Spring 2025 Public Training: Building Power from Day One - Getting New Workers Involved in Your Union
Building Power from Day One – Getting New Workers Involved in Your Union
When new coworkers arrive at your workplace, what do they think about being part of a union? How can you help welcome new workers into the union, and make sure it’s a space where they want to be? In this three-part course, we’ll talk about the choice of union membership, planning and putting on effective new member orientations, and how you can organize to make your union a place that fosters participation and community. For more, see Class Details below.
The class will be held across 3 Thursdays, from 6pm to 8pm in-person at the Labor Center in Georgetown. To get the most out of these classes we recommend attending each week with at least one other member of your union or organization.
Registration is required, interpretation is available, and the registration fee is $10 with no one turned away for lack of funds.
Registration
Class Details
Session 1: Uniting Workers in an Anti-Worker Climate
In this session, we will give historical context to current perceptions of unions, the rise of the open shop, and the reasons people may or may not choose to join a union. Participants will also collectively reflect on their own unions, assess how and why members may view the union the way they do, discuss the importance of effective new employee orientations in open shop organizing, and strategize towards creating, welcoming, inclusive, and fighting unions that could make joining their ranks worthwhile.
Session 2: Stories from the Field on Organizing New Co-Workers
In session two, we will cover the essentials of building effective new employee orientations. This session will also include a panel discussion where union organizers will discuss what the implementation of these new employee orientations and further internal organizing strategies looked like in their own unions.
Session 3: Building an Effective New Member Program in Your Union
In session three, we build on the lessons from previous sessions to outline plans to build effective new employee orientation programs at the local level. We will also examine a case study on efforts to build engagement within the union and use assessments from previous sessions to build actionable internal organizing strategies that participants can take back to their locals.