We organize to unite the power of working people

As a union, organizing is one of the most important things we do (arguably, the most important thing we do). 

Organizing means bringing together individual working men and women to magnify our strength and our say, concentrated into one unified, amplified voice with enough power to effectively challenge even the goliaths in politics, industries, workplaces and boardrooms.

It’s the very definition of what and who we are: a union, a uniting force for what’s right, fair and good. In our union, organizing is carried out in a variety of ways.

It’s how, at the bargaining table, we achieve improved working conditions and better contracts. It’s how we demonstrate our power in visual numbers when we march with protest signs or engage in petitions or other tactics to make our demands known en masse. It’s how we bring nonunion workers together so they, too, can be empowered through organized union representation.  

There is, however, one kind of organizing we, as Boilermakers, try to avoid—but is sometimes necessary as the best course of concerted action and the only viable action. That’s striking.    

The obvious preference is, of course, for all our brothers and sisters to work under fair contracts and collect fair wages for a fair day’s work. And maintaining a positive relationship with employers, so our overall work environments are harmonious and contract negotiations go smoothly, also behooves us. 

Except when it doesn’t. 

This is the case with our brothers at Local 1622 in Austintown, Ohio, and why their decision to strike is an example of organized bravery, a stance together against an employer who is no more than a bully bent on exploiting people for profit. 

The employer, T&W Stamping, must have thought the company invincible against a few dozen blue collar workers. So, when the company committed illegal actions against the union during negotiations, T&W probably thought their actions would go unnoticed; that the Boilermakers would simply return, submissively, to their machines to continue cranking out profits. (Get the details on the L-1622 strike.)

Not so. Because the Boilermakers organized and took a stand together. 

Together, they filed unfair labor practice charges, and they called the company’s bluff. And together, they’ve walked a picket line in shifts in front of the company in all manner of weather, every day and every shift T&W operates—every shift since late March. 

Some of these brothers have young kids and others to support. Some have health issues. It’s financially and emotionally draining, and it’s stressful. But they are so committed to defending what’s right and fair, they are collectively willing to sacrifice pay and security for the good of all.

And even as they walk the picket line supporting the action of one another in the union, others have organized support around them. Community members stop to deliver water, snacks and encouragement. Drivers passing by honk their horns and shout cheers of solidarity. 

In our own union, Boilermaker brothers and sisters throughout the United States and Canada have generously contributed to ease the men’s financial burden, and of course the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers continues to provide logistical, financial and other assistance. 

It’s not just one worker shaking a solitary fist or shouting into the wind against injustice; it’s not just a small local lodge in Ohio fighting for what’s right. It’s also members of a community, an international labor union and the whole of the North American labor movement standing with Local 1622 Boilermakers. 

That’s organizing. We organize to unite the power of working people, and it’s why we’re better together in a union.

In solidarity,

Warren Fairley
International President