HOW TO HOLD 10-MINUTE MEETINGS
Whether you’re preparing for a contract fight, addressing a shop-floor issue, or just looking to grow participation in the union, 10-Minute Meetings can help you get your coworkers engaged. The vast majority of members can’t make every union meeting, but a strong union keeps everyone up to date on important information and gives all its members an opportunity to ask questions.
Convenience is key. Get in the habit of holding very brief meetings regularly (weekly or every other week) at your worksite that are easy for your coworkers to attend. Set a timer to make sure they are only 10 minutes long. Stick to the agenda, and stop when the timer goes off!
You can start by inviting just 3-5 coworkers, but the important thing is to grow the size of the meeting by asking each attendee to invite coworkers to attend next week.
WATCH OUR TRAINING ON HOW TO HOLD A 10-MINUTE MEETING:
WHY HOLD A 10-MINUTE MEETING?
Build power, solidarity, and engagement: Whether you’re fighting for a new contract or trying to enforce your current one, it all starts with building a strong, informed membership on the shop floor. 10-minute meetings can be used to discuss contract negotiations, shop-floor issues, issues, inoculate against the company’s plan to divide us, provide updates, or increase turnout for collective actions.
Convenience: Most of your coworkers can’t come up with an excuse to avoid attending a 10-minute meeting held at work. You have probably noticed that only the most engaged members show up to a long meeting held off-site on the weekend. But brief meetings in the workplace will help build more engagement over time and more easily bring in members.
Face-to-face is best: If you have something important to communicate, it’s almost always most effective and reliable to do it in person. Social media, texting, etc. are important tools, but are rarely a substitute (also, not everyone is on social media). Meeting together in-person is important for building solidarity and the bonds that strengthen union power. Teachers and Teamsters have also had success with holding these short meetings in a big contract year.
WHERE SHOULD YOU HOLD YOUR MEETING?
Hold your meeting on your worksite, in a parking lot, a break room, or a union conference room. The key is to be in an area that’s easy for workers to get to.
WHEN SHOULD YOU HOLD YOUR MEETING?
Hold the meeting during a shift change, on break (unless your breaks are staggered) or lunch. Choose a time that will make it as easy as possible for people to show up. You may need to plan multiple meetings for different shifts. Promise that it will only be 10 minutes – and stick to it!
HOW DO YOU MAKE A 10-MINUTE MEETING SUCCESSFUL?
Here is the basic format of a 10-minute meeting. It will go by fast. Make sure your timer is on!
- Welcome and/or recap of last week’s meeting (1 min)
- Introduce discussion topic (2 min)
- Discussion and/or Q&A (6 min)
- Wrap-up and reminder to bring coworkers to the next meeting (1 min)
Here are some possible discussion topics. You can choose to focus on one topic per meeting.
- What are your top contract issues?
- Can the company afford to give us what we need?
- What is the company’s plan to defeat workers?
- What are actions we can take to build worker power, and counteract the company’s plan?
You can also discuss updates from negotiations and upcoming worker actions. Make sure to keep the focus on actions that you and your coworkers can take.
Last, but not least: use a sign-in sheet to collect contact information, particularly the worker’s phone number. They should also write down their shift and department or work area, and other relevant information. This information will be very helpful to you in the future!
WHO RUNS THE MEETINGS?
Any worker can run a 10-minute meeting, with some preparation. We encourage you to team up with at least one other coworker to run the meeting and help with turnout, and to get additional coworkers involved to help run future meetings. You don’t need to hold elected office, although the involvement of supportive elected officers can help.
WHO SHOULD YOU INVITE?
For your first meeting, you can start by inviting the most involved coworkers. However, it’s critical that you also reach workers who don’t normally come to union meetings or who aren’t getting information, for example, new hires and TPTs. Your goal should be to increase attendance steadily every week. Aim to expand the bullseye.
Here are some tips for increasing turnout to your meetings:
- Have a brief one-on-one conversation with each person you’re inviting about the importance of the meeting. Make sure to ask if they can commit to attending.
- Invite them in person, face-to-face. Second best is a phone call, third best is a text.
- Map the departments and shifts in your workplace, and take a look at your sign-in sheet. Who is coming to meetings? How can you get the people who are missing to come? It is important to have representation from every important group in the plant, in terms of race, gender, department and shift, and other categories that people identify with.
- Swing by their work area or text them a reminder before the meeting begins.
- Give every meeting participant a homework assignment: they should bring at least 1-2 coworkers to the next meeting.
