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18 October
Training: Powerful Community Unionism, Kentucky Presentation
This is a handout for a presentation I will deliver in Kentucky on building powerful community unionism. The materials below are missing a series of diagrams (which are included in the PDF). To find out more about the training materials, contact amandatattersall@gmail.com.
Powerful Community Unionism
A. What is Community?
Community can mean (community) organisations, a community of people with a common interest or common identity, or a geographic community/place.
B. What is Community Unionism?
If community unionism occurs when unions connect to the ‘community’, then, community unionism has THREE ELEMENTS. It involves
a. A connection between unions and community organisations
b. A shared concern or common interest between the unions-community organisations
c. It operates in a place – it operates in a context, against real decision makers and in a geographic space
C. Varieties of Community Unionism – different coalition forms
Ad hoc, Support Coalition, Joint Interest Coalition, Deep Coalition
D. What makes Community Unionism Powerful?
Using the three elements of community unionism – organisations, common interest and place.
1. Organisational features of powerful community unionism
(a). Respecting the Organisations inside the Coalition
* Balanced decision making process
* Recognition for organisations when they participate
* Recognising that power is diverse: turnout to political influence, what power do you need
* Some forms of power are more important than others – the capacity of organisations should be valued according to the capacity that the coalition needs
* Organisational practice is diverse – consensus based versus majority based decision making; meeting procedure
(b) Creating a trusting decision making process
* Regular meetings so planning happens between the organisations and not by one organisation
* Bridge builders – people with cross-movement or cross-organisational experience trust and translating organisational differences
* Sometimes less is more, having people who you trust rather than ‘come one come all’
* Coalition includes senior organisational/union representatives
* Build in a method that allows people to make decisions if they commit to building power for the coalition, eg turnout, financial donations, offering staff and assistance ….
(c) Don’t let the Coalition drown the participating Organisations
* Separate Office and Organisers for Coalitions creates a Coalition that doesn’t’ drain individual organisations and acts independently – have a coalition organiser
* A coalition dominated by individual parties is a coalition that is not maximising the breadth of power across the coalition
(d) Do stuff – plan for action not analysis
*A coalition is as strong as the action it is undertaken and the momentum it is creating, people are busy – plan for action
* Don’t bore people with meetings, informal relationships will sustain a coalition
*Be conscious about the purpose of your interactions
2. Common interest: building depth by mobilising the base
(a) Closer the common interest of the campaign to the interest of the organisation, the more likely they are to participate
(b) The more specific the interest, the more likely the are to participate
(c) The closer the interest, the more likely to mobilise and engage the membership
(d) To engage a would be union/community organisation, the issue should be framed in their terms
(e) To engage the general public, frame the issue as a positive solution to the general public that increases availability of opportunities
Coalitions are strongest when they are in the mutual direct interest of all participating organisations.
3. Place – dominating decision makers
(a) Concept of scale – controlling space
To influence a decision maker you need to challenge them at the sites (the scale) at which they exercise power. This may be in a variety of places, from local to global. Often influence is easiest at the scale of the organisations involved. State based organisations are often most able to influence the state, local organisations most able to influence the local etc.
(b) Temporal - Controlling for time
Politics is also all about timing – when is your target vulnerable. For politics, for example it can be in the lead up to election. Or for businesses it can be when they are in competition.
E. Powerful Community Unionism
The power of a Coalition relies on mobilising the breadth of coalition partners, the depth of their membership to dominate a particular place and time.
Comments
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