I work at a non profit and we just won union recognition and are slowly moving towards first contract negotiations and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. Would love to chat with some folks about their experiences, especially if you've negotiated around contracts/grants/etc.
Yeah, I imagine with the resurgence in unionizing recently they've probably wanted to capitalize on their images. But they do seem to vary greatly from local to local. Mine is pretty big but my lil branch of the local seems...very small lol. But, as others have said it sounds good that we have so much autonomy in the way we operate, it's just going to take a fuckton of work. I don't think anyone had any idea (myself included) how much organizing would consume your life when the ball gets rolling. We had a very, very basic understanding of how unions operate and it took a lot of parsing because it seems like a lot of info out there is for big professions like nurses unions and electricians etc. that seem to work way differently than how ours is going to operate.
That's good. Strike new ground, but remember that it's good to know the rules before you break them and some rules are there for a reason.
I'm admiring the way the big unions have actually ramped up their unionizing efforts, but of course, it varies from one to the other.
And yes, organizing can take up much of your life.