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KEY ELEMENTS OF AN INSIDE STRATEGY
by Aaron Brenner

In an “inside strategy,” workers keep working, even after the contract expires, continuing their contract campaign on the inside. An inside strategy requires great creativity and serious collective willpower, but the rewards can be a better contract and a stronger union.

Inside strategies combine shop floor tactics with the tactics used in contract campaigns. Once the contract expires, everything can change. As long as bargaining continues, the old contract applies. However, the company may declare a bargaining impasse, allowing it to suspend dues check-off and impose its last contract offer, which could mean an end to the grievance procedure, radically different work hours, and inferior benefits.

WORKING TO RULE
The most common tactic of an inside strategy is called work-to-rule. Working to rule is not exactly the same as a slowdown and it is not sabotage, neither of which are legally protected union activities. Working to rule means working strictly by the book.

Every workplace is different, so every inside strategy must be different. Nevertheless, Jerry Tucker, the acknowledged expert on inside strategies, tells us that some key elements must be in place:

1. Willing leadership. “Union leaders must at least accept the inside strategy. Even if they are not enthusiastic, they must not get in the way. Where they are hostile, perhaps there is a way for rank-and-file workers to just take over, but I have not seen that.”

2. Horizontal leadership. “Union leaders must be willing to make the rank and file co-equal when it comes to deciding strategy and tactics. This is a challenge for many union leaders, but without rank and file involvement in decision-making and execution, an inside strategy will not work.”

3. Critical mass. “You must be able to count on a critical mass of workers, a group large enough to realistically mobilize the bulk of the members. You will never have 100 percent participation at the start, but with a critical mass of committed workers you can build the necessary solidarity.”

4. Collective intelligence gathering. “The workers come up with the best ideas for reducing the company’s productivity and raising its costs, the two main goals of any work-to-rule. The leaders have to find ways to get the rank-and-file generating ideas. And I’m not talking about surveys. I mean meeting with workers, asking them questions, making suggestions, and listening.”

5. Galvanizing activities. “These are activities that do not directly affect production but facilitate other activities that do, by getting more workers involved, increasing their confidence, and boosting morale. These can be as simple as lunchtime rallies or meeting with other unions to involve them in the cause.”

6. Outreach. “To directly affect productivity you can reach out to workers at your company’s customers and suppliers. They might forget to ship supplies or discover defects in your products. They can also pressure their company to stop dealing with your company. Outreach also means pressuring your company’s parent company in a corporate campaign. And it means reaching out to the local community: churches, unions, and other groups.”

7. Keeping it going. “Inside strategies take time. We say, ‘Let’s just get through this week and we’ll figure out something for next week.’ You cannot go into a defensive crouch for a week or two. You’ll lose the workers. You have to keep a flow of activity going. You can do that, in part, by giving workers ownership of the campaign. They’ll think of ideas that will keep them going.”

8. Hardship fund. “In every single in-plant campaign I’ve worked on, we raised money to pay workers if they were fired. We assessed the workers themselves and we collected money externally. This is a key element in getting workers to feel comfortable with taking more risks on the job.

"Sometimes, many of these elements come together. A group of Staley workers went up to Canada to address a meeting of the Canadian Auto Workers. This was one of those ‘keep it going’ activities that was also ‘outreach.’ The workers at the meeting donated $10,000 on the spot and the union agreed to match that amount from its treasury. That built the hardship fund. The trip also became a ‘galvanizing activity’ when the workers came back to Decatur and reported the support they received.”

[Aaron Brenner is a labor historian, researcher, writer, and editor in New York City. He has written about international labor solidarity, union reform movements, and rank-and-file rebellions by Teamsters, telephone workers, and postal workers, and is the editor of The Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History. He authored the chapter on Organizing New Members for A Troublemaker’s Handbook 2.]