Organizing — 2

Service Contract Act
The government of the United States spent more than $34 billion in 2002 on contracts for services. Service contract workers do every imaginable task and constitute a growing segment of America's workforce. The IAM organized over 3,000 new service contract workers in 2003.

With all the trend lines pointing upward in this sector and the relative ease of winning campaigns and gaining first contracts, service contract units remain a priority target. While the IAM has been hugely successful on military installations and among more skilled workers, it is wise to keep in mind that virtually every federal facility, whether an office building, a veteran's hospital or a national park, has a significant number of service contract employees. The Grand Lodge Organizing Department stands ready to assist in ferreting out these units and setting in motion campaigns across the country.

One activity that we have been proud to support is the Service Contract School at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center. This course is offered three times a year. We have also facilitated a bi-annual Service Contract Networking group also at the Winpisinger Center.

The Grand Lodge Organizing Department also participated in the beta testing and design of a new government website wdol.gov. This site allows public users to access current and archived, standard and non-standard wage determinations. It also provides an easy index of many useful links to valuable information for the service contract sector.

Blitz Program
The Blitz program still remains the bedrock organizing approach of the Grand Lodge Organizing Department. With a new Blitz manual and the support of locals and districts around the country, we have been able to visit thousands of workers at their homes, talk to them about their concerns without interruption or intimidation and make intelligent decisions on how to proceed in campaigns. The fundamentals of the Blitz program remain unchanged:

1.Keep it low key and get home addresses for the entire bargaining unit.

2.Sign a minimum of 65 percent on the showing of interest petition.

3.Recruit 10 percent of the unit to serve on the organizing team.

4.Inoculate the bargaining unit to union buster tactics by training the team and developing internal leaders.

5.Sign 55 percent on the "We're Voting Yes!" petition.

These fundamentals combined with a speedy election (we have averaged 42 days from petition to election under the NLRB) lead to a high rate of success. We win over 84 percent of campaigns that go to election.

Conclusion
While the progress made over the past four years has been substantial, the Grand Lodge Organizing Department faces much the same challenge as the rest of the IAM. We need to do more with less and keep our orientation on the organizers in the field.

The IAM has a saying that "Everybody's an organizer." We in the Grand Lodge Organizing Department believe in this principle and, with your support, together we will make it a tangible and forceful reality over the next four years.