Biggest WorstThe largest job classification, department, or area with the least union support and/or the strongest anti-union sentiment. An organizing campaign should focus on identifying and recruiting organic leaders in the biggest worst.
Strike Authorization VoteA process for union members in a bargaining unit to vote to approve taking a strike action, often outlined in union bylaws. A strike authorization vote does not bind the union to actually going on strike but gives approval to the bargaining committee or another leadership body within the union to call for a strike.
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Union ActivistA union member who is an enthusiastic and ready union supporter but who does not effectively motivate or lead their coworkers to take action. As contrasted with an organic leader.
At the same time, a formal bargaining committee had come together, made up of both established shop stewards and new leaders like Eusebio and Leonard. Crucially, the committee included both Marriott workers and non-Marriott workers. If the Marriott contract would ultimately be extended to hotels citywide, non-Marriott workers needed a seat at the table in determining what it would say. The committee numbered 34; there were 14 Marriott workers and 20 non-Marriott workers, plus President Brian Lang, and the Financial Secretary Treasurer, Carlos Aramayo. The union also planned to have open bargaining for the first time, encouraging any hotel member from across the city to attend.
Bargaining Committee (also Bargaining Team, Negotiations Committee/Team):A group of workers, ideally elected by their coworkers, who take leadership in negotiations, including developing bargaining proposals, sitting at the bargaining table across from management, responding to company proposals, and reaching tentative agreements. Under union bylaws or tradition, the bargaining committee often includes designated elected officers or shop stewards.Case Studies: Einstein; NJEA; NewsGuild; MNA; UNITE HERE
Biggest Worst: The largest job classification, department, or area with the least union support and/or the strongest anti-union sentiment. An organizing campaign should focus on identifying and recruiting organic leaders in the biggest worst.Case Studies: NewsGuild; UNITE HERE
Going Public: In an underground union organizing campaign, the act of publicly announcing that workers are organizing a union. Going public typically occurs only after the union has secured supermajority support and may coincide with a demand for voluntary recognition. Announcing the union campaign and the identities of union leaders provides some protection from employer retaliation and can help bolster public support for workers.Case Studies: NewsGuild
Organic Leader: A respected worker who is able to move large numbers of their coworkers to take action. Organic leaders are not necessarily pro-union, as contrasted with pro-union activists. Typically, they have no official title or position.Case Studies: Einstein; NJEA; MNA; UNITE HERE
Organizing Committee: A committee of workers formed for the purpose of organizing towards union recognition. To be effective, the committee is made up of organic leaders from each work area and/or shift. Standing organizing committees may also exist in already-unionized workplaces and serve a similar role to the Contract Action Team in organizing around workplace issues and contract negotiations.Case Studies: NewsGuild
Shop Steward (also Building Representative, Delegate): A union member who has formally taken responsibility for representing their coworkers in grievance proceedings and other union matters. Shop stewards may represent a particular job classification, department, spatial area, or shift within a workplace and may automatically serve on union leadership bodies such as a unit council or bargaining committee. These positions can be appointed or elected, and are typically filled by union activists.Case Studies: NJEA; NewsGuild; MNA; UNITE HERE
Staff Organizer (also Field/Guild/Union Representative): An organizer paid by the members and who work for the local or state/national/international union. Staff organizers work to recruit new organic leaders and ensure majority and supermajority participation throughout the workplace.Case Studies: NJEA; NewsGuild; MNA; UNITE HERE
Strike Authorization Vote: A process for union members in a bargaining unit to vote to approve taking a strike action, often outlined in union bylaws. A strike authorization vote does not bind the union to actually going on strike but gives approval to the bargaining committee or another leadership body within the union to call for a strike. The decision to hold a strike authorization vote should be informed by past worker participation in structure tests and can itself serve as a structure test in building towards strike readiness.Case Studies: NewsGuild; MNA; UNITE HERE
Union Activist: A union member who is an enthusiastic and ready union supporter but who does not effectively motivate or lead their coworkers to take action. As contrasted with an organic leader.Case Studies: Einstein; UNITE HERE
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Workers in factories toldHuman Rights Watch that manyabuses and violations are simply not noticed, or are ignored, by theinspections carried out by or on behalf of buyers. Most trade union leaderssaid that freedom of association and collective bargaining are part of companycodes of conduct but in their experience audits and inspections conducted bycompany agents prior to the Rana Plaza collapse often overlooked these issuesor addressed them only superficially.
This report is based primarily on interviews conducted inBangladesh from October 2013 to April 2015. Human Rights Watch researchersvisited Dhaka and surrounding towns where garment factories are situated. Weinterviewed a total of 160 workers, 37 of them women from 44 factories aboutfactory conditions and safety issues. Among them were 88 workers from 39factories involved in efforts to form trade unions. Most of these factories arecovered by the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh or the Alliancefor Bangladesh Worker Safety. Some interviews with factory-level labor leaderswere facilitated by contacts provided by the Solidarity Center (AFL-CIO) officein Dhaka.
Under intense international pressure to reform the industryfollowing the Rana Plaza disaster, the government amended the labor law in July2013, making it easier for unions to be organized. As a result, the labordepartment has registered more unions than ever: 85 new unions in 2013, 174 in2014, and 21 in the first three months of 2015, bringing the total number offactory-level unions in Bangladesh from 136 in 2012 to 416 on March 30, 2015.[62]By contrast, in 2011 and 2012, the labor department registered only two unions.[63]Clearly, this is progress, but there are more than 4,500 garment factories inBangladesh and even after the new registrations unions are present in less than10 percent of them.
As detailed below, however, factory managers continue to usethreats, violent attacks, and involuntary dismissals in efforts to stop unionsfrom being registered. Even after unions are formed, union leaders still riskbeing fired. As a result, some unions exist only in name, with members tooafraid to raise their voices and the union all but impotent as a channel to airand address worker concerns.
At another factory owned by the same owner, a unionorganizer said that the management fired 50 workers in 2012 to prevent themfrom forming a union. Although the union was ultimately registered a yearlater, its leaders are still being harassed.
A worker at another factory said he was beaten up in August2013 after he intervened on behalf of a fellow worker who had been firedwithout receiving the benefits he was entitled to. He said the production chiefforced him to leave the factory on the back of a motorcycle driven by two men,who he described as mastans. The production manager followed them in arickshaw to a building site, and there the men attacked the union leader.
A union leader described how in June 2014 managementofficials tried to bribe two union leaders to stop them from participating inthe union at her factory. When they refused to give in, management officialsthreatened them. The management also hired local thugs to beat up some others:
Under mounting pressure from buyers, the Azim Group and theunion at Global Garments Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding on December28, 2014 agreeing to significant remedial measures including reinstatement forfour union leaders the company had effectively fired; back pay for those fourand other union leaders forced to stay out of work after the violence ofNovember 10; a schedule for regular meetings between management and unionmembers; and broad reassurances on respect for the rights to organize andbargain collectively.[95]
In February 2015, the New York Times reported thatseveral international buyers that had suspended business with the Azim Group,including PVH Corporation and VF Corporation, had agreed to resume ordersfollowing weeks of negotiations.[96]The management of Global Trousers factory signed a memorandum of understandingwith the workers union on February 3 in which it promised to recognize andbargain with unions, and abandon all complaints and objections brought againstthe union.[97] 2ff7e9595c
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