Organizing tips for real solutions in higher education

The AFT’s Real Solutions for Higher Education campaign is off and running, with grant proposals under review and last summer’s in-person workshop already informing plans at campuses across the country. Now a series of organizing webinars continues that work, providing basic skills AFT members can use to shape and strengthen their own campaigns—whether they’re aimed at legislation that supports academic freedom, policy to make higher education more accessible with free college opportunities, or contracts that ensure adjunct faculty have job security and a livable wage.

Over the course of three Zoom sessions in October, experts from the AFT’s Union Leadership Institute shared not just the “why” of organizing but the “how.” It’s all part of a campaign designed to engage in focused, visible and meaningful organizing to reclaim higher education as a public good. 

In the first session, participants learned about identifying and working with leaders; the next described building lists of members and their strengths; and finally, the group explored how to map key stakeholders, allies and opposition, an exercise that helps unions navigate efficiently as they move a campaign forward. Below is a brief outline of the work.

Engendering leadership

The first session focused on engaging leaders. Of the two types of unions—transactional, where leaders talk at members and provide services, and transformational, where many members are involved and take ownership of the union—the AFT is known for being transformational. Inclusion, empowerment and agency are key. As one workshop participant said, “YOU are the union.”

But there are leaders in every group, people who are most comfortable and successful at engaging others, and organizers can help build union power by engaging them early on. These are the colleagues who “show up and speak up,” workshop participants agreed; people who are passionate and take initiative.

Leaders are not always the people who hold the titles in a local union, said Jackie Daugherty, the AFT assistant director who facilitated the webinar. But they typically command respect among co-workers. Getting them involved puts a face on the campaign so that other workers will think, “well, so-and-so is involved, it must be OK.” It also broadens the campaign’s reach. “You can’t do it alone,” noted Daugherty. “It takes a team.”

She suggests having face-to-face conversations to invite leaders to participate, then assigning them small tasks, involving them in planning, and creating committees of different personalities.

Where’s the list?

Session two of the webinar continued to outline Unions 101 skills with list-building, an essential building block and one of the first tasks organizers tackle in a campaign.

First steps include a simple list of union members with contact information. Then add relationships: Who are the member’s closest colleagues? Do they carpool with co-workers? Belong to a social network on the job? Where are they located on campus? Is there a “water cooler” spot where workers gather to chat?

Creating visual maps allows organizers to see the connections that might strengthen a campaign and pinpoint people who could be important in building it. Similarly, it can identify bottlenecks or problem areas to address.

Learning who is all aboard for all things union, and who might work against union efforts, can also direct a campaign.

A map to victory

The final session dove deeper into building strong relationships and campaign planning.

Who might be a potential community ally? Who has power? What existing relationships does the union have? In this inclusive workshop, participants offered examples of effective partnerships from their own experience. One described working closely with state legislators; another said her union worked with other unions on campus to address an inequitable pay imbalance.

To attain productive partnerships, organizers can create charts that show which potential allies have power—and how much power—and to what degree they are already supportive of the campaign or union. Visual depictions along with assessment tools help direct campaigns and move them toward success.

Aside from this “power mapping,” workshop participants also discussed educating the community about their issues and practiced setting up realistic goals—“SMART” goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound.

Wrapping up the sessions, Daugherty left participants with a universal organizing mantra: “A goal without a plan is just a dream.” If you “plan the work and work that plan,” your union organizing will go far.

The AFT plans to offer another set of Real Solutions for Higher Education organizing workshops at the AFT Higher Ed professional issues conference this winter. For more information, contact highereddept@aft.org.

[Virginia Myers]