"...Unity of action among the mechanics, specialists, skilled workers and all workers in the iron and steel industry... thus forming a solid representative organization...to advance and perpetuate the Union."
Organizing is a top priority for the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers. It is the responsibility of the Organizing Department to ensure that all workers who possess ironworker skills, through the efforts of organization, gain the protection of union affiliation. Our daily aim is to increase our membership and restore our union density across all sectors of the trade and industry.
The Organizing Department manages and executes a number of programs. Most significant has been the development of the popular week-long “A.C.E.S.” program - “Analyzing Construction Employers Strategically.” The program was inspired in part by the innovative program known as Construction Organizing Membership Education and Training program (COMET). These approaches have been adopted by many of our local unions and have been extremely effective regarding the organization of open shop contractors. Continued membership education on the need to organize remains vital to our future.
Many local unions have taken advantage of the International’s programs for organizing and related training which are conducted through the newly-expanded National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland. The classes consist of Labor Law, Strategic Planning, Research, Organizing in the Construction Industry, and others. These sessions provide organizers with additional knowledge that is helpful and necessary in launching effective strategic campaigns upon returning to their home locals. The Organizing Department provides support for these forms of study in addition to developing new methods and tools of organizing.
The Organizing Department also participates in the Strategic Steering Committee which has been established to develop and implement a comprehensive international organizing program for ironworkers. Short-term and intermediate goals will serve as benchmarks in order to gauge success, and progress will be continually monitored in order to make any changes necessary to reach long-term goals.
Given the economy’s strong demand for skilled labor, our union has the opportunity to make significant gains in organizing. With a substantial increase in union density, bargaining power will be increased and better contracts can be negotiated for all our members. By expanding the membership of the International Association we can better protect the Iron Workers’ jurisdiction as well as ensure fair opportunities, wages and benefits. By doing so, we protect the rights of all workers in the best traditions of the labor movement.
After all, organizing is at the core of our Iron Worker Constitution. As was first written by our founders and today remains in our preamble:
"It being a self-evident fact, plainly demonstrated by past experience, that centralization and unity of action among the mechanics, specialists, skilled workers and all workers in the iron and steel industry of this country is necessary in order to successfully deal with the ever-growing encroachments of organized capital, and the many grievances to which our trade is subjected which require speedy adjustments, and upon the satisfactory settlement of which may hinge the welfare of all brothers and sisters in our craft, therefore, believing that this may best be obtained by united action and effort, thus forming a solid representative organization, each pledged to carry into effect the immortal injunction that ‘an injury to one is the concern of all,’ we pledge ourselves to make any reasonable sacrifice in order to uphold these principles and to advance and perpetuate the Union."
