[Excerpt] Saul Alinsky, a great labor and community organizer, once said that “tactics that drag on become a drag.” Stewards know that tactics used too often can lose their effectiveness and burn members out. That’s why wise stewards are always looking for new and creative ways to put pressure on an employer. Here are some ideas that have worked for other unionists

Margolies, Ken

English

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9-1-1998 
Creative Pressure Tactics 
Ken Margolies 
Cornell University, kam47@cornell.edu 
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Creative Pressure Tactics 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] Saul Alinsky, a great labor and community organizer, once said that “tactics that drag on become 
a drag.” Stewards know that tactics used too often can lose their effectiveness and burn members out. 
That’s why wise stewards are always looking for new and creative ways to put pressure on an employer. 
Here are some ideas that have worked for other unionists. 
Keywords 
union, steward, grievance, agreement, impact, communication, labor, management, members, supervisor, 
goal, function, arbitrator 
Disciplines 
Collective Bargaining | Communication | Unions 
Comments 
Suggested Citation 
Margolies, K. (1998). Creative pressure pactics [Electronic version]. Steward Update, 9(5). 
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles/85/ 
Required Publisher Statement 
Copyright by Union Communication Services. Published version posted with special permission of the 
copyright holder. 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles/85 
Saul Alinsky, a great labor andcommunity organizer, once saidthat "tactics that drag on
become a drag." Stewards know that
tactics used too often can lose their
effectiveness'and burn members out.
That's why wise stewards are always
looking for new and creative ways to
put pressure on an employer. Here
are some ideas that have worked for
other unionists.
RIDICULE OR OUTSMART
THE BOSS
Look for loopholes in
existing rules. For
example, one employ-
er had a rule against
posters in work areas,
but allowed calendars
- so the union put their
poster on a calendar. In
another case an employer unilateral-
ly required men to wear ties - so the
union got everyone to wear the most
outrageous ties they could find.
LAUGH AT THE BOSS
You could have the workers fill out
evaluations of the boss on a mock
version of the form the boss uses to
evaluate them. Or you could circu-
late cartoons or jokes that show how
silly or petty the boss is being. Or
make up top-ten lists or quizzes that
make fun of the boss. '
REACH OUT TO THE PUBLIC
Give the public something useful
with your message on it, such as
shopping bags to customers entering
a store that say, "Stop selling clothes
made in sweatshops - it matters to
me." Another idea: distribute mes-
sage-bearing score cards at a base-
ball game or free bags of popcorn to
movie patrons waiting to enter.
Supermarket workers could provide
Steward Uudate Newsletter
flyers from a union
store to shoppers
before they enter a
non-union market
and advise them they
can get better prices
at the union market.
DEMONSTRATIONS
You can use costumes to get the pub-
lic's attention and highlight your
issue. Example: have Santa Claus
deliver coal to unfair
employers just
before Christmas.
Or you could have
members put on
bandages, slings
and other health-
related items to dramatize the high
accident rate at your workplace.
TAla: THE MORAL
HIGH GROUND
Put your employer on the moral and
ethical defensive by having a candle-
light vigil for justice outside his or
her home. You could gather mem-
bers in the workplace cafeteria to
pray for justice, and involve local
clergy by asking religious leaders to
lead their congregations in prayer
for justice.
DO SOMETHING UNUSUAL
Capture the public's attention - or
the attention of your employer's
clients. In one case, janitors trying to
organize a
nonunion building
went there and
started cleaning
the building's
lobby until they
were ordered to
leave. In another, workers with a lot
of job stress bought an old car, paint-
ed their employer's logo on the door,
and took turns bashing it with sledge-
hammers.
USE PEOPLE POWER TO
PRESSURE EMPLOYERS
In one recent
case, supporters
[(
-
of restaurant
workers trying to
unionize protest-
ed the owner's
refusal to recognize the workers'
right to bargain by going into the
diner in large numbers and ordering
one cup of coffee and sitting there all
day. In another case, huge numbers
of calls were made to 800 lines.
WORK ACTIONS
Demonstrate unity by doing things as
a group. For example, everyone can
~
wear their baseball
caps backwards on
the same day, or
their collars turned
up. Employees can march into
work together behind the American
or Canadian flag, or give the boss the
silent treatment, or tap their pencils
or cough at the same time each day.
ADJUST HOW YOU DO YOUR JOBS
Examples: Restaurant workers with a
lot on their minds have been known
to err on the side of generosity by
giving larger than normal portions.
Bus drivers have been known to not
be too strict on who qualifies for
senior citizen fares or youth fares.
Police have been known to issue
more "warnings" than real tickets.
Employees have been known, as
well, to follow every safety and other
management rule to the book.
- Ken Margolies. The writer is on the staff of the
Cornell Universtty Labor Education Extension
Division, New York City office.


Creative Pressure Tactics

[Excerpt] Saul Alinsky, a great labor and community organizer, once said that “tactics that drag on become a drag.” Stewards know that tactics used too often can lose their effectiveness and burn members out. That’s why wise stewards are always looking for new and creative ways to put pressure on an employer. Here are some ideas that have worked for other unionists.No11_Creative_Pressure.pdf: 1181 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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