Winning Against the Odds: The 32BJ SEIU Organizing Model

When Unions Organize Workers and Capitalists: Union Growth, the Trigger Mechanism and Service Employees International Union's Justice for Janitors

“…This is particularly important in a subcontracted market where any company agreeing to improve wages and conditions will just be replaced by a nonunion company. One of the first things we do is try to see if there is a trigger formula that will allow us to organize the whole market quickly (Hill 2022 A) He notes that "a lot of time is spent up front gaming out that it will be attainable" with the goal of "striking a negotiated balance between the union and the contractors where the trigger is both achievable in relatively short time and is sufficient enough in scope to protect the contractors who have signed it" (Hill 2022 A). 5 Whether being attentive to the economic concerns of contractors is a positive or a negative feature of the trigger is a matter of debate.…”

“…Once a target market has been identified, 32BJ mobilizes both staff organizers and Organizing Brigades to do the grass roots work needed to build rank and file committees at the job site. This organizing provides the basis for workplace actions and comprehensive campaigns that create what SEIU leaders describe as “compression” points or levels that can force contractors to have conversations about neutrality agreements and union recognition via card check (Englestein 2023; Hill 2023). Rob Hill, the current Organizing Director of 32BJ, reports that in those discussions contractors typically express their fear that union recognition will lead owners to replace them, and that concern “opens the door to the discussion about a trigger” which will not require them to bargain “economics that will put them at a competitive disadvantage” (Hill 2023).…”

“…The different shades of gray distinguish between the 65,600 members gained through mergers with other locals (light gray), and the 103,268 added through new organizing (medium gray). During this period, nearly two-thirds of the increase in membership were newly organized workers (Hill and Eimer 2022).…”

“…In phase one, 32BJ began to sign up workers. Staff organizers worked alongside members of the Organizing Brigade, which consisted of 32BJ rank and file members from New York City where the contract permits workers to take leave from their employers so they can work as organizers for a series of 3-month periods (Hill and Eimer 2022). Organizers did house calls, site visits, and held meetings where workers signed cards and pledged publicly to organize.…”

“…It has allocated between 20 and 30 percent of its budget to organizing, which amounted to approximately $15 million in 2021. This spending helped build its research and organizing capacity, allowed the development of extensive organizer training programs for rank and file workers, and enabled the organizing department to grow from a handful in 2000 to over 100 organizers today (Hill and Eimer 2022).…”