Using the Tools of Effective Organizing to Build Your Union Local's Strength

There are four universal tools of all effective organizing, and how these tools are used by a union local can contribute to its ongoing organizational growth and development. Most unions in the United States now live in an environment of management opposition and significant- government regulation. While most Americans accept the fact that religious assembly of all faiths - from the most evangelical to the most-orthodox to the most progressive - is an important part of our social lives, there is no such agreement presently about the value to society of workers assembling, negotiating, and acting in concert. The demands and responsibilities that fall on the modern labor leader or organiser are heavy, sometimes daunting. This booklet, by two of the top organizers in the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, lays out how four of the basic organizing tools used in successful community organizing can be adapted and used by labor unions both to rebuild their membership and leadership and to establish needed relationships with outside institutions and organisations that can help them achieve their mutual self-interests. These tools include: One-to-One Individual Meetings, Power Analysis and Charting Internal Relationships. Teaching and Training, and Action and Evaluation, and are presented here clearly and with specific union examples.