Union organizing

Question of: “Is it necessary?”

• Just as quickly as things were given, they could be taken away; important to make sure there is a legal binding to some of these elements
• “Ask for the moon and the stars, come back with at least the moon”
• Purpose: furthering material conditions for a particular group of workers

Process of unionizing exposing pre-existing tensions within management/teams?

• Relationship to conflict management; spoke to pre-existing conflicts within organizations coming to ahead, and not having that hierarchical structure to defer to
  • Feels good to have to handle that within a group itself
  • Shutting down vs airing out particular grievances

Benefits/negotiating for ___

• HR policies; working with external folks to draft policies that weren’t in line with the values of employees
  • Communication, decision-making, decisions about internal culture
• Pay transparency
• Working conditions
• Benefits
• Decision-making power
• Remote work

Freelancer/gig worker unionizing

• No “employer” in terms of accountability; not being “employees”, can’t quite unionize
  • What can we collectivize? Almost 50% in the US are freelancers
  • Can we demand of the state in lieu of employers? Rights to healthcare, portable benefits
  • How do you negotiate for what you deserve if you aren’t legally unionized?
• Difficulty in bringing people together; the space is so individualized, literally “self-employed”
  • Could follow a model of “I am an employee, I should get benefits (full or pro-rated)”
  • A lot of folks aren’t a fan of this vision , don't want the restrictions of being an employee
    • Bureaucracy, invoicing vs contract development, “they are my client/I am not their employee”
    • IP, ownership over creative products
    • Choose your own priorities

Trust

• How do you build trust with people to invest in the idea of sharing resources? Is sharing resources a part of being in a union?
• Instigating incidents that cause folks to organize vs. evolving conversations... a bit of both

Joy and trust:

• Power and joy that comes alongside organizing with friends
• Experience of working through conflict, brings folks closer together
• Documentary “Union” about Amazon union organizing
  • So much of the story is about how fun the actual experience is; meeting people where they are at, being in solidarity, existing together
• Venting/complaining
• Value to the organization in connecting, talking about struggles, establishing solidarity
  • Combats alienation, isolation
• Seeing folks step up in leadership brings a sense of pride and excitement

What's needed

• Roles
• Decision-making structures
• A sense of group identity
• Conflict management structures, processes
  • Naming and re-naming why folks are coming into the space, identifying common goals
  • Accurately assessing harm when needed

Digital Unionizing:

• In person spaces, management is always there; for remote teams, the actual exercise can be really difficult

Needing involvement from all: Starts with a few, and seeing it branching out/other folks beginning to join

Role of policy / shift in gov't attitudes towards coops

• Need the state to invest, give $, frameworks for formation