Vice Pres. Duncan K. Brown

In detailing the GCIU's new organizing program, GCIU Vice Pres. Duncan K. Brown stressed that the effort will require a strong commitment from everyone for it to succeed.

Brown, who leads the General Board's Organizing Committee, advised convention delegates: "Any program, no matter how good it is, is going to require strong commitment and support" from the International, local unions, and rank-and-file members. "It's going to involve financial commitment, and it's going to involve hard work."

GCIU Pres. George Tedeschi said that "organizing and membership growth are one of our top priorities. We will put money and staff into the field to assist locals willing to organize."

Brown said the new organizing strategy, which will be funded by a per capita tax increase approved at the convention, was developed by the General Board Organizing Committee members: District Council 2 Secy. Fred Correll; Philadelphia 14M Pres. Andrew Douglas; Detroit 2C Pres. David R. Jacobs; Art McCullough of New York 1L; and Toronto 500M Pres. Mike R. Zajac.

Committee members consulted with GCIU field staff and representatives of the AFL-CIO; Canadian Labour Congress; the Organizing Institute; the Graphical, Paper and Media Union of the United Kingdom; the Paper, Allied, Chemical and Energy union; and Cornell University. Also consulted was convention speaker Richard Bensinger, who founded the Organizing Institute and served as an AFL-CIO organizing director.

The first question the group asked was "why is the GCIU not organizing?" Brown said. But they found the answer is the same as the question.

"We're not organizing because we're not organizing," Brown said. "We've given up. We have no enthusiasm, and we don't have any serious effort in organizing."

"What we found out was, if we want to be successful, we have to begin to be proactive," Brown said. "We have to stop being reactive. We have to shift our whole attitude. We need a strong and aggressive team of organizers led by an active and creative organizing director. We need a higher percentage of people organizing in the field, not just in the International but in the locals"

The other basic need is a plan, Brown said. For that, the committee looked at what is working for other unions that have boosted membership through organizing.

The first part of the plan is to "involve the locals and members," Brown said. "We cannot do this alone. We need to involve them because only through their involvement will we really, really increase organizing activity. It enhances the credibility. . . . It's the locals that have the reputation in their communities, whether it's in Chattanooga or Calgary."

"We have to involve the members," Brown said. "Involving the members enhances our credibility. It also builds the union."

Another reason to involve members is that organizing is to their advantage. "This is not just about the International's financial base," Brown said. "This about your strength at the bargaining table. . . . "

Some of the other planks of the new organizing strategy presented by Brown are:

• Organizing "where workers and locals want to organize" – targets that are close to local union bases and close to member-organizers.

• Analyzing targets to see if they are winnable before devoting resources.

• Developing such targets as non-union units in plants that already have GCIU-represented units; non-union competitors of employers with GCIU contracts; large corporate chains; and "new media" companies, such as Internet and compact disc operations.

• Making sure the GCIU follows up in plants where the first representation election was lost. Brown said other unions are winning those second elections – even in plants where GCIU ran the first campaign – and GCIU can, too.

• Using the organizing staff to coordinate and assist with local campaigns, rather than depending on the International staff to run a campaign alone.

• Developing strategies to organize both low and high wage workers.

• Developing better ways to address gender, race, ethnicity, and language barriers to organizing.

• Organizing from the inside with an active and representative organizing committee "working in the plant, building the union, taking ownership in it."

• Expanding house calling training because worker-to-worker contact works best.

• Developing materials for organizing campaigns.

• Promoting the GCIU in the community to increase its recognition.

• Codifying the rules under which locals can qualify for the 50/50 matching funds and International assistance for organizing.

• Establishing "benchmarks" to measure organizing success.

Brown said a very important aspect of organizing is to recognize the issues that are important to workers. He said "justice and dignity" on the job are nearly always the highest priority for non-union workers.

Brown said the argument about whether the International or locals should organize is spurious. "The most effective organizing is going to be the International and the locals working together," he said.

"Locals also need to devote more resources to organizing," Brown said. "They need to develop organizing teams. They need plans, and they need to mobilize their members. And those that want to do that with this plan, the International will be there to help them."

"We can make it work. It's going to take a lot of hard work. It's not going to happen overnight," Brown said. He said past generations of union members "built this union and built the labor movement. . . . They risked their jobs; some of them risked their safety; and yes, at some point, some of them risked their lives. They did it to organize shops and bring the benefits of union security, safety and better working conditions, improved living standards to the people that they worked with. That's what the union is about."

"It's also about the future. It's about our children and our grandchildren. The labor history of tomorrow is going to be written against the backdrop of globalization and the most awesome concentration of corporate power that's imaginable," Brown said.

Brown added: "Our task is big, and our cause is just. We need to be there. We need to be there because this is a moral obligation that we have."