In addition to the excellent contribution by my surname namesake I would wish to add my own thoughts on the skills of organising:
Patience - we cannot look for quick glory or sudden change when it comes to organising. The development of leaders and organising committees is a gradual process, one that requires long term commitment from activists and organisers. So for example when we 'blitz' recruit ourselves that may bring immediate numbers - but we need strategies that put the onus on recruitment to new leaders and the members themselves.
Our time might be better spent working one to one with identified individuals and building them up with step by step tasks rather than dashing around workplaces with application forms ourselves. What is the deal when we recruit? Do we ask people to join on the basis that 'the union' will sort out their problems? Or do we organise recruitment to be done by workers themselves on the basis that they are the union?
Reaffirmation of the collective. We are all guilty at times of being trade union heroes - we bring the solution, we win the case, we have a great reputation amongst the members. But we all know this is also self defeating - very flattering but self defeating nonetheless. Too much individual casework and the offering of 'services' to members. We must look for collective solutions as organisers rather than simply harvest forms and consequently individual grievance cases.
How do we organise workers together in the union to sort out their workplace problems? That is a key challenge for any activist when the path of least resistance is simply to promise to do something about it for them and then often fail to even get back to them. This macro approach is far better suited also to addressing the issues that arise from so-called 'non-core services' members where seconded offices are often not allowed to represent their members. The solution to organising is to achieve more by doing less - less casework, less individualistic grievances, less time wasted on dealing with petty gripes or essentially management non-trade union-related matters. We have to learn to say no more often albeit it may create an initial backlash.
Politics. Unless you believe that society is fundamentally unfair then there is no need to be an organiser. You can be a representative and even an advocate but not an organiser.
Finally, organisers should remember, and I include myself at the top of this list, that the overwhelming amount of union work does not go on in the Branch Office but in the workplaces carried out by volunteers who do not get facility time, Stewards who often get daily grief from some members and to the majority are 'the union'. I try never to take our Stewards, Reps, Health and Safety Officers, ULRs Contact People for granted but often fail in my endeavours!
Glen Williams.
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