Training Offerings

New Organizer Training

This training teaches entry-level member activists and staff organizers the fundamentals to win campaigns for union recognition. Whether your team is working on external organizing campaigns in “right to work” states or preparing for contract fights at existing local unions, OI trainings will teach the principles and skills organizers need to help working people win a voice on the job. 

Over the course of the three-day training, organizers learn how to:

  • Have one-on-one organizing conversations.
  • Identify, recruit and develop key workplace leaders for the campaign.
  • Run mini-campaigns using workplace issues.
  • Use charting to plan the work and move the campaign forward. 

The cost to register is $250 per participant. This covers registration, training materials and meals.

For every three participants a union registers, the local and/or national union must send one staff member to serve as a teaching fellow. 

 

Internal Organizing Training

This training is designed to strengthen and fortify existing local unions. It focuses on:

  • Taking stock of the resources you already have and the resources you need to win.
  • Core union-building principles of member-to-member engagement.
  • Developing an internal organizing campaign plan.
  • Identifying, recruiting and developing the leaders and activists to win.

Whether you’re looking to sign up potential members, recommit existing members to their union or prepare for upcoming contract fights, our ultimate goal is to “tool up” member and staff organizers to go on the offense.

 

Union- or Campaign-Specific Trainings

We offer in-depth, personalized trainings to AFL-CIO affiliate local and national unions. The OI will work with your union to create a specific curriculum geared to your training priorities. 

 

 

Train-the-Trainer Academy

To increase union density, more workers must work under a union contract. To do that, we must adequately train 5,000 member activists and staff organizers annually to build a stronger labor movement.

The OI is currently partnering with more than a dozen AFL-CIO state federations and central labor councils across the country to train their organizing staff to deliver quality trainings at the local level.

The goal? To build a cadre of member activists and staff organizers who are tooled up to take on, and win the big fights that will strengthen and grow our Labor Movement.  

 

Trainings for Experienced and Lead Organizers

The AFL-CIO Advanced Organizer Workshop and OI Exchange Field Clinics are designed for campaign lead organizers and/or experienced organizers who have been placed on a path to become lead organizers. They must have two or more years of organizing experience and must be currently working on a campaign for union recognition.

These organizers must be recommended and registered by someone in a supervisory role to be considered to attend these trainings. 
 

Advanced Organizer Workshop

This workshop is for experienced organizers who are in a leadership role, guiding campaign strategy. This advanced workshop will bring together organizers from different unions and sectors to share experiences and challenges, and will focus on critical thinking, campaign planning and committee development skills. 

This three-day workshop (usually Wednesday through Friday) costs $150 and includes meals during the workshop. Contact us at [email protected].

 

 

Exchange Field Clinics

Our Exchange Field Clinics are designed by the affiliate unions of the AFL-CIO OI Exchange, a collaborative team of union organizing directors who have helped create a structured curriculum for lead organizers. The goal? To reinforce the core campaign practices that develop strong lead organizers and win campaigns for union recognition. The Organizing Institute will facilitate the training, working with host unions to refine objectives and design the agenda. 

Generally, these clinics are five sessions over a two-day period, usually a Wednesday and Thursday. Exchange clinics are free, but unions are responsible for the cost of transportation, housing and per diem. Registration does not guarantee entry to the training. Five clinics accompany the OI Advanced Organizer Workshop. Read the Exchange Field Clinic descriptions here. 

 

PowerTools for Organizers

PowerTools is an online resource that gives organizers the tools to build power and help working people win. Resources include questions to ask before starting a campaign, making a campaign plan, running an internal organizing campaign and more. Please visit PowerTools at toolsfororganizers.org.

 

Questions? Contact us at [email protected].