Chapter Presidents retreat: Issue organizing is urged

Sometimes all you have to do is ask. That was the simplest advice Maria Armesto, assistant director of the AFT Union Leadership Institute, could offer chapter leaders as they recently gathered in Saratoga Springs for a two-day workshop.

The meeting, for nearly 80 chapter presidents and vice presidents, focused on building membership within UUP. According to Armesto, potential members often don’t sign their union cards because they’re not asked.

“The number one reason people aren’t involved in their union is because no one asked,” Armesto said. “Face-to-face activity makes all the difference.”

Building union membership is near the top of UUP’s list of priorities as the bargaining unit gets younger and has less experience in the labor movement. UUP President William Scheuerman told the chapter leaders that 62 percent of members and potential members have 10 years of SUNY service or less. In addition, the number of bargaining unit members who have not yet signed membership cards has grown in recent years.

Armesto, a veteran of numerous AFT organizing campaigns, said the best way to attract and activate members — besides asking — is to organize around issues important to the group. Identifying these common issues and problems, and finding a joint solution, brings people together, she said.

“People are drawn in by self-interest,” Armesto explained.

Why is this an effective way to organize? According to Armesto, the reasons are many. It:

• brings the union to a personal level;
• strengthens the relationship and communication between the union leadership and membership;
• identifies and develops new leadership;
• empowers members by helping them solve their own problems;
• gets more members involved in the union;
• educates members about issues;
• illustrates what an effective union can accomplish;
• increases the union’s visibility and credibility in the community; and
• achieves positive, substantial change.

— Frank Maurizio