Pre-Majority Unionism, Defined

Written by Dave Newlin, Field Organizer with Utah Health Workers United, CWA Local 7765. Originally published in STRIKE! SLC, issue one (1).

Pre-majority Unionism: Unions whether the bosses want them or not

Workers want unions, now more than at any time in recent history. But what if you work someplace where "official" recognition and contract bargaining would be a big hurdle, at least in the short term? What if the company is so big and has so many locations they can just ignore you and refuse to bargain? Or what if you're a public servant in states like Texas or Utah, where union contracts are banned in the public sector (at least for now)? What do you do then?

The answer is actually simple: Don't wait — form a union anyway!

Doing this is called "pre-majority" unionism, also sometimes "open" or "solidarity" unionism. It's different from contemporary "traditional" unionism, and it has its own benefits and challenges. In fact, pre-majority is the original, old-school form of unionism. It's what the very first people to form unions thought of when they thought of "unionizing." It's just that now, after more than a century of history and different union methods dominating the movement, we call something very old by a new name.

What's most important to understand for everything that follows is that a union is not a legal entity, regardless of what the law says. A union is a social structure, held together by action, shared interests, and solidarity. When organized correctly, a union can exist regardless of what the law says or what the bosses want. Worker power stems directly from the fact that the bosses need you to work — no matter what kind of union you're talking about — and that power can be wielded both within and outside of official channels, and with or without official permission. Still, laws are important, and they affect everything we do, including what unions do, and we need to take that into account.

Pre-majority unions understand this point about unions being a social structure. They walk, talk, and act like unions right away, asking people to pay dues and start organizing before any election is held, before any legal recognition, before any contract exists, even before the majority of workers are on board. They use collective action inside and outside the workplace to pressure bosses into giving workers what they want and deserve. They organize based on the needs, demands, and capacity of the workers themselves, and they take action when it is necessary, not when it is convenient. And they systematically work to bring the majority of workers into the union, however long that takes.

Don't let the term "pre-majority" fool you: these unions are obsessed with winning majorities precisely because they are obsessed with the needs and demands of every single worker. Every pre-majority union wants to get to a point where the majority of workers are members of and fully endorse their union. And to a point where they can force employers into permanent changes in their workplace, enforced both by well-organized workers willing to take a stand and a legal contract.

Traditional unions, according to the rules in the National Labor Relations Act, form when a majority of workers in a specific place vote to have a union. Then they bargain a contract with the employer. It sounds simple, but it isn't. All kinds of things can make a traditional union difficult to form, and that's where pre-majority unions come in.

Relying on the power and willingness of rank-and-file workers is absolutely necessary in pre-majority unionism: there are no other options when negotiating a contract is illegal or when facing a giant multinational corporation. Nevertheless, while this is necessary for pre-majority unions, the methods of pre-majority organizing can and should be applied to traditional unions as well. Every union is stronger when it bases its power on the workers, not just on laws and bureaucrats.

When are pre-majority unions a good fit or even necessary?

• At huge businesses where the bosses can get away with ignoring a union in one location or department. Think Google, Amazon, and Starbucks.
• In places where negotiating a contract is illegal or extremely difficult, like with government workers in Utah.
• When you've already won a union election, but the employer drags things out for years and won't bargain in good faith.

As the attacks on labor keep raining down — from weakening the NLRB to outlawing collective bargaining, to "right to work" (for less) laws — pre-majority unionism is becoming more prominent, and indeed more necessary. Examples are everywhere. The Communications Workers of America have made it an important project. Locally, CWA 7765 organizes workers at the University of Utah, the U's hospital, and at Utah State University. In the private sector, there's Alphabet Workers United, which organizes Google workers on a pre-majority model.

If you are interested in unionizing, understanding pre-majority unionism is critical because it opens up doors that may be otherwise closed to you. And furthermore, pre-majority models are the natural organizational step in dealing with “right to work” (for less) laws that are becoming more and more common, as well as the NLRB’s steadily eroding authority.

How is United Campus Workers Utah related to United Campus Workers Arizona?

United Campus Workers are a series of locals in Arizona, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin, all part of the CWA’s Public, Healthcare & Education Workers (PHEW) unit of more than 140,000+ public sector workers across the country. We have built our organization and mobilized our members to fight for the people we serve, as well as for ourselves on the job. Through our efforts, we are building power to improve working conditions and the livelihoods of ourselves, our students, and our families.

United Campus Workers of Arizona (UCWAZ) CWA Local 7065 is a member organization of and for higher education workers at Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU), the University of Arizona (UA), and the Maricopa County Community Colleges District (MCCCD). We unite faculty, staff, and students wall-to-wall across Arizona to build the strongest possible grassroots organization.