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Strategic Campaign and Teamster Organizing Models

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WHEREAS, the Strategic Campaign and Teamster Organizing Models are key to both building Teamster power and maintaining strong contracts and job stability for our members;

WHEREAS, employers routinely exploit weak labor laws to resist worker organizing;

WHEREAS, employers are taking advantage of the current economic crisis to demand concessions at the bargaining table, especially on issues of pension, benefits, and wages;

WHEREAS, employers will not hesitate to shift work to non-union facilities or close union locations to undermine union power;

WHEREAS, comprehensive knowledge of companies and industries is vital to developing organizing targets and strategies;

WHEREAS, strategic campaigns are carefully planned and researched, comprehensive, escalating campaigns designed to place pressure on the key strategic relationships of an employer;

WHEREAS, strategic campaigns are a vital component to successful organizing and bargaining efforts and can be used effectively to both beat back employer aggression and mobilize workers and members;

WHEREAS, strategic campaigns identify and analyze the strengths, weaknesses and key relationships of both the employer and the union;

WHEREAS, strategic campaigns engage employers on multiple levels, from worker mobilization to the strategic targeting of key relationships or weaknesses;

WHEREAS, the Teamster Organizing Model has significantly increased Teamster win rates in NLRB elections;

WHEREAS, this model features a systematic, benchmarked organizing process that ensures accurate assessments of units and requires reaching at least 65% support before filing for an election; and

WHEREAS, the Teamster Organizing Model engages workers in campaign actions and engages political and community allies in worker organizing struggles;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Strategic Campaign and Teamster Organizing Models are endorsed by this Convention as the preferred approaches to building union power through organizing and to maintaining union power at the bargaining table; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that these Models will result in more organizing victories and united bargaining units and will empower Local Unions to successfully bargain strong contracts for Teamster members.