Why are Union Meetings so… Boring?
How many times have you sat in your union hall, five minutes after the start time of your monthly membership meeting, nervously looking at your watch, knowing that you’re not going to be able to make a quorum?
It sucks.
You’ve spent hours preparing detailed reports, planned for motions or resolutions that need action, and you don’t have the numbers to conduct business.
It’s easy to get frustrated. Trust me, I’ve been there. It’s also easy for local union leaders to fall into the trap of blaming the members. Whenever I speak to other local leaders, and they lament the lack of participation by their members, I try to gently suggest that maybe it’s not the members. Maybe it’s how we’re running the meeting. Maybe they don’t want to spend their time sitting in a room listening to their union president drone on about topics that they don’t care about or agenda items that they don’t feel are important. Maybe it’s us. Maybe we, as elected local leaders, have failed to create a meeting environment that engages and, dare I say it, inspires our members.
I’ve been the presiding officer of monthly local membership meetings going on 11 years now. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to members, talking to other union officers, and experimenting with the membership meeting format. Here’s what I think is worth sharing…
Place and time. If you’re not getting members to your meeting, one of the first things to consider is the logistics. Is the location easy to get to? Does the time make sense? Years ago, my local made the decision to try morning meetings for a six-month trial. We never looked back. These days, we provide a full breakfast for our members coming off-shift. We also moved our membership meetings to an Elk’s lodge right in the center of our town. We realized several of our members were also members of the lodge, so it made sense. It was a known location, easy to get to, and right in the middle of everything.
Take a hard look at the agenda. Most local unions are operating under an agenda that was handed to them by their predecessors, and their predecessors before them, and their… you get the idea. We all know there are agenda items that have to be covered by virtue of the constitution and bylaws (C&B). Those are non-negotiable- like the financial report. But what about other items? Do you really need to report that the secretary delivered two union t-shirts to a job site? What can be condensed, provided to members in an email or a print copy at the meeting, or totally jettisoned altogether? How many times have you thought to yourself, “this meeting could have been an email?” Don’t let your local union fall into that trap. Give members the most important information in the most condensed amount of time. You can do this by editing the agenda to condense overlapping items and pushing email worthy info to, you guessed it, an email.
Room layout. We recently re-arranged the traditional union meeting room layout. Whereas officers would typically all sit of front, separated from the members, we tried a horse-shoe style set up where the speaker (ideally) goes into the center to address the members. We’re still working out the kinks, and it’s definitely a culture shift, but I’m excited about the format. The main take-away here is to re-think the room layout. A little tweak like that can create an environment where members are less likely to doze off.
Invite guest speakers. Depending on the individual and the topic, a guest speaker has the potential to bring in members who have never been to a union meeting. Try to invite speakers that are engaging and interesting. It’s also a good idea to give your guest clear guidelines. Give them non-negotiable time limits and inform them of any local “land mines” so they can steer clear.
Consider fewer in-person meetings. In the age of email, websites, social media, and video conferencing, do you really need a monthly meeting? Maybe you do. Maybe it’s prescribed by your C&B (which you can amend, by the way). But, if not, consider bi-monthly or quarterly meetings. You can provide a video conference update on off months and if there is a need to call a special meeting, that’s usually outlined in the local’s C&B.
Make the meeting an event. I already mentioned we provide breakfast at our membership meetings. What I didn’t mention is that it takes place 30-minutes prior to the start of the business. It’s an opportunity for members to have a cup of coffee and some biscuits and gravy together. Throw in the guest speaker, and maybe unveil a new initiative or benefit and you’ve got yourself a party. Also, if you move to a quarterly or bi-monthly meetings, your meeting sort of inherently becomes an event by virtue of the fact that they don’t occur as often.
Booze after business. Both unionized jobs I’ve worked at have had, let’s say, a drinking culture. I’ve seen this play out in negative ways in the past. In one instance, a motion was made on the eve of a strike vote to spend $10,000 on a party. Members would often meet at a local oyster bar and have a few cocktails prior to the union meeting. The ill-conceived aforementioned pricey party picked up a lot of steam at one of these pre-game events. Luckily, it failed miserably on the floor of the meeting. However, I’ve also heard horror stories of shouting matches and fights that were almost certainly fueled by a little too much loudmouth soup. I’m not a teetotaler by any means. We work hard and we often play hard and that’s okay. But the time for play is after business.
Remember, the union meeting is important. It’s typically the only part of a member’s working-life where honest and open discussion and debate about their working conditions can happen. It’s one of the doorways to union members becoming more engaged, and more invested, in their local union. It’s where workers get to exercise direct democracy in their job. As elected union leaders we should work hard to make it interesting, engaging, and inspiring.