GCIU Pres. George Tedeschi asked participants at the union's advanced, five-day Organizing Institute, which was held at the Maritime Institute of Technology near Baltimore, Md., to respond to questions asked by the Graphic Communicator (GC). Below are brief profiles of some of those organizing activists and their answers.

Patti Hanlon

Hank Huber

Thomas Jolley

Del Linville

Jessica Martinez

Joseph McMahon

Robert Miller

Patti Hanlon is a member of Boston 600M and works as the local's office manager. She has been a GCIU member for one year.

Hank Huber was hired about 10 months ago by San Francisco 583M to do strategic research and organize in California for the local. He was brought on staff as part of the local's organizing partnership with five other area unions.

Thomas Jolley is the GCIU General Board member from the Southern Region. He worked in the packaging industry for more than 24 years, operating gravure presses and gas chromatographs. A GCIU member for more than 25 years, he has been an internal and external organizer for Atlanta 527S for about a year. He has attended both the beginning and advanced Organizing Institutes and served as a volunteer organizer in Corinth, Miss.

Del Linville has belonged to the GCIU since 1972 as an offset pressman. A member of Denver 440M, Linville signed on as a full-time organizer with the local in June 2001. He has attended beginning and advanced GCIU Organizing Institutes, as well as Rocky Mountain region organizing schools and conferences. He said he gained valuable experience as a volunteer for Detroit 2C in a "blitz" campaign, then took it home to handbill shops in the Denver area.

Jessica Martinez has worked in the printing industry for more than 17 years. She is a journeyman desktop publisher and a member of Milwaukee-Madison 577M. She has attended both local and International organizing training programs. During the spring and summer of 2001, she did housecalling and handed out literature in a Service Employees Local 150 organizing drive among 650 home health care workers whom she said had long hours, very low pay, and no health insurance for themselves. "We won!" she noted.

Joseph McMahon is a journeyman pressman who has belonged to GCIU for more than 14 years. He has been a vice president of St. Paul 1M for more than two years. He has attended the GCIU's "train-the-trainer" and beginning and advanced organizing programs. He served as a volunteer organizer at plants in Neenah, Wis., Corinth, Miss., and Detroit.

Robert Miller joined Chicago 458M more than 14 years ago as an employee of a sheetfed press shop. He has served as a full-time local business representative for nine years. He took over responsibility for the local's organizing program following the retirement of Local 458M Organizer Frank Carpenter in August 2001. He attended the beginning and advanced GCIU Organizing Institutes, as well as Illinois State AFL-CIO and Chicago Federation of Labor organizing seminars. In January, he began a World Wide Web-based course on researching employers, operated by the University of Illinois' Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, that he said will be valuable for both collective bargaining and organizing. He has participated in multiple organizing campaigns at the local and international levels, including his "favorite"— White Cap Inc. in Chicago— where Local 458M members were locked out for 11 months and then organized the remaining 80 people in the lithography department when they returned. They also helped the Steelworkers organize another 300 people in the rest of the company.

GC: Why did you decide to participate in the GCIU's organizing training program?

Hanlon: We need to build our union, and we need to educate the "new" generation of workers.

Huber: I believe for organizing to be effective, the International must work more closely with locals. I wanted to participate . . . to meet other organizers — observing a variety of organizing styles and incorporating some of the different communication techniques that are most effective. The organizing training sessions have also provided a venue to talk about organizing strategy and to work through some of the problems that organizers face in the field trying to bring new members into our organization.

Jolley: Encouragement from [Atlanta 527S] Pres. [Ralph] Meers. I, too, sensed the great need for "new" growth — not only with 527S [but] also within the GCIU.

Linville: Having been a pressman for 31 years and becoming an organizer, it's a big change, and I need much training in order to do this job. I've learned so much, but I feel it's just a beginning. Learning from people who have been at this for years has given me confidence that organizing can be done.

Martinez: I was introduced to organizing by SEIU 150. I had to find out what our union was doing in this area! I was then informed that we had our own organizing institute. By that time, I had "the fever."

McMahon: I have always enjoyed organizing. Dealing with people and trying to help them to have a better life through organized labor is very important to me. With my 14 years in the union, I can see the difference in union versus non-union benefits and wages. All workers should have a voice to collectively bargain with their employer through union representation.

Miller: [I wanted] to get new ideas and approaches for our local to use in future organizing campaigns [and] to have the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas with GCIU members from other locals and the International staff.

GC:Why is organizing important?

Hanlon: Without membership, we will not go forward. Without organizing, we will not be able to properly educate people about the need for our union. Without both, we can not grow.

Huber: I believe organizing is the most important job in the labor movement. Unions are the only way workers can have a real and effective voice at work. I'm involved in organizing because I want all workers to have power on the job that comes from being part of a union. . . . We must continue to allocate resources to organizing if our union is going to continue to be relevant in our industries.

Jolley: There hasn't been anyone to guarantee my children or others will have decent opportunities. The price paid by so many of the previous 150 years will be in vain if organizing doesn't move ahead of "servicing." Organizing is reminding ourselves and others that nothing comes cheaply. But it's worth it. If there is any member, leader, officer within the GCIU who doesn't believe this should be the number one priority, they should give an account to their members within. . . . I'm not ready to "throw in the towel!"

Linville: I believe that organizing . . . is necessary in order to survive and Denver is a good example of this. I feel we need to see positive results in 2002. Something has to be done or Local 440 won't be around to help the people in the printing trades.

Martinez: It all begins with people wanting a quality of life. Organizing offers solid answers that affect our lives directly. I am privileged to have union experience. Now, it is my turn to share with those who do not. If I can help someone to better understand what a union has to offer, I've moved a mountain. Maybe we won't win [but] now the knowledge is out there. I have created change. Things cannot go back to the way they were.

McMahon: Organizing is very important to me because I see the benefit of the collective bargaining process. We need as many people in this country under a union contract so we can continue to negotiate good contracts. As union membership declines, so does our ability to represent our membership. The future of our country and trade revolves around organizing new people in every industry.

Miller: It is the future of our union — and trade! Organizing helps keep the wages and working conditions fair and safe for our industry, for union as well as non-union workers. Without a union presence, the wages would drop and the safety of workers in our industry would have to rely on government agencies, and we all know how efficient our government is!

GC: How do you plan to use what you have learned from this program?

Hanlon: To organize shops in New England and more so in Massachusetts.

Huber: I'm using what I learned . . . every day. In the training session, we talked a lot about using a balanced approach and trying to run a positive campaign. Another technique I learned from the training is that it is very important to have good notes on each worker that the union has talked to. . . . At a later date, I am then able to follow up with them.

Jolley: [I have] already applied the principles to a campaign. . . .

Linville: We're planning on organizing Spanish-speaking people in one of our shops [and to] have housecalling training for volunteers. We're planning on handbilling as much as possible, and we have two other unions that say they may be able to help us in handbilling. We plan to arrange meetings with state legislators.

Martinez: My goal is to offer my knowledge to others — to spread the news and help others to better understand the benefits of unions.

McMahon: With the information I learned from the program I can run my organizing campaigns in a more efficient manner.

Miller: [I plan to] apply the basic approaches and principles to future organizing campaigns in our local and International efforts in organizing.

GC: What do you consider the most important part of your experience in the organizing training program?

Hanlon: The organizing staff, [GCIU organizing consultant] Richard Bensinger, the students were the most important. All came with vast organizing experience, and I was able to learn from them things that cannot be taught in a classroom — life experience.

Huber: I thought the training program was excellent. I am very glad our union has been able to obtain the services of Richard Bensinger, who brought a wealth of knowledge to the program. Most importantly, what I learned at the training session was how important it is to campaign for the middle ground. . . . Our goal is to win elections and, to do that, we have to appeal to the broadest range of employees as possible. I learned two of the techniques that I felt were very useful — how to create a campaign video and . . . [how to inoculate workers from] employer pressure.

Jolley: With so many leaders, personalities, egos, and "largeness" of the group, I was amazed at how well people received each other! Then I realized why — we all have a mission common to each of us. And we need to take it seriously.

Linville: The different exercises on housecalling have been the most important experience to me. It sounds so easy but, in reality, it is very difficult. The more a person does, the easier it gets and a person has more confidence.

Martinez: Nothing can replace a personal one-on-one house call in the field. No class can ever take this place, so I choose to draw my experience from the field!

McMahon: I thought the most important exercise was when a campaign is started to do a time line on a calendar when each step of the campaign will occur, for example, meetings, handbilling, etc.

Miller: The simulated campaign that was conducted during the five-day course was a great experience because it caused the participants to stop and strategize when the organizing situations changed — as they often do in real life campaigns. It was good to see different decisions and approaches to dealing with the problems that were brought out by the participants. It also covered all phases of an organizing campaign, from choosing a viable target and going through the campaign with meetings (both union and captive audience), creating handbills and flyers, and, finally, filing for and conducting a [National Labor Relations Board] election.

GC: What do you think of this organizing training program, and are there any changes or additions that would be useful to you?

Hanlon: Overall, the program is excellent. I felt the classes were too long. I think it would be better to have the program be more days instead of long hours. Every subject covered was and is necessary for organizing.

Huber: So far, I think the new International leadership has done a great job in trying to encourage organizing. I do think, however, a lot of work still needs to be done. The union must continue to allocate more resources to organizing. One of the major obstacles I see to developing a more effective organizing program is the decentralization of our union. To be effective, locals need to be big enough to not only be able to support a service representative but also an organizer. Also, if the International union is serious about organizing, I believe that we still need more organizers on staff. In the training sessions, we are told that the blitz model is the most effective way to organize workers, but right now I don't believe we have enough trained organizers to run more than one blitz campaign effectively. In addition, more targeting and strategic research needs to be done. . . . Also more training sessions for organizing would be beneficial — specifically training sessions that focus on probing workplaces and getting campaigns started.

Jolley: Many years ago, I taught seminars in finance, insurance, etc. and realized if the seminar's time frame was more than four to six and a half hours, you lose everyone. It is the same here. . . . It may be better to conclude each day "sooner" rather than "later." Sometimes, there was not enough time to correctly pursue projects. Interactions among participants were very limited because of time restraints. I realize this is why sessions lasted so long. However, we are not at our best after six hours — no one is, even the instructors.

Linville: Having been in organizing since June 2001, I'm very pleased with the training I've received. The only thing I would like to see, and I don't know if there is an answer, is how to get contacts at print shops.

Martinez: Competition is important, but I feel the ability to pull a group of people to work together toward one goal is even more important. I would key down the competitiveness.

McMahon: I enjoyed the organizing program for many reasons. It is great to have educated trainers to do the program. It is also good to have people from all over the country together to share ideas.

Miller: I think Richard Bensinger (the organizing guru) has good ideas and approaches. In general, I think the new organizing program is very good. I would like to see some information on how to deal with losing elections and how to keep a group interested in the GCIU after a loss so they may become a viable target for future organizing efforts.

GC: Any other comments?

Hanlon: The Marine Institute was an excellent location for this class and a great job by our organizing staff for putting it all together.

Linville: Thanks for the training. At Local 440M, we're in real need to strengthen our membership in numbers and also in understanding the benefits of a strong union.

McMahon: I feel the International union is willing to help locals organize by having good, full-time organizers and a stable, trained group of volunteer organizers to draw from.