Great question! SEIU is what you’re looking for, specifically the Doctors Council. You’re likely already familiar with SEIU, the nurses at your facility are probably already unionized with them.

As for the legal stuff, you don’t need a law degree to become an expert in labor laws (just don’t go giving legal counsel). The NLRB website and your state Department of Labor are your friends.

Ah yes, I’m familiar with right to work laws. Fun fact, the opposite term is a “fair share” state.

These laws aren’t what a lot of people think they are, it basically means that non-union workers are allowed to not pay for union representation (contract bargaining, Weingarten, etc). Fair share requires all workers to pay at least dues equivalency fees for this representation.

Things don’t change much tbh, the goal is to get all the workers to join your union anyway. Downplay this aspect, but don’t lie. Often times, people will be convinced by the fact that dues don’t start until your union ratifies your first contract. Mention that dues are tiny, usually only 1.5% of your paycheck. Talk about how the raise will more than offset the cost of dues. If they’re still pressing dues, then talk about how non-union workers have this option.

Check your local laws, several states require listings to include a pay range. If you’re in one of those states and the offer is below the range, that company is likely violating the law and should get reported to your state’s department of labor. Lying about hours probably doesn’t break the law, but you can still report them.

As for what to do, a couple ideas come to mind.

• You can shame them publicly; I’m a particularly thorny agitator so I’d do it on LinkedIn, but any medium that they’d see would work.
• You could also grit your teeth and accept it, then use it as a point of collective action after you get hired. Something like, “hey, when I was applying, the company lied about the wage I would get. Did you notice that? What’s your wage?”

Yes! I was waiting for someone else to do something, hoping that some brave soul would take a stand. After waiting for several months, I realized that everyone else was waiting too. I decided that I was done waiting.

Yes, there was a point where I felt like my efforts were going nowhere and I was considering quitting. The reason I decided to keep going was because I believed in our union so completely, that I was genuinely concerned that things would collapse without me. I decided that I would only quit if it was clear that it was doomed.

The way I got started is a great story! Figuring out the company is left as an exercise for the reader.

In July 2021, my company was sued by California for rampant sexual harassment. This lawsuit triggered a huge worker revolt, over 1000 employees staged a walkout. I had never participated in a collective action before, but I wasn’t about to sit on my hands with the allegations, so I participated. I didn’t know what I could do to contribute, but I decided that I could help draft statements and joined that committee. We clearly laid out our demands to the company, and waited for their response. Weeks went by. Then months.

In September, I decided that we should stage another walkout, so I started drafting a statement for the writing committee to edit and started to build energy in the group. We didn’t get very far before someone influential in the group said that something good is going to come from the company soon, so we should pause the planning. A couple weeks later, we did get some good news! The company gave us some platitudes, and, as a gesture of good faith, the entire company will get the whole week of thanksgiving off as paid time. Then the other shoe dropped.

A bombshell article was published, not only showing that the CEO knew about the sexual harassment, but was complicit and protected harassers. We were furious. Unlike the first walkout that underwent planning, we staged a spontaneous walkout, again with over 1000 participants. We demanded that the CEO be fired. The board of directors responded with a statement that not only didn’t fire him, but reaffirmed total support for him.

We honestly didn’t know what to do. We were discussing our next steps, when one night I decided to say that we should form a union. Of course, when I proposed this, I was expecting someone else to actually do the work. “What could I possibly do?”, I thought, “I’m not a brave person. I’m shy and introverted. I’m not a leader, but I’ll support others”, I concluded. As it turned out, my advocacy got the attention of some of the people doing exactly that.

I was messaged the next day, by a coworker in California that liked what I had to say and invited me to a group that was explicitly trying to form a union. I was the first and only worker from Minnesota to join this group. Not a lot was happening from my perspective, but I was ready.

In December of 2021, some coworkers in Wisconsin seemed to report some good news. They got a raise! Then more coworkers from there reported in saying that they were laid off. Again, we were furious. The workers at that location staged their own walkout. Another day passed, and they still weren’t working. I joined them at this point, along with several other workers. Another day passed, and we still weren’t working. The workers leading this walkout decided to create a gofundme to establish a strike fund, and officially declare it a strike. While the strike went on, I continually volunteered for more stuff to support them. One day, a CWA organizer reached out to me. We talked for a couple hours, and it ended with an action item: get a list of the workers in Minnesota. I reached out to a coworker friend that wasn’t on strike for help, and he produced the list within an hour. It was official, I was a union organizer.

Actually yea! It’s tough to balance, but the trick is to have a big enough organizing committee. Many hands make light work, as they say

There’s so much to say, that I genuinely don’t know where to start.

• it’s ok to be scared. You’re going up against the ruling class. They’ve intentionally made it scary.
• forming a union is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t overdo it, and figure out your capacity.
• there’s room for everyone, and everyone has something valuable to put forward.
• learn the law. You can’t fight effectively if you don’t know your rights.
• meet people where they are. You will have conservatives in your workplace. You need to find a way to reach them.
• organizing is 30% talking, and 70% listening.

how did news of your union spread/how’d you reach so many people to join?

There’s a lot of stuff involved with this one actually. Our union effort formed out of a lawsuit that made national news. We primarily reached people through 1:1 conversation, but we were also openly organizing on the company slack.

what has your union been doing to support you since you were fired?

They’ve been financially supporting me, actually. My union (CWA) has a special fund through the strike fund called Hero Pay, in which they provide $500/wk to people that were fired for organizing. They also continue to let me participate in the union, I was elected to a committee position in the local last year and my former workplace continues to let me contribute however I can.

The hardest part would probably be effectively leveraging mistakes the company made. When the bosses are under pressure, they make a lot of mistakes and they make them often. The trick is turning those mistakes into effective agitprop