Going for the Gold

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Kansas City Local 500 is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a burst of energy, activism and internal organizing.

It all began, recounts Organizing Committee Chair Charlie Hull, with members' response to a bargaining survey. "Their highest concern was ‘free riders'" — workers who enjoy the benefits of union representation without contributing to the costs. At the time, some 65 percent of the 1,700-member bargaining unit were full-fledged members.

Local 500 had successfully beaten back a number of privatization attempts, but more were on the horizon. Greater membership carries more clout. The bargaining committee successfully negotiated an agency shop, which obligates employees to pay a fee for the services their union provides whether or not they become members. Then the local decided to use the new language to build a stronger union.

The organizing committee developed a plan to contact non-members — one on one — before the agreement went into effect. Volunteers provided information on the fair-share deduction and encouraged co-workers to become full, voting members. Then, in October, activists held a home-visit blitz — fanning out through the city to visit with non-members. Their efforts have yielded a more than 10-percent membership increase. And that's just the beginning.

"We're hoping to get our new members really involved in what's going on," says Hull, who also noted that Local 500 participates in the city's orientation day for new staff. "I've got about 15 people who are really active, who really like it." He hopes to bring greater participation to the local's political action program, which has helped elect more than half of the current city council.