This is a followup to a post I wrote yesterday. There are several businesses / industries where I live that are in pretty desperate need of unionization: private construction workers (I’m pretty sure they’re not unionized), grocery store workers, and hundreds of workers at a massive biotech lab. I’d like to have something I can give these people to wake them up out of their stupor (sorry to put it that way). A lot of them are in a pretty shitty situation, but they seem to have just accepted that this is the way things have always been and there’s nothing we can do about it.

The pamphlet text starts in the next paragraph. Any critiques would be helpful. (I might need a better call to action at the end, maybe a specific website which discusses how to unionize. I looked at the IWW website but it honestly seems kind of overwhelming even to me.) If anyone has any design skills, putting together a nice-looking .pdf would be amazingly helpful. If you think my text is useful, feel free to use or modify it for whatever you’d like. If you think this is stupid or worthless, please point me to a better resource. Here it is:

What are you doing here? Why are you working for a millionaire or a billionaire who inherited every penny to his name? Are you ever going to be able to afford a decent home? Can you see yourself raising a family, sending your kids to good schools, and retiring without any worries? Do you have health insurance that you trust? Do you have a retirement plan?

The fact is, it’s impossible to win playing by their rules. No matter how hard you work, you will never get ahead. You’re just one accident away from crippling debt, chronic medical problems, and drug addiction. So many people you know have fallen into these holes. Nothing is stopping the boss from firing you the moment the economy collapses.

But there’s a way out. Workers must team up. You are many, and they are few. Your boss cannot make money without you. If you join with your fellow workers, unionize, and strike, there’s no limit to what you can have: higher pay, reliable health insurance, paid annual vacation, legal defense, solidarity with workers around the world, and regular raises and promotions. You can make your boss scared of you. You can have real power.

When you have a moment, search online for “how to start a union.” Talk in private with workers you trust, and don’t let the boss find out. There’s a reason bosses hate unions, and it’s the same reason all bosses hate all workers: deep down, you already terrify them, and the idea of unionizing scares them even more. Join, research, talk about, think about starting a union today!