work.


"A concerned group of employees here at Walmart have recently been in contact with a union organiser from <insert union/>. The only way for us to collectively better our condition is for us to join <insert union/> by filling out the membership form on the back. Only then can <insert union/> enter our workplace to represent us. This means you will NOT have to confront anyone in management on your own.

Work at Walmart is by no means secure. The bosses make unfair demands of their workforce, some of which are not legal and others which do not conform to industry standards. There have been a spate of recent sackings on the most spurious grounds in other stores just like ours [doesn't have to be true but most probably is].

Please remember this: Walmart behaves rationally to further their own interests, it's about time we followed their example by acting rationally to further ours!

- Please join the union and support your fellow workers.
- Try not to speak about these matters openly at work, remember discretion at all times.
- Spread the word to workers you can trust (remember point 2).
- Can we have your mobile number and email address?

In Unity"

3. Find several people who have a brain and are keen, and get them to distribute forms.
4. Once you have their names/numbers, work with your Organiser to plan short meetings outside of work hours. At the meetings:
- Work out what you can reasonably threaten management with.
- See if you can find reinforcements if you must resort to picketing.

It's often a slow process and it could take six months to a year. Shit doesn't change overnight.

[citizen of industry]

You could fight a dismissal if they fired you for being in a union. It would take several months, one would be reinstated with backpay, but it takes a lot of time and dedication which most workers with crappy jobs don't have that level of committment. Once reinstated, the dismissed workers could show that one needn't fear retaliation. Or, it would backfire and the other workers would be like, "look at that nut, fighting a big battle for such a shit job."

Another problem is Walmart I believe closes down entire stores if a union is formed. That can't be prevented aside from a revolutionary, sieze and run the industry ourselves period. In China, they succeeded in unionizing Walmart, but had the support of the government and were very militant. You would not have the support of the government in the states.

Its remarkably similar to a case I'm working on now, organizing irregular workers against a large corporation, which has been less than successful.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Idk why I'm bringing this up now, but whatever.

So, while I was in the US last year I decided to go into a local Walmart where a High School friend of mine was working as the Coca-Cola stocker (I think that is the name of the job. He basically comes and makes sure all Coca-Coal products are in place and he shelves them.) While there, I met some of the WalMart employees and every time I came in, I would chat with them. Eventually we got around to how much they made and the kind of bonuses they got. Turns out, one of the guys has been working there for 5 years, and has only gotten around a 25 cent pay increase in those 5 years! (This is only one of a many such cases.)They get shit for benefits and their bonuses are crap. While the store manager, after firing several workers got a 3000 dollar bonus for "saving money". I brought up unionizing, they quickly hushed me up. Saying that if the bosses even hear that there is talk of unionizing they will fire everyone in the store. I was shocked by this. So I spoke with them outside of their jobs. Some were skeptical of organizing, however after a bit of talking they seemed generally on board with the idea, but still feared the repercussions they may face. This brings me to my question. How do you combat a company which is willing to fire mass amounts of people just for mentioning unions? They can do this because they can replace the workers there with workers from another store.

I figured it would require secretive organizing of every store in a large area in order to shock the company into submitting rather than simply replacing the workers with those who work at the other stores. Although this sounds extremely difficult to organize and would be easily compromised by a scab.

I didn't want to risk some of them losing their jobs because of me, and I felt it would be a little condescending for me, a 22 year-old student to try and tell these working people what they should do and risk their livelihood because of some scheme I thought up. So I dropped the subject and left them with the idea.

Thoughts on the subject? How do workers organize under such conditions?

Ha Comrade! Just last week i ran into a similar situation! My step-mother's daughter's friend (my quasi-step sister's friend) works at the clothing chain Woolworth which has 200 outlets in Germany. She says that she hasn't gotten a pay rise in four years, at first she thought it was because she was new, but now she knows others also haven't gotten a raise. So i told her that she should increasingly subtly talk to her fellow employees, and in a few weeks or months try to get them to agree to join a union. She also said that they would get fired at that. So the logical conclusion is that she should organize a tight nit group at her workplace, make contact with other Woolworths in the state and see if they would be interested in building a network to one day create a warn strike around as many as possible Woolworths. I think it is in fact quite realistic in this situation to get at least one person in three different stores of the same company to join the organization. The question is how to get to them without having an alert. Someone besides her would have to go to all regional same-company stores and post propaganda anonymously with an internet site.

Of course! It would not be blatant propaganda saying "Strike! Unionize!" But rather all kinds of various posters and flyers for recreational activities with the same exact number to the basic organisation. The posters would have to propagate activities slightly representative of proletarian dissatisfaction, such as 'Join us drinking beer to stop the War in Afghanistan!' or 'After a hard days work, free round of Happy hour drinks, further information by calling the Biergarten so and so'. With all the numbers of course leading to the central union organisation. Once the persons would call, we would at first of course have to be more subtle. They will be surprised and maybe even angered at having not reached the reality diverging number. So i guess you would at first have to say something like 'Yes, you have reached the correct number. We are self organized workers who were planning a happy hour drinks for other people in the region but not enough people have showed up yet. Whether saying that we are employees of the same company or not would have to be decided at that moment. When meeting them it would maybe be better to invite friends who do not work at Woolworths but then mentioning it when the person is met. Then she/we could claim how horrible the pay is, workers have been fired, too little staff [fill in the blank, make a sob story, does not need to be one hundred percent true at this point yet] and we wanted to get together to see what other people thought about it. This is important however, coworkers should not feel that they are being lured, they should all be made to think that this is an actual discussion of workers that demands their attendance to see where the discussions go; it really would depend on the situation whether to admit that we are workers of the same company or not. Since many of these kinds of chain stores are very near to each other, meetings could be made very near to the recruit subjects and meeting probability raised.

Once more than 10 workers are organized, monthly fees could begin to be requested to organize the further propaganda/organizing campaign. But like Walter said, utmost secrecy would be needed in these cases; Underground organization. If workers that went past the stage of calling our typical depressed proletarian recreational activities, and then accept to join a further Woolworth's workers discussion, they most likely would be rather unsatisfied with their work situation.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Have them join an international union, like the IWW. One big union = massive general strikes. The target should be capitalism, not WalMart.

While i don't necessarily disagree with international worker organisation, union struggles are always local, and strikes are never going to destroy "Capitalism". No, worker organisation needs to be local and self-organised from the bottom up to reach the national stage.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Just reminding everyone that I am not organizing these people. I am not even in the US anymore. I am just wondering what a group of workers, who are being mistreated yet at the same time fear organizing out of reprisals should do. I think there needs to be a stickied thread which informs those who wish to unionize as to how to go about such a task.

The particular state where I was is notoriously right-wing and it is extremely frustrating discussing politics with the people who live there.

[Lynx]

While i don't necessarily disagree with international worker organisation, union struggles are always local, and strikes are never going to destroy "Capitalism". No, worker organisation needs to be local and self-organised from the bottom up to reach the national stage.
I'm afraid if it's easier to find a new job than unionize the one they have, they'll end up changing jobs. I'm thinking an international union goes with you, wherever you may work, even if your membership is more symbolic than practical.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Not exactly WalMart clerks, but thought this would be of interest:

SW: Walking out on WalMart
http://socialistworker.org/2012/09/20/walking-out-on-wal-mart

[Lynx]

Not exactly WalMart clerks, but thought this would be of interest:

SW: Walking out on WalMart
http://socialistworker.org/2012/09/20/walking-out-on-wal-mart
Legally, they are not Walmart employees and Walmart prefers it this way. Lots of companies prefer to subcontract out work and have temps do as much work as possible. It saves them money and hassle. Meanwhile there is an army of unemployed waiting in the wings...

[pastradamus]

Sounds like a shit situation that we hear only all too much these days.

First up, you must find a suitable union. One which has a big enough support base but also one which will do a good job of fighting your corner. Find one which is willing to represent a wallmart employee. Next make sure you meet up with a couple of like-minded individuals which you believe you can trust. Dont bring anyone to a meeting whom you think could kill this thing in the womb, the early days are the most dangerous. If you can get a few people and establish a group of 6-7 people you're doing well and BTW Walmart dont have to know that you are a union member, it is a private matter and Union Subs should always be taken as a seperate payment outside of a pay slip. One thing Walmart has always had difficulty dealing with is bad press, this may be a weapon to use against them should the worst come to worst. Try and also get a guy who has been a Union member in the past and might know a few things about employment law, also study this yourself.

Once you have accumulated a decent enough size to be recognisable (I cant put a number on this it is up to you guys) try and arrange a meeting with the store manager to first of all gain recognition. This is delicate, but its better to be diplomatic at the beginning, In the end at least some part of him must have a level of understanding on this.

Joining or setting up a union can be a difficult thing to do. It is risky and you may lose your job as a consequence. But it never was supposed to be easy. Imagine how the first workers unionised and how difficult it was for them. Its not that hard in comparison these days.

[pastradamus]

Just reminding everyone that I am not organizing these people. I am not even in the US anymore. I am just wondering what a group of workers, who are being mistreated yet at the same time fear organizing out of reprisals should do. I think there needs to be a stickied thread which informs those who wish to unionize as to how to go about such a task.

The particular state where I was is notoriously right-wing and it is extremely frustrating discussing politics with the people who live there.

Thats the best idea i've heard around here in a long time to be honest. This thread should be in "workers strugges" but I like having it around here in this section, best P&P thread in a long time really. Keep up the good posting sir.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Thats the best idea i've heard around here in a long time to be honest. This thread should be in "workers strugges" but I like having it around here in this section, best P&P thread in a long time really. Keep up the good posting sir.

Thank you. I remember the disgust I felt when they explained their situation to me and I thought it was awful. I sensed apathy and a sense of helplessness when they spoke about the situation and I found it deeply saddening. It is all too common an occurrence, and as the crisis deepens the need for workers to unionize will grow, so I think it would be our job as a leftist website to lend a helping hand.

I think that a thread on unionizing should be stickied with potentially useful information including important links, phone numbers, people, groups, etc. With a thread title like "How to Unionize" or something similar so it comes up on search engines for all to see.

[Hiero]

Have them join an international union, like the IWW. One big union = massive general strikes. The target should be capitalism, not WalMart.

You have never done any union organising before have you?

The best advice I can give you from my experience, is you make everything a suggestion and be prepared to have any hard work amount to nothing.

I did a bit of work at one of my workplaces and I got a bit of momentum going when it came around to signing these individual styled contracts to go on to full time work. At one point I thought I was going to have the majority not sign untill they all had a meeting with the boss and a support person (whether union or not). The boss then went to each individual to discuss why they were not going to sign an agreement and they all went in and signed agreements. I think one or two people joined the union out of 16. People in non-unionised workplaces can easily scab and it be no big deal.

So I learnt 1) You offer everything as a suggestion "you can sign this agreement as is, or you could ask for x,y,z". 2) You have to have limits in your organising. It really sucks to do the work and no one joins the union.

Though in your situation you seem to be coming as an outsider. To be a delegate (which is what your talking about) you really have to be in the workplace or be a paid organiser by the union. You have to know the consequences of organising. You have to also be knowledgeable, you have to know what the current conditions are and what the conditions should be, you have to know what is a reasonable request for a pay increase, you have to know federal and state laws etc. You can't really just rock up at a place that you don't work at and tell people they should be in the union. You really have to quite knowledge and quite patient.

[Lynx]

I suggested they join the IWW so that being part of an international union becomes part of their working lives. They likely won't be spending their working lives at WalMart.

[citizen of industry]

I suggested they join the IWW so that being part of an international union becomes part of their working lives. They likely won't be spending their working lives at WalMart.

That's good advice. I belong to a general union that can represent me in any workplace. I've been trying to build a local in my primary workplace, but my second job tried to fuck me and it was very easy to declare my union membership to the second employer and get them to back off. No matter what job I have, the union is the same and is always there.

[Hiero]

I suggested they join the IWW so that being part of an international union becomes part of their working lives. They likely won't be spending their working lives at WalMart.

Morally it is the right thing to do, but pratically it would be hard. When I have mentioned the union to people new to the union a common response is "what has the union every done for me" or "what is it going to do for me". Convincing people with no ideological ties to unionism to join the IWW would be very hard if not impossible. You might get them to join the trade union who's scope covers what ever industry you work in if you can make it sound worth their while.