rabble.ca: Collective action, organizing at heart of community chapters

It has been only a few months since Unifor was created on Labour Day weekend. As part of the key priorities adopted by members was a renewed commitment to organizing. The commitment was partly on monetary terms, with ten per cent of the union’s total budget going to organizing. Interestingly, the commitment was also on principle: to adapt the union’s traditional organizing ways to reach out to new groups of workers. 

By “new groups of workers,” the union is referring to the increasing number of people working in what can be qualified as the new working conditions in Canada: contract, freelance, part-time, low-waged and shift work, as well as unemployed people, student-workers and others who find themselves in a situation where they could not get a collective agreement, even if they would like to.

“In November, the union recognized its first two community chapters: the Canadian Freelance Union for freelancers in the media sector and Unifaith, representing workers at the United Church. These two chapters are national in scope.”

After a few months of making efforts to kick start the community chapters program, one thing is clear: there are a lot of people who do, indeed, want to join a union.

The full story continues at: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2013/12/collective-action-organizing-heart-community-chapters