Organising Model - Defining The Organising Model

Defining The Organising Model

It is often claimed that the principle underlying the organising model is that of giving power directly to union members. While the practical exercise of the model sometimes leaves something to be desired in this respect, its embodiment of a set of campaigning and organisational approaches is much less ambiguous. The organising model in its ideal type has these features:

• Proactive recruitment drives.
• Proactive campaigning, involving a large commitment of resources and large numbers of members.
• Creative campaigning tactics - including demonstrations, street theatre, media stunts, direct action, civil disobedience, music etc.
• Strong emphasis on the importance of personal contact in organising. Organisers will often put in long hours talking to workers about their situation, and what they believe the union can help them achieve. Visits to workers' homes will often be a component of this.
• Acceptance of the view that workers need to take some appreciable responsibility for winning union struggles and making the union strong. Hence an attitude geared toward empowering workers.
• As a central tool of both recruitment and campaigning, the identification and recruitment of leaders from among the workforce, to spread information about the union, and encourage others to join and take action.
• These leaders working together in a campaign committee, to steer campaigns .
• A conception of leadership in which leaders are those willing to take the initiative and contribute effort, rather than one based on authority. It will be hoped that leadership (as confidence to initiation organisation with others) will spread as broadly as possible.
• Strong relationship (especially in America) to Social Movement Unionism and Community Unionism which (respectively) seek to ally the labour movement to broader social movements and to local community organisations - including for example, campaigns such as United Students Against Sweatshops and ACORN.
• Employment of relatively large numbers of full-time staff union organizers and member organizers in order to facilitate the above.
• In order to finance this, typically a relatively high level of membership dues relative for industrial—as opposed to craft—unions.

Unions that employ the organizing model often try to apply the above tactics in "internal"/representational/bargaining campaigns, not just "external" organising/recruitment campaigns. Indeed, many unions that employ the organising model attempt to "bargain to organise" -- that is, win a greater right to organize non-union workers through pressuring an employer through using current members collective strength. In contrast, the service model focuses on the provision of services - such as legal advice, training, or even consumer discount programmes - to members. Practitioners of this model will generally avoid industrial, or direct, action of any kind, preferring to develop a 'good relationship' with employers. Typically, but not necessarily, service model unions will be less democratic in structure.