Meet the New Hire on the Fist Day

In your role as an organizer, be sure to MEET THE NEW HIRE ON THE FIRST DAY.

What do you think the new hire wants and needs to know the first day on the job?

Do you remember your "FIRST DAY" on the job?

Put yourself in the new hire’s shoes! That plant or office, department, job, and everything about it, is going to be NEW-STRANGE-and just a little bit UNREAL. Remember? The new hire is going to want to know, and will be thinking about many things. If you were the new hire, would you be thinking:

1.  Should I really be here?

2.  What’s expected of me on the job?

3.  How much "break-in will I have before I’m on my own?

4.  Can I make the production rate? Can I do the job?

5.  How will the other workers accept me?

6.  Where did they say the rest rooms and vending areas are?

7.  What if I run out of stock or the job breaks down?

8.  What should I remember about what the Boss told me? The Union rep?

9.  By the way, I wonder what a union rep really looks like. After all, I don’t know much about leaders.

That first day is so rough that most people remember it for the rest of their lives! The first day is when the new hire needs a friendly "welcome". Remember?

Many contracts have specific provisions for the Management to introduce the "new hire" to the Steward. However, if your contract is silent on this question, you can arrange to meet them before work, during lunch period, or after work. Here’s how you do it….

GET THERE EARLY

Let them know that you would like to talk to them the next day, before they start to work, maybe have them come in a bit early. Use the time to get the union’s message across to them.

BEFORE THE SHIFT BEGINS

There are always groups of workers who take advantage of this time to have a cup of coffee, "pass the time" with friends, or have a quick game of cards. Have a group of union members meet and greet the new hire!

AT LUNCH TIME

Maybe both you and the New Hires arrive at work too late to permit you to talk to them about the union. How about lunchtime? If you brown bag it, why not take your lunch over to where the New Hires are and talk to them during lunch. Or ask the New Hires to join you in the cafeteria.

CONTACT DIFFERENT GROUPS

Since there may be groups of New Hires throughout your department or district, why not make it a point to use your lunch periods to talk to as many of them as you can? This has been a long-standing, time-honored way for Stewards to keep members informed on issues acquainting them with their rights and duties and the union’s accomplishments.

GIVE THE "NEW HIRE" A PACKET OF UNION MATERIALS

Your local union should prepare a special kit to give new hires that explain the union, its goals and achievements. The new hire should clearly understand that the wages, benefits and working conditions were negotiated by the union.

Talk and reason with people in a friendly, courteous manner. Use facts and reasons to clear up their mistaken points of view. Tell them the story of what the union has done in the workplace and how membership benefits all the workers in the plant.

Thought the workers join the union automatically or are required to pay equivalent fees in a union shop, the steward should still speak to them, tell them what the union is all about, and welcome them into the ranks. Workers who join because they have to, without understanding the principles of unionism are not likely to make good union members. They may be willing to pay dues for a while, under pressure, but they will not develop the thoughtful union-mindedness which holds them to the union through thick and thin. Their lack of belief and failure to build up a healthy steward-worker relationship may lead to grievances which are hard to settle.

Every so often, where you don’t have a union shop, canvass older employees who are not union members. Talk over their problems and persuade them to join. Here’s where loyal members in the department can work with you. Get them to talk to coworkers they know best. If the union has done or not done something which keeps some workers doubtful, try to correct the situation. Remember that the closer you come to a 100% union shop the more effective your local can be.

TALK UNION

So, talk with new worker, ask them to go to a union meeting or other activity with you, and introduce them to fellow workers who are enthusiastic union members.

If the worker has a grievance and/or you happen to know about it, offer your help and explain that is just why he or she needs the union. The worker will see the point. Of course, if your union is the sole bargaining agent for all employees in the plant, you are the representative of all the workers, regardless of whether they’re union members or not.

Building a strong union isn’t only getting new members. It’s seeing to it that each member is a "one hundred per center".

The same methods you used in getting new members apply here too. They may have joined because most of the workers belonged and they were afraid not to, or because of a vague idea it was to their advantage. In a friendly way explain the union program and benefits, the operation of the shop steward system, and any recreational or social activities the union offers which will be an added incentive to belonging.

Remember, this all takes some self-education on your part. You’ve got to know all the arguments for unions in general and your union in particular. Workers are going to hear all the arguments against unions outside over the radio, in the newspapers, and on the street corner. They’ve got to see for themselves that it pays to be a member and that the union is a democratic organization they’re proud to belong to.

O. K. you’re doing fine on this first step. All the workers who joined up really wanted to and knew why they did it. Three are lots of little ways to make workers feel like real, contributing members of their union and of the labor movement. The more active each worker is, the less work you have to do alone because you’ve got a team working toward the same goal.