The objective of the Toronto Area Labour Organizers (TALO) is to jumpstart union organizing campaigns in workplaces in sectors of the labour force that have lower rates of unionization, especially the retail sector.
As per the annual Labour Force and Union Status reports from
Statistics Canada, the wholesale and retail trade sector is the largest within the Canadian labour force. Unfortunately, it also has one of the lowest rates of unionization.
Many private sector unions in Canada focus exclusively on following up on organizing leads that they receive from workers.
While this is important, not enough is being done to actually generate organizing leads.
TALO aims to help launch organizing drives by making and cultivating contacts in retail workplaces, using many of the principes taught in the Organizing for Power (O4P) courses.
TALO would also work together with the Inside Organizer School (IOS) and the Toronto and York Region Labour Council’s Young Workers’ Committee.
“The IOS branches off from traditional union organizer training which addresses staff development, focusing its curriculum instead on developing inside organizers who organize from within the workplace”.
TALO would function as a support to Toronto area graduates
of the IOS who are salting at workplaces by aiding in and reinforcing their organizing efforts.
TALO would also function as a contact and a liaison between the inside organizers and the unions that will accept to take on these potential bargaining units.
Finally, TALO aims to focus its efforts on more high-profile retail companies and locations, in order to garner as much attention as possible.
The idea is to demonstrate to workers in the retail sector that joining a union is both achievable and worthwhile. The hope is that contagion can happen when it’s proven to workers that significant union organizing victories are possible in their sector.