Eli Jelly-Schapiro &Tiffany Ten Eyck Labor Notes April 2007
For the 15 million retail workers in the United States, the odds of being in a union are low. According to the nonprofit Labor Research Association, retail unionization was just 6.2 percent in 2003
While the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) has made some gains for grocery and food retail workers, workers in the rapidly expanding world of non-food retail stores and chains are barely a blip on organized labor's radar.
>From a West Coast bookstore to a New York shoe chain, workers have won in
retail on a small scale, but for each victory there are countless losses.
The realities of retail work, from a constantly shifting job force to no
holds barred anti-union employers, create significant barriers to
organizing.
What would it take to organize in retail? The answer is likely as complicated as the industry itself. From big box to small niche, no workplace looks the same. In order for labor to win, it will need to use strategies and tactics as varied as this massive industry.
WAKE UP!
>From 2004-2006, the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU),
affiliated with the UFCW, organized workers at 10 Footco (a New York chain
selling sneakers and apparel) stores. Workers waged the campaign using the
slogan, "Despierta Bushwick!" ("Wake Up Bushwick!"), calling on their
Brooklyn neighborhood for support.
RWDSU won a three-year contract for 95 Footco employees, some of whom had been making as little as $4.75 an hour (the new starting wage is $7.25/hr and will be raised to $8.10 in the third year of the contract).
The campaign succeeded, in part, by building a strong community coalition that was able to put pressure on the employer from a variety of different angles. Particularly critical was the involvement of Make the Road by Walking, a Bushwick-based organization that works primarily with low-income Latino community members, many of whom are undocumented immigrants.
RWDSU Research Director Mathias Bolton notes that, "If there is a community group that has been working with immigrant workers in the area.[the support of] that community group can help legitimize the union."
The problem of legitimatization is particularly acute in retail, an industry that has grown massively over the past two decades yet remains largely unorganized. Bolton observes that in many retail settings, where the benefits of unionization are often out-of-sight and out-of-mind, forming a union can seem far-fetched.
Bolton explains, "There is a sense of desperation: 'What could a union even do if they came in here?' It's tough to break that perception."
THE RETAIL UNION
The organizing of 400 workers at seven Powell's Books shops in Portland, Oregon in 1999 represents another successful chapter in the recent history of retail organizing. Angered by a proposed 'merit-based' three-tier raise system and fed up with an increasingly unresponsive and insensitive management, workers at Powell's flagship Burnside store organized into the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5.
The workers had to overcome both pressure from management and industry-specific challenges not only to organize the union, but to keep it alive.
With high turnover and job instability, orienting new members into the union has been a critical task. ILWU Local 5 representative Ryan Takas says that there's a "total lack of education about unions that most of the workers come to the job with. People are used to a service-based relationship with most organizations and it is difficult to get people to understand that this not how a union is supposed to function."
Another common obstacle facing retail workers is a lack of respect for their work. Instead of organizing unions, workers are encouraged to get "real jobs." Former Local 5 Vice President Meredith Schafer says, "There's a self-perception of workers that this is not their career. There's resistance to organizing something with a sense of permanence and commitment like a union."
Longtime Powell's employee and union activist Jeff Hensley says, "There's also the obvious difficulty of resources because retail workers simply don't make very much money and.it's very easy to scare them into just holding on to what they've got. There's fear that a couple of hundred people are possibly waiting to the get the job you have right now."
Hensley says that to fight this, the union has to promote that working in retail should be respected like skilled labor and professional careers. "A big reason why we were ultimately successful," he explains, "is the part of the pledge we take when we have member card signing at our monthly meetings that mentions 'securing respect and fair treatment on the job.'"
Today, as Local 5 prepares for its third contract campaign, the emphasis remains on including every union member in the negotiation process. Takas says union members "vote on everything.we try and include the rank and file as much as possible."
Working to include new members and cultivating a democratic culture within the union is particularly important, says Takas, when turnover at the workplace is so high. He notes, "50 percent of our shop hasn't even been through a contract struggle before."
ORGANIZING INSIDE THE BOX
Workers in larger retail chains (often referred to as "big box" retail) face unique barriers to unionization. While mega-retail employers like Wal-Mart and Target have faced numerous campaigns to improve working conditions and wages, big box retailers remain largely non-union.
In many communities, big box retailers are some of the largest employers and they can count on a steady stream of potential employees, no matter how difficult the working conditions get. Again, turnover and job instability make it hard for unions to gain influence among a workforce that sometimes has little hope of making improvements on basic working standards like right to overtime or full medical coverage.
Without question, organizing big-box stores is a different kettle of fish than organizing local chain stores like Powell's and Footco. Key aspects of both campaigns' strategies, however, could be instructive for future big-box organizing efforts.
To win in retail, unions must work with local communities, building new coalitions and joining existing ones. Particularly in immigrant communities, working with coalitions that are already organizing increases the visibility and credibility of a union organizing campaign.
Community coalitions can also help decrease the intense feelings of isolation and powerlessness with which many retail workers struggle. On the other hand, by involving the community in a campaign, unions can show the employer that they have the community's support and respect.
Another critical lesson is member involvement and education. Once a campaign is won, as at Powell's, unions must constantly work to engage members in the union. Given high turnover, there will always be new and inexperienced workers to get involved.
New members need to be included in the direction of the union, from speaking up at union meetings to learning how to negotiate the new contract. Without steady union education and leadership, a retail union can lose its active membership to turnover and attrition in just a few years.
http://labornotes.org/node/708
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