WHEREAS:

The lifeblood of AFSCME and the American labor movement is the power, creativity, and focus that our struggles for justice for working women and men bring to our members, elected leaders and staff. It is through these struggles, particularly in bringing the rights of unionization to non-union workers, that we continue to build AFSCME into an ever more powerful institution that can win and sustain justice in our workplaces and in our nation; and

WHEREAS:

Employers in the private sector, and increasingly employers in the public sector, wage war on their employees when they attempt to organize, spending thousands of dollars per employee on lawyers, consultants, incentives to try to sway workers against unionizing, and lost productivity by workers forced to attend intimidating anti-union meetings and individual sessions with supervisors; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME can never outspend ruthless employers; in order to win this war our organizers must become better strategists and tacticians than these anti-union forces; and

WHEREAS:

Organizing is a craft and a skill -- passion and commitment are not enough to win.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

We must constantly strive to improve organizers' competence and skills, including:

1. The foundation for all good organizing: the ability to meet with workers one on one in house calls and work sites so that every worker contact moves the worker and the campaign forward.
2. The principles of the AFSCME Organizing Model, so we can move campaigns effectively, building a solid base for victory and strong contracts and developing strong locals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

We will rigorously analyze our victories, as well as our defeats, to apply lessons learned to make our organizing more effective; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

We will never be complacent in our struggle to bring the rights of unionization to non-union workers. Organizer training must be ongoing, scientific and thorough -- a fundamental part of our work.

SUBMITTED BY:

Danny Donohue, President and Delegate
Mary Sullivan, Executive Vice President and Delegate
CSEA/AFSCME Local 1000
New York