This site is a static archive. Visit the current IWW website at iww.org ▸
Skip to main content

(2) Building Your IWW Branch

Building and training a core group:

The best way of forming a solid IWW branch is to start off with 3 to 5 people who are dedicated to building the IWW and learning the art of organizing. When building this core group, look for friends, co-workers and aquantences who may have some of the following qualities:

  • Labor organizing experience, especially legal aspects;
  • Group skills such as running meetings, fund raising, bookkeeping, etc.
  • Communication skills, graphics, writing, web design, etc.
  • Contacts with diverse communites within the working class, language skills, etc
  • Find out if there are other IWWs in the area, talk to GHQ or nearby Branches, perhaps they have contacts with former or potential members.

When you have formed a core group, spend some time, perhaps a month or two, meeting informally. Spend this time learning what the IWW is about and to get to know each other. Set some goals for the local IWW over the next year and make strategies to meet these goals.

Recruiting Membership:

Beyond the core group, the best way of recruiting new members is by doing practical activity. People want to make a better world and want to see that the IWW can deliver.

  • Usually the best members are labor activists who are fed up with sell out business unions. They bring in many talents and contacts. However, be careful with unionists who want to build the IWW as a union support group rather than a union.
  • Seek potential members with skills and a dedication to building the IWW rather than someone with a particular social ideology that's looking for a home.
  • While this may go against logic, community activists are generally not a good target for the initial membership of a branch. Activists generally have a lot on their plate and will jump into activity and back out, usually quickly.

Training your members:

Throughout the life of a branch you will need to continually train and educate your members, so start early. When members have particular skills they can share them with the other members by giving trainings. An excellent method of passing along skills is teaming an experienced member with a new member when doing a particular task.

Other skills may be hard to come by; here are some ways of learning them:

  • Contact the IWW Organizing Department to schedule an Organizer Training. If this is impossible, phone, e-mail or write wobbly organisers for advice.
  • Seek out sympathetic union activists (there will be many of them) and ask their advice.
  • Some business unions give trainings on organizing, while it is not always the IWW way you can learn a lot.
  • Some colleges hold classes/workshops in labor organising.
  • Non-profit fund raising groups often have trainings for non-profit group skills.
  • If you don't know, search the web, go to the library, ask an elder.

Being serious

Workers seeking help want the appearance of professionalism in a union because they are often scared and want security. This doesn't mean you need to change your appearance, dress up, etc when you are doing wobbly business. But please be serious about the IWW and our organizing. Because if poorly done, organizing can have dreadful affects on workers. employment, ability to find future work, etc.

While many of these issues aren't important when a group/branch is small, its best to instill the proper attitude because the branch will need them as it gets larger.

  • Be polite and courteous.
  • Show up when you say you are going to or call and reschedule.
  • Make sure the Branch is doing its tasks such as bookkeeping, sending dues in to your headquarters, etc. on a monthly basis.
  • Be organized and don't waste people's time.
  • If you don't know something, its OK. Say you don't know but will find out the answer, do it and get back to the person with the answer.
  • Do what you say you are going to do or pass along the task. Again its OK not to do something you said you would, but it's not fair to the branch to just drop a task.
  • Make branch literature look clean and not sloppy, cheesy or "far out".
  • Make efforts to include all sorts of workers- anticipate childcare issues, health limitations, different languages, etc.
  • Don't gossip. Often you will need to keep actions, organizational plans, etc confidential.

Next page: Developing Branch Infrastructure