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