Anyone with the right skills — communication, listening, and organizing — can be a union leader! Union leadership does not belong to a select few with “special” experience. Union leadership belongs to all rank-and-file workers throughout the labor movement, from K‑12 classrooms to nursing units to manufacturing floors and throughout the service industry. Union leaders are members who bring commitment, organizational skills, and knowledge to the table.

We deserve a union that treats leadership as something every member can learn, not something only a few are allowed to hold. We will start by rebuilding trust through training, mentoring, and transparent decision‑making— so that we do not wind up with entrenched leadership in the future.

Skills matter more than status

There are skills that strong union leaders use every day: one‑on‑one conversations, issue‑based organizing, and a willingness to support their colleagues and defend the contract. Effective unions invest in training members to develop these skills, building a bench of leaders who can grow a stronger, more democratic union from the ground up.

Our current union leaders have let us down by failing to actively encourage and fund training for rank‑and‑file members. In failing to foster new leadership, they have shrunk our union’s power, centralized decision‑making, and left key skills in the hands of a few. They protect their own power and comfort while leaving members underprepared for the fights we will face.