George Tedeschi

Starting out with the statement, "Organizing is the lifeblood of this organization," GCIU Pres. George Tedeschi gave a report on reversing attrition and recruiting new members to the delegates at the 41st annual North American Conference of Commercial Unions in San Diego.

"Our organizing record in this decade is not a good one. At the convention last September, the delegates faced our declining membership and voted to make organizing a GCIU priority," he noted.

To determine the best way to reverse this decline, the GCIU administration engaged former AFL-CIO Organizing Director Richard Bensinger to analyze and improve the way the GCIU builds its membership, he explained. Right now Bensinger's recommendations are being implemented, and "he will work with us to get the new system in place," Tedeschi said.

The reorganization of the organizing effort has resulted in seminars to train volunteers how to do the job. "The training is very intense and is designed to attract diverse parts of our membership – including minorities and women. This diversity lets different parts of our membership offer good advice to run an organizing campaign. It builds our flexibility," he said.

"Future campaigns will emphasize developing local grass-roots workers to get more involved in the recruiting effort. And since a review of past campaigns show that time is on the side of the employer, we want to plan campaigns with a quick turnaround," Tedeschi advised delegates.

"We are trying to develop the staff with good judgment as to when we should walk away from a campaign," he said. "We will explain to in-plant organizers so they work hard early to get the support we need to succeed and organize their plant."

In addition to a more efficient organizing system, the GCIU General Board approved money to subsidize local unions to hire full time organizers. The subsidies would be for a one-year period with the possibility of renewal for another six months, Tedeschi reported.

"So the International is putting its money where its mouth is. If we don't, we're going to die," he lamented.

He urged local unions across North America to inform International headquarters about good organizing targets. "Tell us about good targets. We will discuss it and make a budget. And if we think it is a good possibility, we will pay 50 percent of the campaign," Tedeschi said.

GCIU members in leadership positions in both the U.S. and Canada "must get your people involved" . . . "and remember, if you have good people who might be good organizers, send them to organizer training and let us evaluate them," he suggested.