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You're working, or just started work at a non-union firm and would like to see the workers organised. What can you do?

The Employment Relations Act 1999 [ERA 1999] established a new statutory procedure providing for the recognition of independent trade unions in organisations employing 21 or more workers, if that is the wish of the majority of the workplace. This legislation has led to a small, but not insignificant increase, in the number of companies recognising and negotiating with trade union representatives.

It is a tactical decision when to approach a trade union. However unless you have already uncovered that most people want to join then there would be little point in asking a union to come in and negotiate a recognition agreement. Individuals can, of course, join a union at any time.

Despite ERA 1999 it is a fact that in Britain today only 3 out of 10 workers are in a union. This includes unions such as the Royal College of Nurses who have a no strike policy. In the private sector the figure is nearer to 2 out of 10 workers. Amongst those under 25 years of age approximately 1 out of 10 belong to a trade union. The unemployed don't belong to unions and are isolated and internationally the situation is no better. Workers are disorganised and under attack.

Hardly, surprisingly, therefore that one of the most frequently asked questions by workers is - "What can be done at my workplace to improve things? It seems impossible, the bosses are too strong."

We would suggest that the following should be considered:

Ask Questions and Listen to the Answers
Where do you begin? Some people when they first feel that they have been treated unfairly fly into a rage or start loudly crusading against the boss. This can be dangerous. Management jealously guards its authority in the workplace, and when you begin to question authority, you become a threat. In most workplaces, from the moment you begin to question authority, you become a troublemaker in management’s eyes. If you have never before made any waves where you work, you may be shocked, hurt or angered by how quickly management turns against you. This is a good reason to be discrete when you begin to talk to others.

Talk to your fellow workers
A sk them what they think about what’s happening at work. What do they think about the problems you’re concerned about? Listen to what others have to say. Get their views and opinions. Most people think of an organiser as an agitator and rabble-rouser (and there are times when an organiser must be those things), but a good organiser is first of all one who asks good questions and listens well to others. Having listened well, you should be able to express not only your own views and feelings, but also those of your colleagues. The main concerns could be pay, but this isn't always the case. Sometimes, their concerns can be reactionary, such as keeping immigrant workers out, so you will need to be aware that not all concerns are necessarily progressive.

Take note
Keep a record of any major incidents at your workplace such as an accident or even threatening behaviour by a manager.

Learn about the past
Try and find out what other attempts, if any, have been made to organise the workers. It may be that there was once a union but it has collapsed.

Try to find allies
A lmost inevitably there will be some people who are more concerned about the problems we face than others, and a few of those people will want to do something about it. Those few people now form the initial core of your "organisation". You might ask the two most interested people to have coffee or lunch with you, introduce them to each other, and then ask, "What do you think about this?" If they are indeed ready to do something and not just complain, then you are almost ready to begin organising.

Map Your Workplace
Knowledge is power. Or at least it is the beginning of power. You will want to know everything you can about your workplace and your employer. This will be a long term, on-going process of education.
Try and find out as much as you can about the company you're working for. Does it have more than one factory or shop? Is it a public company, how many people work for it, who owns it? The Labour Research Department [1] can help you with these questions. Try and build up a picture of the firm and people who work for it - for example, an increasing problem is that workers are 'off the cards' and not working legally. Some workers may have problems with their immigration status.

You should begin your research with your department. Management has long understood the value of identifying informal work groups, their natural organisers, and their weak links. In fact, one of the main thrusts of management training is to develop strategies to alter the psychology of the workplace.

For example, the multi-national United Parcel Service has developed its psychological manipulation techniques into a fine art. The UPS managers’ training manual, entitled Charting Spheres of Influence, shows how to map the workplace to identify the informal work groups, isolate natural organisers or instigators in these groups, exploit the weak links, and in the end, break up the groups if they can’t be used to management’s advantage.

While most companies have not developed their techniques into the fine Orwellian art that UPS has, many do use some of the same methods. Have outspoken workers, instigators or organisers been transferred, promoted into management or singled out for discipline? Are work groups broken up and rearranged periodically? Has the layout of the workplace been arranged to make communication between workers difficult?

Do you get to walk around on your job? Who does? Who doesn’t? Are certain people picked on or disciplined by management in public? How does this affect the rest of the workforce? Do you feel you are always under surveillance? You get the point. All of the above can be used to break up unity and communication between workers in your workplace. Incidentally, this training does not make our employers invincible, or make our efforts any less worthwhile (despite all the training their management had received, UPS workers won a mass strike in August 1997).

Let’s say that you have an important message to communicate, but you don’t have the time or resources to reach every one of your fellow workers. If you can reach the natural organisers in the informal work groups and get them on your side, you can bet that the word will get around to everyone. Once organisers have been identified and agree to co-operate, it is possible to develop a network which can exert considerable power and influence.

Informal work groups also have the advantage of creating certain loyalties among their members. You can draw on this loyalty to figure out unified strategies for problems, and take advantage of people’s natural tendency to stick up for those who are close to them.

Besides working with the group organisers, it is important to draw in the loners too. More than likely, their apathy, isolation, or anti-union ideas stem from personal feelings of powerlessness and fear. If collective action can be pulled off successfully and a sense of security established through the group’s action, fear and feelings of impotence can be reduced.

If you have got a particularly tough character in your workplace who seriously threatens unity, don’t be afraid to use the social pressures that work groups can bring to bear to get that person back in line. This applies to supervisory personnel too, especially the supervisor who likes to think he or she is everyone’s pal.

The Balance of Power
The bottom line for this type of workplace organisation is to tilt the balance of power in the workers’ favour. It can win grievances for example. If grievances remain individual problems or become the responsibility of union officials, the natural organisation and loyalty that exist among work groups is lost. Chances are that the grievance is lost too.

However, if the work groups can be used to make a show of unity, the threat that the work process could be disrupted can be enough to force management into a settlement. Grievances can only be won when management understand that a grievance is no longer the concern of an individual, but instead has become the concern of all, and that problems lie ahead unless it is resolved.

Starting Organising
Meet
When the time is right hold a meeting of those you have identified as being interested in getting organised. Do not be surprised if some workers do not turn up, don't get disappointed. The meeting should be as open as possible and discuss all issues which concern workers. The most obvious concern will be how to get the mass of workers involved. Every person who attends the meeting should be expected to see if there are other workers who can be got involved. Stress the importance of ensuring that management doesn't get to know about what's happening.

Delegation
An organising group could be elected to approach a trade union to see how they can assist. The word assist is vital, from the start the organisation of the workers should be by the workers themselves and not the union officials.This is vital if the organising and recruitment of workers to the union leads to industrial action. The workers movement is littered with hundreds of examples where workers have successfully organised and recruited workers to a union only to allow the officials to control their actions when strikes have recognition have broken out - i.e. Grunwicks in 1977, oil workers in the North Sea in 1988, textile workers at Bacton Fashions in Hackney in 1990, Burnsalls in West Midlands in 1992 and, in the mid 90s, cleaning workers at Hillingdon Hospital in London. The results have been disasterous and in some cases defeat has been snatched from the jaws of victory. The organising group can also try and establish whether there are any local groups who will be able to assist with practical initiatives such as leaflet production and a place to meet.

Publicity
At some point a leaflet will need to be produced and either distributed secretly at work or by friends when the workers are leaving the workplace. These actions will undoubtedly bring to management's attention that some workers are involved in trying to organise.

Demand
When it is felt appropriate (which could be a period of a few weeks to many months) another larger meeting of all interested workers will need to be organised. Use the meeting to draw up a list of grievances and demands. The meeting will need to elect spokespersons to approach management. The workers will also need to decide which union they would wish to join, trade unions in Britain are not illegal and a company can be forced to negotiate with a recognised trade union. [2]

Accountability
Don't allow negotiations with bosses take place behind closed doors. Keep all meetings transparent.

It won't be easy
Be sure that the workers know that their actions may lead to the threat of dismissal and/or dismissal. Never con workers into believing it will be easy. Discuss what this would mean if all or some workers are dismissed as this will require a decision to either strike and/or occupy the workplace. Obviously the situation in countries where unions are outlawed is different and it will be impossible for workers to approach management. In discussions with workers from such countries it has become clear that sabotage of production becomes increasingly important.
Read more about taking different kinds of action at work...

Write history
Keep a record of you attempts at organising - workers struggles are so rarely recorded that valuable experience is being lost and workers have to go through the same problems. Many of them could be avoided. Contact us or the RPM group at libcom.org and help us build a database of accounts of organising attempts.

Footnotes
1. The Labour Research Department is at 78 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8YX. Tel 020 7928 3649
www.lrd.org.uk
2. See the Employment Relations Act 1999

Edited by libcom in 2005 from articles by the Industrial Workers of the World and another from an original article in Revolutions Per Minute issue 1, in 1996, as then produced by the members of the Colin Roach Centre, updated in February 2003.