New York, NY - Everyone involved in the labor movement knows that organizing is hard. But Phil Andrews, director of the RWDSU’s Retail Organizing Project will tell you that trying to organize low-paid, retail workers is harder still. Watch Video
“Typically, the normal way of organizing where you just get a lead and you go in and run elections until you win just doesn't work in retail,” Andrews recently told LaborPress. “Mostly because retail union density is low. As a result, wages, benefits and working conditions are very poor - and getting worse.”
With the average turnover rate at typical retail stores running 200-300 percent in a single year, it quickly becomes abundantly clear why organizers like Andrews have such a difficult task trying to rally marginalized workers who hate their jobs so much, they’re constantly looking for a way out.
“If workers don't have that kind of longevity and dedication to their job, the idea of going through the process of organizing a union through traditional means is just not appealing,” Andrews says. “The person will say to you, 'Look, I don't even want to be here next month, let alone next year. So, why would I stick my neck out and do any extra work for this job that I don't care about? As soon as I find another job that gives me more hours or a 25-cent raise, I'm going to take it.’”
http://laborpress.org/sectors/union-retail/3060-the-hardest-organizing-job-in-labor
