UAW members pose with National Organizing Department Director Cindy Estrada, front row in white sweater, for a class picture during the union’s new organizer training program at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center at Black Lake.

Hearing from mistreated workers inspires organizers

Lisa Mayberry, a former schoolteacher, didn’t have a clue about organizing and had no interest in being an organizer.

That is, until last fall when she and 39 other UAW members participated in an intense, two-week organizer training program in the field during an actual campaign and at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center at Black Lake near Onaway, Mich.

"I didn’t know I wanted to be an organizer," said Mayberry, a UAW Local 228 member in Sterling Heights, Mich., and a machine repairperson at Ford Motor Co.’s Sterling Axle Plant. "But I couldn’t help it. I was completely surprised at what companies are willing to put their workers through to keep them from forming a union. That’s what did it for me."

The new program, sponsored by the union’s National Organizing Department, begins with nuts-and-bolts training in each participant’s respective UAW region. They learn everything from forming an organizing committee to all stages of conducting a campaign, along with what to expect when they talk to other workers and information about anti-union tactics.

"I have always thought about organizing, but I didn’t know too much about it," said Irene Poray, a UAW Local 1097 member, who works at Dephi Corp.’s Powertrain Plant in Rochester, N.Y. "What surprised me most is the level of fear in people who want to form a union. Seeing how people are treated would make you think we lived in China, North Korea or Cuba, and not the United States. The experience really changes you."

The next phase: nitty-gritty training in the trenches.

That included one-on-one visits for a week with Denso Mfg. Michigan Inc. workers in Battle Creek, Mich., who produce automotive heating and cooling systems and want to form their own union. The organizer trainees went door to door listening to workers’ concerns and educating them about their workplace rights.

The experience, Mayberry said, turned her into an organizer.

"It was so emotional for me," she said. "You are right there talking with workers and listening to them. You come to understand very deeply why forming a union is so important to them and their families."

"This program gives potential organizers the tools to help workers build their union and to practice using those tools in the field on actual campaigns," said Cindy Estrada, the union’s National Organizing director.

Ask any union organizer and they’re likely to tell you the same thing: It’s hard work. They’ll also tell you there’s nothing like the satisfaction of knowing you are helping workers find their voice and form their own union.

"We’ve always been proud of our organizers and see this new program as a way of helping potential organizers get critical information and training as early as possible," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.

Sandra Davis