More workers want unions; more workers join Teamsters

By Pilar Barton, Strategic Organizer

I am happy to report that we are beginning to see success in restoring the vitality of our labor movement and the voices of working families. We are organizing again in a way that has enabled us to turn a corner in our membership numbers. After declining for more than 25 years, union membership is back on the upswing.

Teamsters ORganize

Two-thirds of the 311,000 members who joined the union ranks in 2007 were in California. Our renewed emphasis on organizing has been an integral part of this turn around. Teamsters have led the way in rebuilding the power of our movement.

While economic struggles grow in intensity and scope, the good news is that we are in the process of turning our country around by bringing in more workers under the banner of union membership. There is more of a bounce to our step.

Anyone looking for an example of how to stick to your ideals to help improve the standard of living for working families, would have to look no further than some of the outstanding Joint Council 7 Locals. While the corporations may outspend us, we have the power of our ideas, our values and each other. We have proven when we put all of those things together, we win.

Organizing works

More than half of the Joint Council 7 Locals are engaged in active organizing campaigns. I can’t report in detail about these, because I don’t want to jeopardize the confidential status and compromise the workers, but here are some of the accomplishments I can talk about:

• Thirty-six drivers and two mechanics at V Dolan Trucking in Penngrove voted on June 6 to join Local 624 and IAM Local 1596, respectively. The company had tried to add the mechanics to the Teamsters unit, but in a move that the company didn’t expect, the two unions had agreed in advance to work together. So instead of “divide and conquer,” all of the workers got the union they wanted.

• Local 853 conducted a brilliant campaign at White Cap Construction Supply, getting union representation for 65 workers. The company tried an assortment of tactics to intimidate the workers and make winning the election impossible, but solidarity won instead. The full story is on page 5.

• Joint Council 7 Locals have recruited dozens of rank and file organizers, retirees and staff to join the Member Organizing Team. The team gets classroom training on organizing skills and labor history, followed by campaign assignments that last up to several months.

They have learned how to build a legal leverage and community involvement to strengthen the organizing campaign. They have also learned how to maximize the media and public relations to support organizing or other efforts. And, they have learned to develop internal organizing campaigns, involving workers in existing units to serve as peer organizers.

We are building an organizing program that recognizes that there is no greater power than the collective will of the workers. Most important, our program recognizes that organizing the unorganized and building bridges isn’t an option, it’s a necessity.