1. Locating Prospective Union Members: Mapping and List-Building
ITCILO COURSE A Capacity Building for Organizing and Managing Trade Unions to 24 May 2013
Locating Prospective Union Members: Mapping and List-Building

2. ORGANIZING
Mapping
List-Building

3. Mapping Mapping identifies where workers are located.
Mapping can be done on numerous scales:
Workplace-wide
Company-wide
Industry-wide
National
Regional
International
Mapping helps us build sustainable union structures.
It is an on-going process, and it never ends.

5. MAPPING EXAMPLE - East Africa highways and port links

6. MAPPING EXAMPLE - Bus depot, Zambia Bus and Taxi Workers Union

7. Where Can We Gather Information?
Visit workplaces
Ask the employer
Go to the internet
Look at industry publications and listings
Check with your National Trade Union Centre to find out what unions represent workers in your company, locally and regionally.
90% of working Ghanaians >15 yrs, ….% of working Tanzanians over 15 yrs are employed informally

8. Why is List-Building Benchmark Important?
With the lists, the union does not have a way to make contact with workers directly, so they are likely to hear rumours or the employers information about the union

9. List-Building Identify what information you want to keep updated:
Contact details
Job category
Employment status and direct employer
Shift/working time
Physical work location
Age, gender, language, social interests
Union membership/delegate/activist
Problems/concerns
Level of union involvement (e.g. attendance at union events and activities)
Workers’ relationships and connections

10. List Building Should Include Workers’ Relationships and
Connections
Who knows who
Who workers rely on
if there is problem
Who works who
Attendance at union
Events

11. The Labour Exploitation Continuum

13. How to Make Assessments?
Assessments are based on workers’ actions, not personal judgments.
Look at what workers do, not what they say about the union.
No gossip. Do not keep anything on your lists that you would not want others to see.

14. Why is Assessment Important?
Assessment helps us keep our focus on the undecided and unknown workers
We can easily overlook the workers we are not in contact with, the “unknowns.”
Because we are more likely to be talking to the union supporters, we may feel stronger than we are.
Keeping very accurate numbers and assessments is critical.

15. How to Build Lists?
Ask union members who have contact with non-union workers
Social events
Workplace visits
Hotels and restaurants
Home visits
Company or industry events
Parking areas
Payroll or employee lists
Telephone directories
Facebook and internet
Fire or emergency
Evacuation lists
Newsletter and lists
Raffle, prizes and fundraising events that require collection of contact details

16. Keep Your Lists Safe Be careful about where you keep your lists.
To prevent duplication and to increase security, you probably want one person to be responsible for updating the list.
List-building is an ongoing process.
Lists will change and grow as we organize.

17. Thank you! 