Elements of an Effective Contract Campaign

Clear goals

  • Short term goals – what you want to achieve in the contract
  • Union-building goals – what you want to achieve in strengthening the local union (more members, recruit and develop new leaders, an effective communication and mobilization system, increase PEOPLE numbers, etc.)

Power analysis

  • Union’s strengths and weaknesses: leadership/bargaining team, members vs. Fair Share, member activists, political strengths/weaknesses, community relationships/allies, resources
  • Management’s strengths and weaknesses: who’s driving the bus, relationship between union and frontline managers
  • One tool to conduct a power analysis is the SWOT – Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats

Communication plan

  • Message(s)
  • Delivery system (MAT/Activists/Other)

Ability to mobilize members

  • Strategic plan to accomplish this
  • Progressive and escalating actions aimed at the right people at the right time

Community connections

  • Political
  • Allies
  • The public
  • Clients/consumers

Other Pressure Points

  • Regulatory (OSHA, EPA, DOL, etc.)
  • Legal (ULP’s, lawsuits, shareholder actions, etc.)
  • Financing (banks, funding sources, investors)
  • Business Relationships (suppliers and related companies/agencies)

Bargaining Table Best Practices

  • Representative, empowered bargaining team
  • Research
  • Using the bargaining team effectively
  • Information Requests
  • Mandatory/permissive subjects of bargaining

Building Blocks of Campaigns

  • Issues – fuel of the campaign; it will get workers invested and we can address issues through the process
  • Goals – what do we want to accomplish?
  • Theme – the public expression of the issues and goals (message)
  • Strategies and tactics – strategies are big ways of putting pressure on the employer; tactics are what you do to wield them; strategy – worker pressure; tactic – buttons. Example: strategy – political pressure

Steps in Campaign Planning

  1. Organize workers around their issues
  1. Determine the union’s goals, both for the contract and for union building
  1. Gather and analyze employer information
  1. Create a campaign theme
  1. Select targets and allies
  1. Develop strategies and tactics
  1. Create a campaign timeline
  1. Evaluate your strategies throughout
  1. Develop tactics to fit new strategies

Handout 4AFSCME Contract Campaign Training