Creating A Better World, Member Organizers

Union advocates cite statistics that point to the decline in Union membership in our lifetime. A number frequently used is only 12% of American Labor is unionized; down 35% in 30 years.

I wonder about that statistic. Not the validity of it. Numbers are numbers. It is obvious from the culture changes I have lived through and the change in the stories of Working Class guys & gals, that unions do not play the same role as they did in the 1950’s.

I wonder what those Union guys & gals of the 50’s & 60’s taught their children. Did they teach their families that Union jobs were the future? Did they help their children see a Union job as a worthy goal?
Or . . . did our parents and grandparents aspirations for the next generation tend towards doctors, lawyers and managers?

My father was an accountant. Working for Oregon Steel, office staff was not unionized, he saw up close the benefits of belonging to a Union. He taught me about those benefits decades before he ever had the opportunity to belong to a Union.

If these past laborers were not teaching and preaching Unions, why not? I believe wanting their children to be doctors and lawyers was only part of the answer; and not the most important part.

The history of several union organizations was organizers doing everything for the members. Those unions had organizers (business agents) that made sure every new employee was introduced to the union and the reasons why. Before the days of direct deposit and automatic withdraws the business agent came around to each and every members house or flat to collect their dues. Union organizers negotiated collective bargaining agreements, sometimes without members present. They did everything. Union members let them.


Our Union adopted, by a vote of the members, a different organizing model. The old model was a ‘business agent’ model. We got by, but we never had enough business agents, organizers. Members needed to step up to fill the gaps. Several years ago We adopted a Member Organizer model. We are the members, the organizers.

No one knows the worksite like the worker: Us. We know the issues. We live and work the issues. We know that some issues are unique to our shop. We know that some issues are common to all offices.

Our members are the subject matter experts. We are the best witnesses in the Oregon Legislature when our legislators need to know more about the state of our services. We know our clients better than most. We know where the resources are and are not. We walk our parks and drive our highways every day. We know not only where the wildlife live, we know how many live there. We are our state’s best advocate. We can be our own best advocate.

There are more than a few who do not advocate, do not appreciate this new organizing model. Some still want their organizer to do the work of the Union. They want their money’s worth. This brings me back to the Union members of the past generations; those Union members who did not teach their kids about their Unions. I said that wanting their children to do other work was not the most important part of why they did not teach the Union.

What could be worse than not having a Union to stand by you, is having a union that does not hear you. A union that is not interested in what you think. Imagine having an automated job where the boss does not want your input. Add to that a union that collects your dues, bargains your contracts and decides whether or not to air your grievances without you.

The most important part of the story is they wanted their children to work where they had a say; where they could help create the product, the service. They wanted their inheritors to have the opportunity to create a better world, not just take orders. Those who did not teach their children about their union did not see the union as being about them. Those workers did not help create their union; they did not help organize their world.


Our Union wants your input. ODOT Local 730, SEIU 503, OPEU is always looking for more members to decide to become Member Organizers. Our Member Organizers act as shop stewards. We work in the Union’s legislative & executive bodies: General Council and the Board of Directors. Through CAPE our members work the political process. Member Organizers work out of state helping other workers find their voices. We need Member Organizers to work in our home towns and community actions centers.

I can tell you that working in our Union feels like community. Many folks going different directions, doing different jobs for the same purpose: to improve the lives of laborers. To create a better community, a better world.

If you are looking to create your world, we are looking for you. mac