SAY WUT? SIC/NAICS Codes. Used extensively for decades by government, business, credit, insurance and other entities to structure information. The Building Trades?? Although Organizers with verifiable track records of signing non-union contractors know them exceedingly well. Organizers like Emons, Hollfelder, Moran, Sweeney, Welton, Lucas, White, Hicks and direct peers like them use them as cornerstones for formatting markets and information, but it’s not taught to Rank & File Organizers/Market Reps for nearly 2 decades – WHY?!?
We have now conducted classes for 627 participants from 286 locals across 2 countries and approx. 90% of ALL Organizers/Market Development reps have never heard of these. From veterans to rookies – never heard of them! Another 5% have knowledge of them without structured use of them. This isn’t nice to have information, it is need to have information or you fail!
Market Development is predicated on structured objective leading market knowledge and knowing precisely who makes up our respective entire markets. Precise names, company information of many types, credit, clients and relationships, employees, revenue and other specific information worked systematically to identify how the research will have the potential to advance building trade’s market share. Totally doable in this day and age because of technology, and done fast.
Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Well then where is the research done by our front line organizers and market development reps? The organizers/reps need to be taught this and need to produce the results of that research before moving forward. This HAS TO BE DONE before any strategy can even be considered.
Without this learned ability, we are set up to fail to a huge degree. Exactly what the numbers show.
Imagine a sports team, military, business, and politicians not doing advanced and structured pro-active objective research on the opposition before they commit themselves to developing a strategy and committing to action? Can we say “get their butts kicked overwhelmingly the majority of time”!?!
Understand that the research discussed above is pro-active, structured and objective. It requires approx. 100 to 220 hours of work to build a foundation in our respective local unions. We call it a Compression Zone. It is 1 of 5 integrated steps to win and is taught at Labor Combat/Labor Rising. The others are Hiring, Opposition Research, Communications/Social Media and Contractor Marketing.
What is currently being done by a handful of Internationals is completely re-active and subjective. Organizers/Reps are left to infer and interpret company and market information on the fly and record it generally after it happens. Even worse are the internationals that do not even do that and are spit balling their way thru market development. Any notion that we know our respective total markets in this day and age with the turnover of reps and complete lack of training in research is a big part of why we can’t win. Unions entering information that is incomplete, sporadic and by and large subjective on only companies, not only won’t organize a given company – it is completely useless on understanding and increasing market share in an entire market!
Objective power mapping and charting entire markets is the only path to sustainable success. It provides valid discussions of discernable strategies which then, and only then, can be entertained and have the ability to win!
Value on Display will be used in a very structured and limited way, as will be a whole host of coordinated strategies and tactics with far better and winning results.
In addition to the above, when we recruit organizers/market reps, there are a lot of meetings and incomplete structure provided that is inconsistent to say the least. It is not timely nor effective and the structure is incomplete or non-existent.
Many organizers still are learning from their own missteps and poor information left to them. “IF” any information of actionable value was even left to them in the first place. Most organizers still run a campaign or 2 or 3, trying to nip on the edges of the non-union and “hope” it works. They take years to come up to speed, repeating past missteps from generation to generation of organizers in their respective unions due to lack of pro-active structure and the time to even learn those incomplete systems. The definition of INSANITY applies big time to this situation. Many of our organizers spend high ratios of time recording information and meeting on the theory of organizing vs. being in the trenches establishing themselves as organizers/reps. Also the adage that it takes 2 years to get an organizer up to speed is BS. We can and will get an organizer/rep up to speed in a couple of months as long as the BM provides the oversite and where needed, the butt kicking!
Here is a link to the complete SIC/NAICS Codes so we can populate these charts. It is mind numbing levels of information without proper training. A great analogy is how we all felt as a new apprentice till we had the proper training to develop our skills and productivity.
The front line troops are not the problem – it is lack of qualified structured training combined with a strategy of one size fits all!
Next Blog is on the Legal and Business consequences of our current strategy of Value on Display et al – and how the non/anti-union are using our strategy to advance market share against the building trades!
“if you see a good fight – get in it”
Danny L Caliendo
Organizer
Labor Combat/Labor Rising
