Organizing is not about selling membership

Organizing is not about selling membership. The soap manufacturers don’t sell soap, they sell clean hands. People don’t buy soap for the sake of owning their own bar: People buy soap because they want clean hands. Similarly, people don’t buy a drill bit to own the bit: People want to make a hole in something. The same principle applies to unions. People don’t pay union dues to buy a union membership card: People want control over their work lives and protection from arbitrary management. People pay union dues to get a better life. They pay dues for change and hope. People will become union members and union stalwarts to become part of a powerful, democratic, responsive, winning organization. Organizing for power functions to build a union power: It increases membership as a result.

– Author unknown