If you want to organize a union in your workplace or industry, you've come to the right place!

A member of the Organizing Department of the WIIU would be glad to talk with you about organizing a union or strategies for improving your working conditions at your workplace, and WIIU members would help you as much as possible with your organizing efforts.

The best place to start is a phone conversation or e-mail correspondence. Before the first contact, it would be helpful (though not necessary) to know a few things about your workplace:

1. How many workers are there?
2. What are the different types of jobs are there at your company? How many workers are there in each department?
3. Does your store/company have other shops or distribution lines in the area?
4. What percentage of your coworkers would initially be excited about a union? How many would be neutral or opposed? Do you think your coworkers at work need to know more about unions?

Here is some advice in the short term: You will want to keep any union talk, and general conversations about wages, benefits, hours, etc., out of the ears of management.

You will want to be a model employee because you do not want to give management any reason to fire you. Your job is worth defending and improving.

Start a workplace diary, noting positive and negative comments from supervisors and managers. Keep notes from meetings, schedule changes, etc. Make sure you note when, where, why, etc.

Save company memos and pay stubs, ANYTHING that you think will help your case if you must use a government agency to fight the boss.

Lastly, it is legal to talk about union organizing and you have a legal right to organize to improve your working conditions.

But you should know that some of the most seemingly friendly companies have waged the most vicious unionbusting drives. The goal of keeping the campaign out of the ears of management is to do as much organizing as possible before your campaign goes public.

To get in touch with a member of the WIIU's Organizing Department, please contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .