A Forum for Change
Convention delegates got an up-close and personal look at the many faces of organizing within AFSCME.
Twelve activists — member volunteer organizers (VOs), staff organizers, local union presidents and International vice presidents — took part in a forum that detailed the challenges and struggles they have overcome to win collective bargaining rights for the unorganized. Panel members also shared personal stories that have inspired them to reach out to more workers.
Richard Bensinger, an organizing consultant for AFSCME, moderated the discussion.
CAPTIVE AUDIENCE. Ruby Flores and Erin Enwright explained that one of the biggest obstacles facing organizers is employer-driven, captive-audience meetings. Workers are herded into a room and bombarded with information that is intended to frighten them and threaten their job security. Flores and Enwright said that preparing workers for management intimidation in advance keeps them focused on their objectives.
Debbie Combee and Clint Helus work in food service, which is steadily being taken over by private industry. They came across as fighters who refuse to back down. Helus said his employer had scheduled three video sessions in an attempt to scare employees. "In the first videotape, they actually stated that signing a union card was like signing your soul over to the devil. Everybody laughed at that. After the first meeting, there were no more videotapes.
"We absolutely busted their anti-union campaign."
SWEET INSPIRATION. Doug Woodson spoke of organizing a woman who has been the victim of abusive relationships and ridiculed by her employer. Today, she's the president of her local.
Frank Jerez remembered a campaign in which management, threatened by overwhelming worker solidarity, decided to fire a number of activists. "The workers never gave up," he said. "They knew that the law wasn't working in their favor, but said, 'All we want to do is have our day in the voting booth.'"
In Philadelphia, Head Start employees saw their private employer back out of a contract after they voted to form a union. Denise Dowell explained how they picked up the pieces and went to work for Allegheny Child Care Academy, the largest child care for-profit in Pennsylvania. The workers formed an organizing committee and won a first contract, which includes employer neutrality at all sites.
Robert Bradshaw expressed how tense things can get during representation elections. "You're there with those people who have fought tooth and nail. Your heart is in your shoe." When victory is announced, "It's a feeling that can't be put into words."
FROM THE TOP. International Vice Presidents Josephine LeBeau and Joseph P. Rugola gave reassurances that the union is on the right course to expanding organizing. "We've got the right people; we've got the right ideas in the institution," said Rugola. "There's no substitute, in my mind, for the day that you go and deliver that first union contract into the hands of the workers."
LeBeau declared: "I think that the affiliates around the country should take a look at what's in their community — the people who want to be organized — and get up and go [organize]. Just do it." — J.T.
