we are "the union"

The goal of this site is to be a repository for useful union resources. Please take whatever seems useful - if it can save you time and effort - then by all means, consider it (y)ours. Hopefully the resources you'll find here will help you and your coworkers keep talking and focus on building better conditions together while cultivating a sense of solidarity with one another and workers everywhere.

The truth is - a union is just a group of workers - it's you and I, having a conversation about our jobs, what's good and bad about our workplace, what we need to live better or spend more time with loved ones, and then expanding that conversation with our colleagues and realizing that we have more power to change things together than we do on our own. That's it. The greater labor movement, though so often and inexcusably reflective of the flaws present in each of us, is at its core an extension of this interpersonal relationship.

A union is, ideally, a group effort by workers to improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions through democratic means and collective power. Do unions always live up to this ideal? Absolutely not. As someone whose role in labor organizations has been to promote equity and inclusion practices, this is frustrating. I've spent just as much time trying to change the hearts and minds of my coworkers as I have fighting with management at the bargaining table. But there's one very important difference between my frustrations with my union and my frustrations with management - my coworkers and I, no matter how much we disagree on how to approach a problem or how to best prioritize the needs of the group, are fundamentally aligned in our purpose to better the lives of people who work. This alignment is the cornerstone of worker solidarity.

The people who typically represent management work, too, but they've found themselves in a position where their job is to increase profits, decrease labor costs, cut corners, or otherwise reduce what the employer has to pay you in exchange for your time, labor, experience, and expertise. To be clear: the purpose of these jobs is fundamentally misaligned with improving workers' lives. The people who work these jobs will often tell you, across the bargaining table or otherwise, that they care about you, that they want to have a good relationship with you, that they have your best interests at heart. While they may have the best of intentions, statements like this only obscure the nature of the relationship: you are selling your time, labor, experience, and expertise to Company and would like to be compensated fairly and protected from harm in that endeavor, and they are selling their time, labor, experience, and expertise to Company so that Company can compensate you less for your time, labor, experience, and expertise. Under a system that defines success in terms of profit margins and return-on-investment, companies and those who represent them are successful when they pay you less.

Successful union organizing focuses on one key concept: what we have in common. You might be surprised at how much you have in common with your coworkers - even those coworkers who get on your nerves or who you disagree with often.