Recruiting Tales
& Other Short Items
Recruiting
...
If the Labor Party is going to change the political landscape of this
country, it’s going to have to grow — a lot. Our five national campaigns will
help fuel members’ organizing efforts in unions and communities.
One place to begin is with that simple idea, "each one, recruit
one." If every Labor Party member found one person to join in the next month, we
would immediately double in size. So if you haven’t yet approached your friends,
co-workers, and family members about joining the Labor Party, now’s the time!
And then there are the more ambitious plans. Here’s what a Teamsters
local in Chicago and the LP’s Los Angeles Chapter have done recently to build the
Labor Party.
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Teamsters Local
Signs Up Stewards
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Gerry Zero |
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About 150 new memberships from Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago recently
arrived in the mail at the Labor Party’s national office. Local 705 is the giant
Teamsters local that represents some 17,500 workers at UPS, Airborne Express, and a range
of freight companies. The local’s secretary-treasurer, Gerry Zero, a member of the
Labor Party’s Interim National Council, explained what happened:
"We went to our stewards and we signed up those who wanted to be
signed up — about half the stewards in the local. We used money from our political
fund that we would have used to support Democrats and Republicans and bought the
memberships for them. Hopefully, they’ll renew their membership on their own.
Meanwhile, we’ll try to keep them involved in the Labor Party.
"All along, we’ve kept the stewards updated on the Labor Party.
We hand out the newspaper, Tony Mazzocchi and other folks from the Labor Party have come
in and spoken. We’ve had a couple of train-the-trainer sessions here, and we
generally have two or three meetings a year for rank and file members and stewards that
address these issues. It’s a pretty political local. We work the precincts and the
polls on election day."
Zero adds this thought: "You know, with the crazy stuff that’s
going on in Washington, more and more people recognize that the time’s getting closer
when the Labor Party’s going to be able to run candidates. When the Labor Party
started, we were like wild-eyed radicals out there. But now, even conservative people are
thinking, What the hell are these politicians doing? You’ve got Ventura winning in
Minnesota....all that stuff opens eyes."
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LA Chapter
Lays a Plan
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Kathleen O'Nan |
Members of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Labor Party got all charged up
about recruiting at their last membership meeting. Kathleen O’Nan called in to report
on what the chapter decided to do to increase its membership.
First, the LP activists agreed to do some outreach by letter. They will
send letters — and make follow-up phone calls — to former Labor Party members in
the area to encourage the lapsed members to rejoin. They’ll write letters to 28th
Amendment petition-signers who showed special interest in the Labor Party, inviting them
to join. The chapter will also draft a sample letter that members can send to friends and
union contacts asking them to join the Labor Party and to put the Labor Party on their
union meeting agenda.
At the recent meeting the LA Chapter members then each pledged to organize
a certain number of people into the Labor Party by year’s end.
"People got really hyped up about it — it was like a bidding
war," said O’Nan. The lowest number a member pledged to organize was two; the
highest was 20. The pledges were recorded on charts, and at each meeting of the chapter,
members will check their progress and talk about their organizing successes and
challenges.
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Progress on the
Five Campaigns
Fresh from the convention in Pittsburgh, Labor Party activists now have
five big campaigns before them: Just Healthcare, Workplace Rights, Just Trade, and Save
Social Security — along with the 28th Amendment Campaign for the right to a job at a
living wage.
Labor Party members in unions and local groups are already incorporating
the five campaigns into their organizing strategies.
On the national level, work has begun on a draft of strategic plans for
each campaign, beginning with Just Healthcare. A committee has met twice to draft
materials for the Just Healthcare Campaign.
A taskforce will soon be designated to come up with a detailed organizing
plan. A similar process is beginning for the three other new campaigns, reports LP
organizer Tony Mazzocchi.
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Chapter
Reorganization
At the Labor Party’s 1st Constitutional Convention in November,
delegates approved Organizing Resolution #2 to "change the party structure to
organize faster and meet new responsibilities." As a result, the role and definition
of Labor Party chapters expands to include carrying out "metropolitan and regional
coordinating and planning functions of the Party" within acceptable territorial
boundaries, a minimum of 250 members in good standing, and an adequate number of local
organizing committees. A chapter reorganization committee (Ed Bruno, Lisa Frank, Gloria
Mattera, Tony Mazzocchi, and Galen Tyler) is reviewing the organizing plans submitted by
existing Labor Party chapters in accord with the resolution and will communicate directly
with all chapters regarding the resolution’s requirements.
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Recent
Affiliations
Here are some of the unions and organizations that have recently
affiliated with the Labor Party
AFSCME Local 1108
AFT Local 1931
APWU Local 1073
Association of Field Service Employees
International Association of Firefighters Local 42
IBT Joint Council 55
Indiana Jobs with Justice
Mississippi State Council of Firefighters
National Lawyers Guild of Georgetown University
Political Staff Workers Union Local 1
Professional Staff Association of Maryland
SEIU Local 2028
UNITE Four Rivers Joint Board
UPIU Local 107
Windham City Labor Council
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Free T-shirts!
To aid recruitment efforts, First Constitutional Convention T-shirts and
sweatshirts are available free to LP chapters and organizing committees. Place orders
(minimum 25) in writing (no phone calls please). Mail to P.O. Box 53177, Washington, DC
20009 or fax to 202-234-5266. You’ll receive an assortment of sizes subject to
availability.
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A Call for
100 Volunteers
Our party has a very diverse membership, not only in terms of race and
ethnicity, but also in income.
This appeal is directed to 100 people whose yearly income will allow them
to subscribe to the following pledge:
"I (we) pledge a contribution of $1000 to the Labor Party in the
year 1999."
This donation can be either incremental or in a lump sum.
When we have reached our 100-pledge goal we can budget for desperately
needed additional staff.
I know there are 100 of us out there capable of painlessly fulfilling this
pledge. My appeal is to you to act now on this pledge. Our party has an ambitious agenda
and we need your help to give us a jump start.
— Tony Mazzocchi
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OCAW + UPIU = PACE
On January 4, the union that helped give birth to the Labor Party, the
Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, merged with the United Paperworkers International
Union to form a new 320,000-member union called PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial,
Chemical and Energy Workers International Union.
PACE is headquartered in Nashville, and its president is Boyd Young,
formerly president of the Paperworkers. OCAW’s Bob Wages is now executive vice
president of PACE.
Said Wages after the merger vote: "We were not interested in merging
for the sake of being larger. We were interested in creating a new, more powerful and
progressive union prepared to do the work our membership expects." |
