In keeping with the goal of the AFT Healthcare program and policy council to grow a new cadre of organizers, the division held its first member-organizer training in October.

Members from locals in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Vermont came to Washington, D.C., to learn strategies and tactics they could use to organize new members and reinvigorate current members.

The AFT is looking to the rank and file to satisfy the need for organizers, especially in healthcare. And the division believes there is potential to create experienced, committed organizers using this approach. The meeting went over exactly what it takes to build a strong union campaign, such as getting workers actively involved in building solidarity, keeping them informed through personal contact, inoculating them against scare tactics and educating them about the union's mission.

"There are no shortcuts to organizing," Gary Stevenson, director of organizing for AFT Healthcare, told participants. "If you don't build the foundation by sharing goals and vision and meaning of the union, it's a strategic error."

Labor consultant Valerie Ervin also pointed out the importance of leadership development. "Everyone has the potential to lead." However, organizers should understand their role as unity builders, not union leaders, she said. Organizers talk about building leadership with members and encourage them to step into leadership roles, she said.

"You must find ways to bring people together around larger issues and build the power of the group."

Another focal point of the meeting was the inevitable anti-union campaign that workers will face.

"Healthcare workers are under enormous pressure during an organizing campaign. They are in a fight against time and their employers," said Larry Lipschultz, the organizing director for Health Professionals and Allied Employees in New Jersey.

The goal always must be to stay on message, he told participants: "Stay focused on the reason or the issues that provoked you to organize in the first place."

In addition, organizers must prepare workers for what to expect during the anti-union campaign and get them to see the important mission behind the campaign, said Lipschultz.

Jeff Harris, an ICU nurse at Kaiser Sunnyside in Portland, Ore., came to learn about building union capacity so that local healthcare workers could pursue statewide legislation to improve their working conditions. Harris is a member of Oregon FNHP, Local 5017, which represents 2,800 healthcare professionals. The union has been trying to get safer staffing and worker safety initiatives through state legislation, but he recognizes the need for more political power to get it done.

Harris would like to use his new skills in organizing campaigns in other places around the country, and "talk to healthcare workers who are thinking about organizing about the importance of having the union behind you."