OI training focused on having the organizers visit the workers in their homes. The OI workers are professional organizers who act as mercenaries, moving from one location to the next wherever they are needed. Another way to groom perspective members is by giving out associate memberships. A union worker may have a friend who works for a non-union company, but is interested in the union. The friend may receive an associate membership, allowing them to attend union meetings and have access to union organizers. The theory is that they will spread the word to their co-workers and a pro-union attitude will develop before the union even expresses interest to the employer about organizing. (Foerster 1996)The nature of workers, employers, and relations between the two has changed. The change from an industrial to a service economy has limited the potential percentage of “well-paid” workers that the unions can organize. There is a vast amount of fast food and other low paid service industry workers that are available for organizing, but how viable of an option is it? The structure of a union is modeled for an employee that stays at one job for a long time. Very few people retire from McDonalds as head fryer operator. The potential union workers in this area do not view their job as permanent, but as a step up the ladder or entry-level position. Once they have climbed a few rungs on the ladder they will not feel as if the union can help them. The unions have slowly moved from a model that was born out of need, to a model that more resembles a servicing organization. The workers of today no longer see the unions as the answer to their problems; if in act, they notice them at all. The cost of contributing to an organized labor model seems to be far outweighing the benefits of membership for most contemporary workers. It is doubtful, given the current economic trends, that organized labor will ever return to their glory days of the fifti...
