You can see that to educate your shop or department, you need to explain what the union is all about. That means you have to be able to answer questions about union policies and programs. You have to understand the meaning of unionism yourself.
You get this understanding by attending your local meetings, meetings of committees and special labour rallies. You get it by reading Steel Labor and USW publications. You get it from the USW Leadership program-from Steelworkers' institutes at your State university and from evening classes in your home town. You get it from seeing what the union has done in your shop. You get it from experience in handling members problems.
Your community has a library. Use it often. Ask if the librarian has any good books about Labor movement. Many libraries, you'll find, offer no better views about unions than the worst newspapers. But you can't expect your library to give Labor a square deal if you and other union people don't use it. Many locals have established their own libraries in their local union halls. Perhaps your local can do the same.
While you educate yourself, of course, you educate the membership. When you read a good pamphlet or newspaper article, show it to the workers in your department. Check around to see if they're all getting Steel Labor. Call their attention to union activities and explain why they're important. Recruit workers for any special educational events or social affairs---classes, forums, picnics, dances, political rallies and the like. Hold departmental meetings to let the members know about progress in settling complaints and grievances. Talk union on the lunch hour. Learn how to use the bulletin board--keep it up to date.
Above all, tell the members that the union is the most democratic organization in the world if they take active part in running it. Coax them out to meetings to see for themselves. Ask the members who gripe about union decisions why they don't sound- off at local meetings when decisions are made by majority vote.
Are your local meetings dull? Then take the lead in pepping them up. Movies, speakers, politics, ---these help liven up your local meetings.
