Organizing is about power. UE’s commitment to organizing is based on the need to maintain the union’s fighting strength for the ongoing struggle with the employers. Organizing magnifies the power of solidarity in the workplace, at the bargaining table, and in legislative chambers. We are most powerful when we are united with the rest of the working class, which is why a commitment to organizing the unorganized is built into our union’s DNA.

UE began as a union organized by workers themselves: of the workers, by the workers, for the workers. They built their own organization from the bottom up. UE’s style of organizing today is based on rank-and-file participation, both on the part of those who seek the benefits of union organization, and those who are already union members. It makes sense that new members get their start in a member-run union by setting it up themselves, and fighting to maintain it. It also makes sense that in a member-run union, union members help to make their organization stronger by participating in the process of union-building.

Organizing is difficult work. UE organizes not by making promises such as “join the union and we’ll take care of you,” but by building a strong organization in which people learn how to fight to improve their wages, hours and working conditions. Rank and file involvement adds substantial credibility to organizing campaigns. To organize successfully, a member-run union should provide training to workers that equips them to build their own organization. The fundamentals of UE-style organizing include workplace organizing committees; one-on-one organizing conversations with workers; direct action by the workers who are organizing; labor-community solidarity to defend the right to organize; and organizing not just to win an election, but to win a good contract, establish a strong workplace steward system, and build a democratic organization.