"If we want to build workplace and union solidarity, we need to take a stand against bullying."
Marion Pollack - Canadian Union of Postal Workers
"Names Will Always Hurt Me"

Talking About Organizing: A Series

This is an active online archive of commentaries and stories, first published in Our Times, about the experience of union organizing: what works and what doesn't.

Written by union organizers, labour activists and union researchers, the series began with Bill Murnighan's article "Organizing at a Crossroads."

"The good news," he writes, "is that workers in Canada want to join unions, and they do so readily when given a chance. The bad news is that we're stuck. Our rate of unionization is not growing and, because of changes underway in the economy, we're on the edge of a possible steep decline. The Canadian labour movement can't really go forward, or even stay as strong as it is, without unions making some fundamental changes in our approach and strategies."

Vol. 28 | Issue 4 | AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2009
LESSONS LEARNED
By Andrew Stevens & Krystle Maki
Queen's is one of the last universities in Ontario to not have a union for its teachings assistants and teaching fellows. During our union drive, our opponents used this fact to promote the idea that we're "different" and didn't need union representation. This was one of our biggest challenges in the drive.

Vol. 27 | Issue 6 | December 2008-January 2009
THE POWER TO CHANGE THINGS
By Elaine Bernard
Is a union's goal merely to lobby power, and use the political influence of its leaders to get a little more for its members? Or is it to help transform power in society as a whole by extending democracy to the workplace and the economic sphere and, ultimately, to break up concentrations of power, influence and wealth?

Vol. 27 | Issue 5 | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2008
IS THE MOVEMENT AT A STANDSTILL?
By Pradeep Kumar
There is a growing perception, among both labour-friendly academics and union activists, that the union movement in Canada is at a standstill. Is it true?

Vol. 27 | Issue 3 | JUNE-JULY 2008
FACEBOOK FACTS
By Derek Blackadder
Unions and workers are making much use of the latest web fad: social networking sites. But are sites like Facebook really adding anything to our ability to organize?

Vol. 27 | Issue 1 | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2008
SEX, RACE & SACRIFICE
By Patricia Chong
How does gender and race affect the experience of organizing? And what can these experiences tell us about our labour movement and its future?

Vol. 26 | Issue 6 | DECEMBER 2007-JANUARY 2008
CALLING ON CALL CENTRES
By Bruce Bachand and Chris Anderson
A bid by the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union to represent workers at a large call centre turned out to be one of the most difficult organizing campaigns in recent memory in the province.

Vol. 26 | Issue 3 | June-July 2007
LABOURSTART AND STOP
By Derek Blackadder
With a more confident, comfortable audience, unions can make use of the Internet in organizing in a much broader sense. Trouble is, for the most part, we don't.

Vol. 26 | Issue 2 | April-May 2007
IMAGINE THERE'S NO LABOUR BOARD - COUNTERPOINT
By Elaine Bernard

Vol. 26 | Issue 2 | April-May 2007
IMAGINE THERE'S NO LABOUR BOARD - POINT
By Roy J. Adams

Vol. 22 | Issue 6 | December-January 2004
FACE TO FACE OR CYBERSPACE
By Derek Blackadder

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