In 1985, Local 1199 members met in Columbus, Ohio for an organizing conference. The members were mostly healthcare and social service workers from states all across the country, but primarily in Appalachian and East Coast states who would later join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
At the conference, the union provided “1199’s Advice to Rookie Organizers.” This handwritten document included 20 tips for organizers, urging them to stay focused on rank-and-file organizers, empower them to organize for themselves, and honestly facilitate their organizing. In the years since, Jane McAlevey popularized the list in her educational and training materials.
Forty years later, these tips are still useful for staff organizers and rank-and-file organizers alike. Many people new to organizing feel tempted to try and do for others what they can do for themselves or sugarcoat bad news. This list is a helpful corrective and a reminder to be an honest broker with anyone who’s organizing and to step back when necessary.
1199’s Advice to Rookie Organizers
- Get close to the workers. Stay close to the workers.
- Tell workers it’s their union and then behave that way.
- Don’t do for workers what they can do.
- The union is not a fee for service. It is the collective experience of workers in struggle.
- The union’s function is to assist workers in making a positive change in their lives.
- Workers are made of clay, not glass.
- Don’t be afraid to ask workers to build their own union.
- Don’t be afraid to confront them when they don’t.
- Don’t spend your time organizing workers who are already organizing themselves; go to the biggest-worst.
- The working class builds cells for its own defense — identify them and recruit their leaders.
- Anger is there before you are. Channel it, don’t defuse it.
- Channeled anger builds a fighting organization.
- Workers know the risks. Don’t lie to them.
- Every worker is showtime. Communicate excitement, energy, urgency, and confidence.
- There is enough oppression in workers’ lives not to be oppressed by organizers.
- Organizers talk too much. Most of what you say is forgotten.
- Communicate to workers that there is no salvation beyond their own power.
- Workers united can beat the boss. You have to believe that, and so do they.
- Don’t underestimate the workers.
- We lose when we don’t put workers into struggle.