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You don't know the power you have...I'd like to help
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You don't know the power you have...I'd like to help
You don't know the power you have...I'd like to help
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| Gregory Hall |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:49 pm
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Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 25 |
I’m constantly amazed at the ability of union members, hell, citizens of the world to be eloquent, informed, angry, and unorganized. Always unorganized. Everything I’ve read here is inspiring and informative. As a former organizer for SEIU, external, project, and internal I’ve been in the rooms and received the orders to neutralize your leaders that are attempting to have a voice for the members. I’ve watched as elected officials manipulated resolutions by intimidating members.
I couldn’t do it. I found members that were screaming at the top of their lungs and no one was listening. I decided that since I was an organizer, always an organizer because I believe it means servant, my only path was to develop plans and implement those plans so members could speak together, with power, and force those who are supposed to protect you to not only listen, but obey your wants. I learned that I am not the only organizer who believes this way and wants to help. Campaigns like what I see are going on all over the country. That they are happening is all the evidence folks need to form a fight. I’ve done it many times. I’d like to try again here. I have a show that is investigating whether or not members want to fight to change their disenfranchisement status and build an organization that uses the power that always wins battles; the power of the masses against the "powerful." We have great minds working on it. The name is in the email address, but the site isn't completed yet. We'll have it ready by Wednesday. Once it's functional we’ll send it out to as many people as we can of course. We are all pro-union, but pro-member run, owned, and operated unions. On this show we edit or censor nothing so you'll hear the good and the bad about me, my show, my folks...then you can decide what to do. Union democracy is not a dream or an unreachable goal. That doesn't make any sense. It's like saying we can't do anything as citizens of our country. The fight, the plan, the model, the campaign, whatever name we give it, relies on only one principle; Are you willing to fight for what you want...and at the same time watch your brothers' and sisters' back? If so, you can't fail. We have a 3-point plan. We want to introduce it and have folks talk about it. We want members of unions to tell us why it will, and why it won’t work, so we can refine it. I’ve used it before and it works to create unity and movements. It has failed before because of lack of resources because it was members fighting against heavily resourced (with your money) unions. It has succeeded many times more because members would not quit. We’ve designed a plan that relies on the web with all of it’s possibilities and limitations. The only resource necessary now is the willingness to fight together. I hope we can talk soon. Gregory Hall greg@greghallshow.com |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:59 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
Sounds interesting. Let us know when the it's showtime and I'm sure you'll get some feedback.
_________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| The Third Element |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:01 pm
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Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 368 |
Are you >this<Greg Hall?
_________________ No Beast so fierce knows but some small amount of pity, but I know none and so I am no beast. ~ Richard III |
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| Gregory Hall |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:40 pm
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Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 25 |
I'm learning uncharted.ca so I'll try and answer both responses here because I can't figure out how to do it individually.
Yes, I'm that Greg Hall. Actually we named the show after me hoping it would stir people for or against. As long as their talking, there is energy. The idea is for folks to follow a plan they approve. Like I told my members, if you make this about me you are going to lose. The first show is up but we keep tweaking it because I'm not a radio guy. The next show will be up by Wednesday and that will be my former chief-of-staff talking about why he's involved. After that we're interviewing members, leaders, officials and we'll introduce transparent organizing. The idea is to have folks talking and organizing whether they love or hate me. Again, as long as their talking that beats the hell out of silence. That is what your administrations want...you to be silent and disparate. I am excited because the energy is already there. Ususally there's a lot of time dedicated to waking folks up. I look forward to the conversations if folks want to have them. _________________ Gregory A. Hall |
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| The Third Element |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:47 pm
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Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 368 |
Oh, I suspect you'll find no shortage of "conversations" and if you are prepared to offer solutions you may actually help... I guess we'll see.
_________________ No Beast so fierce knows but some small amount of pity, but I know none and so I am no beast. ~ Richard III |
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| Gregory Hall |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:00 pm
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Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 25 |
That's the idea
_________________ Gregory A. Hall |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:48 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
Just heard your intro segment Greg. Sounds good. Very professional. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
If you run short of interview subjects, I'm sure there are a few around here who could be persuaded to tell their stories. 
_________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| SharynS |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:59 pm
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2940 Location: the 'puter |
Welcome Greg, folks got a little lazy when we moved into the new place, welcomes are few and far between. I thought it was a nice tradition. Quote: Further, we don’t agree with sending out organizers to beat every bush for new members from the non-union workforce when our current membership is so divided and untended. We believe if our union is doing it’s job, we will ATTRACT members and like-minded new unions. It shouldn’t take anywhere near as much effort, time to respond to the attracted as it does to field salespeople for a dues‑sucking machine. I suppose there's no way to tell beforehand if or how it's going to work but I'd sure as hell like to find out. I listened to the intro too and I have to say off the top, it's encouraging. It does feel like we're shouting into a barrel most days, nice to hear an echo. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| Gregory Hall |
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:46 pm
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Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 25 |
I'm glad you listened to the show. If you get a chance, post comments on the site. We are still under construction a bit but we'll get it fixed shortly. I believe the communications coordinator in the ODOT campaign, and the current webmaster @ www.oregonworkersunion.org wrote that, but I can't say for sure.
Members have not discovered how to channel all the energy you all have. I have to find out if I have a guest ready to go before we let everything out. I'd also like to know that folks are interested in fighting. The more folks we can hear from the better the chances are of us uniting. I hope people listen and let us know that they want to act. The first phase is called transparent organizing. We are setting up the support for it now because there will be a lot of web work involved. But if we can do it with members fully ready to do as much as they can do. That's all we can ask, but always do as much as you can do. I'll talk a lot about transparent organizing when I interview Guillermo Vasquez some time next week. Guillermo led a group out of the laborers a long time ago and now he works for AFT on their national staff. I worked for Guillermo for four months and he is dedicated to getting the power that comes form organizing the folks we already have in unions. He'll let us know just how powerful members can be if we spread the idea, if we organize the idea, of a systemic internal organizing plan for everyone who wants it. I look forward to hearing from you more. _________________ Gregory A. Hall |
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| rogead |
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:53 am
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Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 412 |
Gregory,
Welcome and thanks for joining in these forums. I look forward to exploring your website. Much of the conversation here has focused on the UFCW, particularly those issues pertaining to retail supermarket employees. Because of some truly egregious abuses within the UFCW, much of the discussion here has been, necessarily, negative. I'm encouraged by your comments about channeling member’s energy. Soon after I began posting here, I recognized how many incredibly intelligent, insightful, and talented people frequented these boards. Changing a half century of corruption and complacency is a daunting task. It won't happen quickly and it won't happen easily. But every time I spend a while here, I realize that the seeds of change are healthy and only need some nurturing to sprout. Some of us have been working on an "open source" manifesto of UFCW member rights: written by and for UFCW members. Our hope is to spread that document amongst those members and to solicit their input for additions and changes to the principal ideas it contains. Ultimately, union reform will only be successful if we are able to create a level of solidarity that transcends any particular union and has application to all workers. I think the key is in coalescing all of the "little" reform movements into something that the corporation-business union alliance cannot ignore. I’m hopeful that what you're doing will be another piece of that puzzle. Congratulations on a very good start! |
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| priscilla |
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:34 am
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Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 2 |
Hello,
So what are the three prongs of the plan and how do you plan to incorporate suggestions from the masses into your plan? |
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| Plutodog |
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:21 am
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Joined: 06 Feb 2006 Posts: 300 Location: Oregon |
siggy wrote: Quote: Further, we don’t agree with sending out organizers to beat every bush for new members from the non-union workforce when our current membership is so divided and untended. We believe if our union is doing it’s job, we will ATTRACT members and like-minded new unions. It shouldn’t take anywhere near as much effort, time to respond to the attracted as it does to field salespeople for a dues‑sucking machine. Um, no, Siggy, that was me speaking for the OWU. SEIU members, I know aren't alone in being neglected by organizers (or reps) who are sent out instead to corral new dues payers...as Greg knows from his experience... _________________ "I'm not a humanitarian,I'm a hell-raiser" -- Mother Jones |
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| Gregory Hall |
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:05 pm
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Joined: 29 Jul 2006 Posts: 25 |
...power someone will always resist. That's the illusion. The folks that have power are only a few in numbers and I promise you, I promise you, they are scared of you all.
Now, my advice is, and will be, not to scare the hell out of them but only scare them enough so that they know you are not changing your minds and they had better start implementing your ideas or there will be a reaction. Again, Organizing 101, you all should never bluff. Instead do exactly what you've been doing; talking to each other and using that natural leadership energy you have to inform everyone around. We'll get into that soon. The manifesto sounds like a good start. How can we help UFCW immediately? Would anyone be willing to be interviewed on the show? Would anyone be willing to tell folks about the show you are interviewed on? To answer the 3 points question...the reason I can't, won't, put all of them out now is because it would be showing my hand to those who oppose you and allowing them to offer minor concessions (which is done in every boss campaign...and I promise that's what you all are in) to the members in an effort to head off real change. The plan can work with any union, anywhere. You all are fighting the same monsters they just show up with different names. That's your strength. I will tell you that this ends with a member union just like the staff of your unions have and a machine that can respond anytime and anywhere. It's not difficult but it will require effort. The interest needs to come first. The desire, frustration, even apathy has to be addressed or we will end up spinning our wheels and going nowhere. We also need to build the support that folks are going to need. Again, give what time you can, but give that time. If members show that they want o do something, that's enough. I hope no one wants to destroy their unions. The folks that oppose you aren't evil, they're wrong. They have the disease of believing they are right. That is an easy one to catch apparently. I hope that you all are going to show them that your way, however you choose to go, is designed to strengthen your unions and create a new labor movement that is ten times stronger than the one that is now harming members. I believe that organizing is an honorable profession now filled with dishonorable acts. Organizers are servants by the design of their jobs. Organizers are teachers, planners, strategists, activists, logicians, and should stand beside every action their members want. Organizers are not leaders but we are facilitators. I told my members I don't know how to fix a truck, or pave a road, or do the number of tasks our members do everyday...but I do know how to organize and that is what every organizer is there to do for their members. They are to design and implement the plans their members choose to implement. Now you all have to force them to do that and I promise it isn't hard; it is time consuming and that's why members should give only what they can give but give that always. Think about this plan I'm presenting...it must (1) reach and apply to all unions who need it, (2) it must develop a database of leaders, which you all probably are and know it or not, that are capable of acting quickly and effectively, (3) it must reach the members who believe "there is nothing they can do about anything." Futility is actually a tactic when weakening or neutralizing folks, (4) the actions must work...every time because you all can never bluff, (5) it must create a central place to disseminate and receive information quickly and efficiently, (6) it must gain the support of those inside, and outside, of the labor movement who can lend help to these members. That's the beginning and it's already going better than I expected. Expect the unexpected, the tech problems, the internal battles, and the apathy and be able...ABLE to keep moving towards that goal. That is what organizers do and I have been trained very well to accomplish these goals. My first assignments to leaders, were we that far, would be to begin informing your memberships that you want to check into something. Second, let me know if you have an hour a week or more or less that you can devote to building (a) the database of members and leaders, (b) start designing "actions" because we are going to need a ton in reserve, (c) ask me to submit to you the first phase of the plan after you've decided to join. The assignments from then on will be handled by leaders, but we can get more into that if and when it's necessary. This is up to you all. I believe it can work because there are no rules saying you can't do it. That is worth more than I can explain here. Literally, there is nothing to stop you but yourselves. I will give you every effort that I can. I believe in union to my core, but I believe that members must run the unions at all times. We are desperately working on the show. Please hang in there with us. It is turning into a greater project than we hoped for so we are constantly changing and repairing tech glitches. I look forward to talking with you about all this. Greg Hall _________________ Gregory A. Hall |
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| Pearson |
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:43 pm
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Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 1417 Location: Sun City AZ |
Welcome Greg, i like what i see so far, limited as it is. Having said that, i think it would be helpful to sort through some of the old threads. There are awesome discussion/debates on where we are going and what the future should look like.
The one most unclear is whether unions as they exist today are capable of change. I think there is valid concerns they can't. While i tend to believe it is possible, i also see the other side of the argument. As an insider, i know both the power we have outside and the limitations that exist due to structures that are archaic and uneffective. I will just conclude with; you are going to have to step up to the plate to make many of the uncharted folks see the potential of transforming these tired old dinasours into something that works for them rather than the other way around. _________________ If we don't do it, who will? Last edited by Pearson on Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| loonietunes |
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:54 pm
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Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 1210 |
Gregory Hall wrote: ...
Now, my advice is, and will be, not to scare the hell out of them but only scare them enough so that they know you are not changing your minds and they had better start implementing your ideas or there will be a reaction. So in other words "Blackmail" them! ---and isn't this basically politics-- 101-?- --get people to do what you want or you will throw them out of office? I prefer "Right and Wrong" 101--- If current UFCW union leaders do the right things leave them alone--if they do the wrong things---put them away and throw away the key--no "ifs" "ands" or political "butts!" LT |
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You don't know the power you have...I'd like to help
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You don't know the power you have...I'd like to help
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