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Bowl Leader
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Is MJZ a union shop?
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Bowl Leader
Who wants to know how under paid they are?
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Bowl Leader
Total lack of class consciousness is the biggest hurdle. People think the industry just is the way it is because they get paid okay and don't work in horrible conditions. They just move elsewhere instead of fighting for things they want.
The IFPTE is a union that is interested in organizing in the advertising space. I've spoken to them about it at my agency.
So there’s the National Writers Union and the Newsguild. There’s probably more. The Newsguild is affiliated with CWA, who, if memory serves have had organizing project aimed at tech workers, at least in the Pacific Northwest.
In America, the question of who organizes who isn’t always very cut and dry. Often times it’s left to who’s willing to commit the resources. That’s why the Service Workers International Union is both the largest union for health care workers and the largest union for janitors and building service workers. It’s also why the Teamsters organize grad students.
The question around who would represent different classifications of workers is largely dictated by labor law. Though, not Right to Work. That’s a completely different thing.
In terms of what union represents what classification of worker, ideally you’d want everyone in the same union. There may be different bargaining units and contracts, but the same principles around strength in numbers apply.
For example, in a hospital you’d probably have several bargaining units - it’s usually grouped around the level of training required and the type of work. So for example, you’d have. Service and Maintenance unit made up of Nursing Aides, Housekeepers , Dietary Workers, Unit Secretaries etc. You could also have a Technical unit with Rad Techs and Surg Techs, etc. Then you’d have a Nursing unit filled with...well nurses...but usually only RNs...LPNs are typically in with the techs. Then you could have a professional unit with all of your Pharmacists and Social Workers...folks with advanced degrees. Lastly, you could hypothetically have a unit for Physicians and Residents. All of those units would have separate contracts but could all be in the same union.
This has nothing to do with Right to Work. All Right to Work does is say that you can’t make being a member of a union a condition of employment...so no union shops. A lot of unions don’t like it because it means that they have to always be organizing and demonstrating their value otherwise they lose resources. But, arguably, this is how they should be acting all the time...at least in my opinion. Right to Work doesn’t have to be the big deal people make it out to be...Nevada’s a RTW state and the Culinary Union is one of the strongest unions in the country. They’ve figured it out. Other places could too.
Thanks so much for the detailed response—I had to read it twice to get it but I think I follow.
I’m still scratching my head why advertising creatives haven’t figured out a way to unionize. Is it because no other union Would take us on? We can’t accommodate freelancers? Have we convinced ourselves that clients and agencies would just hire scabs?
And surely this is a multi-pronged issue. I just wish we had a strategy to even so much as tackle it.
I’m sure part of it is finding the right union. Organizing can be resource intensive. The unions that are organizing successfully right now also tend to think really strategically about the industries they organize in. They have limited resources and tend to focus on industries they are at least tangentially related to. On top of that, there’s not a lot of history outside of the film and performing arts of unions organizing in creative industries.
It’s also likely that most of your fellow creatives haven’t thought about it as a solution to whatever problem they have. A huge part of organizing is building a vision around a union as a force for change. That means having lots of conversations with folks and educating them about what could happen if they organized.