Division of Labor Studies to host union organizing summit Dec. 7 at IUPUI

By Rich Schneider

The Midwest Organizing Summit, presented by the IU Division of Labor Studies as part of the Organize Indiana Project, is intended to jump start a wave of union organizing campaigns, said Chuck Davis, director of the division. With an eye on membership that has been declining in recent years, unions have made organizing a top priority, Davis said.

“The freedom of workers to organize a union of their choice in the workplace is a well-established right in this country, but strategic work is required to revitalize the labor movement; and labor education can serve as an integral part of this revitalization,” he said.

The daylong summit begins at 7:30 a.m. on the IUPUI campus at the University Place Conference Center, 850 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis. R. Thomas Buffenbarger, international president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is the summit’s keynote speaker.

Among the factors confronting unions are labor laws that frustrate attempts by workers to organize, collectively bargain and pursue claims of unfair labor practices, Davis said. To deal with those and other issues, the summit will bring together experienced union practitioners, labor side attorneys, union/community field staff, and labor studies academics from the public sector, industrial sector and building trades. They will focus on presenting practical winning strategies and tactics that lead to successful organizing campaigns.

The summit will open with a critical assessment of the current state of organizing and proceed to various breakout workshops on current issues essential to successful organizing. Summit workshops include:

• Strategies in “salting,” a union organizing technique that sometimes results in exposing employer discrimination against hiring workers who are union members

• Strategic planning and corporate research

• Organizing and the National Labor Relations Board

• Union busting

• How to produce results with community coalitions

• Media strategies that win.

The summit will close with a roundtable discussion on newly emerging organizing strategies. At the end of the summit, union members and officials will not only be educated and motivated in new successful strategies and tactics, but re-energized and ready to organize, Davis said.

While each union will determine which organizing campaigns to conduct, Davis said that organizing campaigns may include many non-traditional union campaign areas such as certain health care and white collar jobs.

Persons interested in obtaining more information or registering to attend the summit may call 317-274-2518 or E-mail iulabor@iupui.edu. The cost of attending is $85 per person, which includes materials, breakfast, lunch and parking. Registration of groups of five or more will receive a 10 percent discount.

http://www.labor.iu.edu/organizeindiana/Summit%20Agenda.htm