Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Union/Workplace Organizer Training
Saturday, March 29
10am-5pm (9:30am for breakfast)
Sunday, March 30
10am-4pm (9:30am for breakfast)
At Cornerstone Community Church
500 Plant St., Utica, NY 13501
Do you have a job? Will you have a job in the future? Are you a worker? Do you want higher wages and more benefits? Do you want to fight injustice at work? Do you want more rights, power and a voice at your work?
If the answers to any of these questions are YES, then you should consider organizing at work and joining the one union open to all workers, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). This training will show you how to organize at work and form a union. The IWW labor union is looking to form in Utica and excited to organize the unorganized. The union has an exciting history and formed at a time in US history when other unions were mostly concerned with organizing white, male, skilled workers. The IWW opened its doors to workers of all races, industrial and farm workers, immigrants, and women.
Local activists decided to have the training in light of the need to reach out to workers who are not in unions and to create a culture of grassroots labor organizing locally. It is being done through the newly formed Mohawk Valley Freedom School and is cosponsored by CNY Citizen Action.
You don’t have to be a member of the union to come to the training. The training is completely free and open to the public, including unemployed workers. As long as people do not have the power to hire or fire anyone they are welcome to come. Organizing materials, information, and breakfast and lunch will also be provided.
Two experienced union organizers, will give the nuts and bolts of organizing at work, how to set up a workplace organizing committee, the AEIOUs of organizing, go over labor law, how to make demands on the boss, and build grassroots power at work. This is a very interactive training that includes role plays and active participation. The training will also go over social charting, mapping, contracts vs. solidarity unionism, and a history of the IWW.
It is an exciting moment in US history to get involved with social movements and stand up for dignity and justice. One way you can do that is at work by organizing with the IWW. We hope you join us in this exciting movement.
Please RSVP to the event by emailing mvfreedomschool@gmail.com or calling 315 240-3149.
More information about the IWW can be found at http://www.iww.org
Also, feel free to learn more about the IWW from scholar and activist Noam Chomsky. He also happens to be a member of the IWW.
Mohawk Valley Freedom School 
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