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Recruitment Process

Goals

The goal of any organizing discussion is to recruit people into to a higher level of activity.

From To
Potential member -> Signed Member
Member -> Card Signer/Activist
Activist -> Inside Committee Member

As workers become more involved and invested in the union drive process, they are integrated with the organizing structures that exist to support the drive.

Organizing Structures

There are structures that exist within an organizing drive that allow for people to engage with the organizing process. A structure must exist at every level of activity/militancy. The structures must allow for easy integration and must be flexible enough that interacting with them is not seen as a burden, but instead is seen as value added. Otherwise, members and activists will create their own from scratch. If this happens, the organizing drive will splinter into unmanageable components.

The larger and more complex the drive, the more stable these organizing structures must be. A long drive will have activist turnover along with constant recruitment. This means that the structures of the drive are going to become more important than any particular activist's activity.

Organizing structures must be built to scale to the size of the drive from the first place. While certain tactics might be useful at the beginning of the drive, the structures that go with them should be useful through changing tactics available for a given strategy. A change in strategy may result in a change of organizing structures (and therefor the tools) needed.

The role of the Staff Organizer and Member Organizer is to maintain a functional organizing program and manage the organizing structures and tools available to those doing the card signing. It is not to manage the insiders themselves.

Top-level organizing structure hierarchy:

  1. Staff Organizer Coordination Committee
  2. Inside Committee
  3. Card Signer Network
  4. Activist Cadres
  5. Targeted Unorganized Members
  6. Non-Targeted Unorganized Members

Staff Organizer Coordination Committee

Staff Organizers assigned to the campaign include the lead staff organizer, support organizers, assigned resource staff. The committee may also include some Member Organizers who are assigned to drive for extend periods of time. The role of this committee is to deal with resourcing the campaign, managing drive resources, reporting to union management and elected officers, and providing direction for all the structures below.

Inside Committee

The Inside Committee is a growing committee of those dedicated to the completion of the drive. It is not a static group and should grow as the drive progresses.

One should not end up on the Inside Committee without moving through lower levels of activity. The reason for this is that the inside committee has the highest level of skill and knowledge of the drive. It is not a democratic organization, it is based on skill and activity.

However, it should also be open to any and all. Recruitment to the Inside Committee should be continuous. The objective is to get everyone in the work place makes it to this level, however unlikely this may be.

Card Signer Network

This is the group of active members who are engaged in the grunt work of active card signing. Even if someone is just focus on their friends in the workplace, they are part of this network.

Activist Cadre

These are the workers who are ideologically or otherwise committed to the union, but are generally active in other areas, are not natural leadership, or have family/other obligations to be fully involved in the Inside Committee or card signing work. They may or may not have the skills of active card signers or have exhausted their contacts in the workplace. Activists may be off on a leave.

Not all drives have members in this structure. However, when there are members at this level of activity, it is important to make sure that recruitment continues and engagement tools are developed and resourced.

Targeted Unorganized Members

A group of known workers with connections to someone in the structures above. Mapping of members the workplace results in this list and they are the focus of the active card signing campaign.

Non-targeted Unorganized Members

Everyone else is in this group. Recruitment of members from this group is essential to expand the targeted list and develop new leads, expand workplace intelligence gathering networks, and maintain drive momentum.

Drive Tools

Newly signed member phone script

Hello, could I speak to <member>.

Hello, my name is <caller>, I am in the organizing department of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Is now a good time to talk or should I call you later?

Great. I would like to start by saying this call and your information is completely confidential.

CUPE Organizing is calling everyone that has signed to update you on the drive and see if you have any questions about CUPE or the drive.

If you have any questions, I would can answer them now or I can give you our email information to send your questions into.

...

Great, before you go, we would also like to ask if you would like to be more involved in the organizing campaign.

For example,

  1. we can give you or mail some membership cards to sign-up co-workers you know are interested in sign-up with us.
  2. we can send you some printed materials about the drive for distribution.
  3. you can come out to our next information session about the drive.
  4. you can sign-up for our update email newsletter on the campaign.

Would you be interested in any of that?

...

Thanks very much for your support. Please do not hesitate to give us a call or email if you have any questions or concerns.

Narrative

What makes an organizing conversation different from a chat?

Organizing conversations:

  • Have a purpose.
  • Trying to move a worker on a position.
  • Always have an ask.

A conversation: Steps

  1. Introductions
  2. Agitate on issues.
  3. Provide vision for the workplace. (Results, not theory.)
  4. The Ask.
  5. Inoculation.

A conversation: Things to remember

There are many strategies to get a signed card. Everyone has their own style, but there are some things that are common to every conversation:

  • Listen, do not lecture.
  • Keep eye contact, be polite.
  • Ask questions to keep the conversation going.
  • Stick to their interests, not ideology.

conversation: Main issues

The main themes, in order of importance, to touch on in a conversation:

  1. Fairness, accountability, process, rules.
  2. Democracy in the workplace.
  3. Health and Safety.
  4. The union is support.
  5. A Collective Agreement is a legally binding contract agreed to by both sides.

conversation: Answering “no”

  • No or maybe: Always ask why?
  • Objections: do not waste time.
  • No answer: continue, but try to get an answer.
  • Do not devalue their objection.
  • Always steer back to their issues.

Printed materials

  • Welcome to CUPE.
  • FAQ sheets.
  • Workplace issues flyers.
  • Upcoming events flyers.
  • Rights during a drive cards.
  • Dues explanation.
  • Narrative scripts.
  • Meeting Agenda template.
  • Organizer training basics document.

Online materials

  • Website
  • Shareable images
  • Quick response templates
  • Template emails

Contacts

  • Mapping targeted unorganized workers.
  • Tracking contacts.

Report-back method

  • Surveys (paper and online)
  • Assigning contacts.
  • Email/SMS/Social Media
  • Calls
  • Tracking
  • Local committee meetings
  • Inside Committee meetings.

Database

  • Should be centralized.
  • Assigning people to update the database.

Campaign Kits

  • Signed a card:
    • Welcome to CUPE
    • Cards
    • Instruction for what to do with cards.
    • Envelopes
  • Card-Signer/Activist
    • Cards
    • Instructions for what to do with cards.
    • Rights at work card.
    • Basic Swag (pens, etc).
    • Samples of flyers.
    • Envelopes.
    • Narratives for online activity.
    • Dues explanation.
  • Inside Committee
    • All printed materials.
    • All narrative documents.
    • Swag supply.
    • Organizing training documents.
    • Recruitment training documents.
    • Access to database.

Table

Material Potential Member Signed Member Card Signer/Activist Inside Committee
Script X Developed Asks & responses Goal: Recruitment Training
Printed Material General Flyers/ Card Welcome Package/ Cards Detailed Materials/ Narrative/ Cards All materials
Online Website/ Social Welcome email Regular updates email Active communications
Contacts Card Signer Activist/ Inside Committee Inside Committee/Staff/MO Staff/MO
Report Back Method Survey Assigned Card Signer/ Activist Email/Network calls/ local committees Meetings
Database X Managed in Database Managed in Database Access/Update
Campaign Kit X Basic card & Flyer Kit Cards/Swag/Materials All