PSAC DISCUSSION PAPER: Building on Rock: Local Development and the Future of the PSAC

Local development is nothing less than the development of the full union potential of the members, individually and collectively, in the workplace, in our Union and in our communities. As such, it is always a work in progress, one that should shape our day-to-day activities at every level of our organization, and our strategy for the future. It is not an abstract ideal: local development can and should be carefully planned, with objectives and timelines and a strategic direction.

A Union with weak Locals is a Union built on sand. When moments of crisis arise, and the foundations threaten to give way, the sleeping giant simply does not awake. Members who have been left uninvolved, uninformed, disaffected and generally unaware of the union vision do not count themselves in. They don’t get transformed into union militants overnight, when, for example, a strike is called or a manager abuses or harasses a co-worker. Building a Local is about winning hearts and minds, and this is a slow, deliberate process, one member at a time.

It is essential, in this respect, that we face our own history honestly and admit that mistakes have been made. Until relatively recently—2000, to be precise—local development was only one of dozens of «priorities» the Union had adopted. Not that there hadn’ t been other initiatives, such as the Anti-Raiding Task Force and its report and recommendations years earlier, but a strategic focus for the PSAC as a whole was missing.

The PSAC, from its inception in 1966, has demonstrated significant strengths, and equally significant weaknesses. Our representation of individuals is generally satisfactory, our championing of such matters as political rights and pay equity is exemplary, and our education program is second to none. On the other hand, we have too often failed to instill in our rank and file a union consciousness, a confidence in collective action in the workplace and elsewhere.

We have thus been seen by many members as a type of insurance company, as «the union,» something separate and distinct from themselves, to which an individual may turn in time of trouble. We have, historically, favoured administrative solutions to workplace problems: a harassed member turns to «the union, » not to co-workers, for example, a grievance or complaint is written up, and matters take their individual course. Yet a sufficiently mobilized Local would be positioned to take collective action on the spot.

Locals have, again historically, often had to subsist on a handful of volunteers and scarce economic resources. This is not to say that some Locals have not been successful—many have—but that significant problems exist in many others, perhaps most: large Locals, spread out over numerous worksites, with three or four volunteers to hold it all together; several Locals in one worksite, with little communication between them even on Union-wide issues; Locals with rapid turnover of membership; nation-wide Locals; Directly-Chartered Locals; Locals which are internally well-organized but which are uninvolved in their regions or in the PSAC as a whole, Locals that exist only on paper, Locals in trusteeship. Local activists have faced problems of communication with the membership, with their Component, and with the PSAC Centre.

In 2000, the Alliance Centre concluded at a retreat in Cornwall that local development has major importance for the future of the PSAC. In 2001, the National Board of Directors agreed to set up a Local Development Committee, with AEC members and Component Presidents, jointly funded by the Alliance Centre and those Components who wished to participate. Enough Components came forward to ensure that the Committee would be viable and could undertake what everyone agreed was preliminary work.

It was, therefore, accepted that the Local Development Fund would not buy strong Locals, nor would the Local Development Committee single-handedly solve a problem that is so fundamental and widespread in our Union. But a strategic course could be set, successes catalogued, and future phases designed on the basis of what was learned.

This new focus furthers the on-going development of smooth and harmonious relations among all of the different PSAC structures and formations, as each brings to this common task unique knowledge, skills, resources and perspectives. By building our Locals, we will truly be building the Union.

It was the purpose of the NBoD Local Development Committee to kick-start the process, through two complementary activities: pilot projects with selected Locals, and the production, based on the experience gained, of generic materials to be used in the future as organizing tools.

Given that the neediest Locals were the least likely to be able to develop proposals of their own, it was at this stage essential that the choice of Locals for the pilot development process take place at a higher level. A consultative approach was used, involving the REVPs, the contributing Components and the Regional Offices, who together made proposals to the Local Development Committee. It was envisaged that most of the work would happen in the regions, using a team approach, with the Local Development Committee exercising an oversight role.

Local development involves a number of facets, including but not restricted to communications, a strong Local Executive and stewards’ network, outreach that engages the diversity of our membership, employer relations, collective workplace actions, participation in collective bargaining, health and safety, human rights and equity activism, political action and involvement in the wider community (e.g., District Labour Councils, social partners, community organizations). Local development is about the full participation of a well-informed membership sharing the union vision and to which elected officials are accountable: in a word, it is about democracy.

1. To play a key role in a comprehensive long-term strategy to develop PSAC Locals;

2. To use the Local Development Fund to engage in pilot projects and to create Local Development resources;

3. To develop and strengthen partnership between and among Local activists, Components, PSAC headquarters, PSAC Regional Offices, Regional Councils, the REVPs, the Alliance Facilitators’ Network and the wider community, to jointly accomplish the common goal of Local Development;

4. To make a comprehensive report, analysis and recommendations to the NBoD following the completion of the Action Plan.

1. Through consultation with the Components concerned, the REVPs and the Regional Coordinators, up to five Locals per Region from contributing Components will be selected that present significant organizational problems, e.g., scattered work locations, few or no executive positions filled, large numbers of members, poor communications, isolated Locals, rapid membership turnover, etc.

2. Utilizing available expertise, Regional Offices in concert with Local Executives/activists, the REVP and Component RVPs, will conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of each Loc al, identifying barriers, strengths and weaknesses.

3. Once the needs assessment is completed, teams will be formed including the REVP, Component RVP (or delegated representative), Regional Office staff, and, if necessary and as available, AFs and activists from other Locals with relevant expertise.

4. These teams will meet with Local Executives/activists in the target Locals, in facilitated sessions, to assemble a timelined Plan of Action of up to one year to develop the Local, using resources such as «The Good Local 1.» This Plan of Action will identify resource needs, such as education, training and printed materials, film rentals, informatics, etc., and will set out costs of implementation (LWOP, materials, etc.] for review by the Local Development Committee, in consultation with the REVP. In addition, it will set out benchmarks to measure on-going success during and after the completion of the Plan of Action.

5. The Local Development Committee in consultation with the REVP, the Component and the Regional Office will monitor the implementation of each Plan of Action. Problems will be addressed as they arise.

6. Upon completion of the Plans of Action across the country, a comprehensive report and analysis will be prepared by the Regional teams on each target Local, summing up successes and failures, what worked, what didn’t, etc.

7. These reports will form the basis of a compendium of best practices, a Local organizing tool that, as a «how-to» guide, will complement «The Good Local.» It would be in loose-leaf format, to allow for future additions to it.

8. A report to the National Board of Directors will be prepared on the basis of the Regional reports, containing analysis and recommendations for the future.

Future phases of Local Development:

Local development is not simply an initiative, one among many. It is, or should be, at the core of every union activity in which we participate. Whether we are dealing with union education, or equity, or collective bargaining, or organizing, or representation, or political action, or communications, or any of the other myriad activities in which the Union is involved, Local development should be a focus from the very beginning. For this, nothing less than a cultural shift in the PSAC is required.

We have in the past tended to see each of these activities as somehow separate from the others, or, at least, not related in a common vision. Yet, for example, the success of collective bargaining is surely related to the degree to which Locals are well-informed, mobilized and have a high degree of collective, union consciousness. The stronger that on-the-ground solidarity, the more power all of us have in achieving good collective agreements.

Moreover, Locals with sufficient union consciousness should be counted upon to support each other. For example, traditionally, «separate employer» Locals have failed to attract support in significant numbers from other Locals in the region when in a strike or lockout situation. Even in regions with high concentrations of union members, this has too often been the case. Locals helping Locals would appear to be a natural evolution from members helping members within a single Local. A «Locals helping Locals» program can assist, not only with the process of collective bargaining, but with education, organizing collective workplace actions, sharing «best practices» in overcoming problems, and in a host of other ways.

The pursuit of equity, too, has met with mixed success. Very often, members of equity groups have been most active in regional and national bodies when pursuing specific equity concerns. And yet it should be obvious that the integration of equality-seeking as an essential part of Local development is long overdue. It is at the Local membership level that equity initiatives are most needed; it is at the Local level that the education must begin, and it is at the Local level that the diverse cultures and perspectives of our members should not only be celebrated, but be harmonized into stronger and more effective Union activity.

Why do we educate our members? Once again, if Local development is not the goal, what is? We are too familiar with the plight of activists who attend a PSAC course, return to their Locals, and find themselves with no means of imparting their new-found knowledge to others. Yet the point of union education is not to enrich the lives of individuals, but to build a stronger Union. We need to find ways of ensuring that the excellent training and education we currently provide is passed on as a matter of course through receptive Local networks and structures so that the membership as a whole can benefit.

Communications, too, should be Local-centred. Official communications should invite questions and debate among the members—assuming that the messages reach them in the first place! And, just as importantly, members should find it relatively easy to communicate their own messages as a part of the collective discussions that move us all forward. Making space available to Locals on Regional and National websites is one suggestion, along with the necessary training. Local newsletters and regular worksite meetings are others. The goal is well-informed members who feel they are part of the union process rather than bystanders.

When we have traditionally represented members, we have not usually considered collective action by co-workers on behalf of aggrieved sisters or brothers. Yet all of us are aware of that powerful slogan from South Africa, «An Injury To One Is An Injury To All.» We need to cultivate in our Local membership the confidence to act collectively when an individual has been singled out by an employer for abuse or harassment. This action can range from mass grievances to direct action such as picketing and sit-ins. Victories thus achieved often have a longer–lasting effect than an individual’s upheld grievance, the redress terms of which are usually kept confidential more by tradition than for any other reason. The individualizing of grievances, in fact, perpetuates the notion of the Union as insurance company, and does little or nothing to build workplace solidarity—even when an individual grievance is more often than not reflective of shared workplace problems.

The above are examples of areas in which the Union works every day, but which have not as yet been fully integrated into a single vision and direction centred on the Local. To carry out this significant but achievable task, more than a national Local Development Committee is required. It calls, in fact, for every activist and every structural part of the PSAC to work in harmony, and for a rededication of our activism for the good of the Union as a whole. It calls for a new direction, and a new focus, but not so new that we would fail to recognize either. It calls for putting aside old rivalries and divisions, and indeed new ones, in order to make all of us stronger in our various important roles in the Union.

While the work of the Local Development Committee is a good start, it is only the beginning of a task that all of us need to make our own, if we are to thrive and be victorious in the 21st century. «Solidarity Forever!» must take on a new and deeper meaning for every one of us, as we build our Union together.

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