That was basically the warning given at a recent session of the North American Conference of Commercial Unions.

Those promoting the absolute necessity of organizing included GCIU Vice Pres. Garry D. Foreman, acting International organizing director; Organizer Bert Haft; David R. Jacobs, president of Detroit 2C and a General Board member; and New York 1L Pres. Patrick LoPresti.

Foreman explained a cooperative intern organizing concept approved in March by the General Board (details were reported in the May-June issue of the Graphic Communicator).

Regarding the urgency to organize, Foreman observed that "the future is in our hands . . . If we don't spend money to organize, we're going to die."

He added that, due to limited International resources and small number of organizers, the International must have assistance from GCIU local unions: "It has to be a joint venture. We've got to quit talking the talk and walk the walk."

Foreman said that, with the number of steel mills declining in North America, the United Steelworkers are looking to organize whatever type of shop they can. He said that if Steelworkers organize print shops, those shops could end up with contracts that are sub-standard and undermine GCIU contracts.

"We'd better make time to organize . . . or some other union is going to organize our industry if we don't do it ourselves," Foreman warned.

When GCIU Pres. James J. Norton addressed delegates at a joint Commercial, Newspaper, and Commercial Conference session, he advised that local volunteers are urgently needed to boost organizing efforts. He said that just a couple of hours of a volunteer's help on a weekend, for example, can be extremely valuable.

Haft noted that when Detroit 2C handbilled 96 shops in the area, St. Paul 1M sent in volunteers to help. Haft observed that handbilling and home visiting are two vital elements in a strategy to organize the unorganized.

Jacobs said that his organizing "blitzing" program has to do with name recognition – making sure that workers in shops know and identify with the GCIU. He gave as an example the name that is associated with facial tissues. Jacobs said that the name is so well recognized that whenever a person asks for a facial tissue it's invariably by the name brand.

As a result of intensive efforts, Jacobs said that his local has grown by 68 percent since organizing blitzing was launched in earnest in 1988. He said that many union employers have been inspired to cooperate by providing names of competitor non-union shops that Local 2C can target.

LoPresti, who reported having five full-time local organizers, echoed Foreman's basic tenet: "We must organize or we [the union] will die. . . . We should be ashamed not to spend [money] to hire organizers. The International should have 25 organizers to send out to answer the call."

Haft urged that locals look at innovative ways to organize. He said, for example, that Los Angeles 404M invested the interest from the defense fund to hire organizers.

Commercial Conference Pres. George Osgood observed that "there's a militancy going on out there. People are just upset and fed up. The commercial industry in North America and the GCIU are probably the most affected by shutdowns." He accordingly indicated there was no choice but to organize the unorganized.