Door knocking for the Harris-Walz campaign

by Allison Cillis (she/her), OSSTF/FEESO Provincial Organizer and Jared Hunt (he/him), OSSTF/FEESO Regional Organizer

How is it that a social media post from a wealthy, highly influential capitalist, clearly targeted against a progressive, leftist person or position, almost instantly causes an aggressive response of tens of thousands of faithful followers, all the while knowing that the post leads to digital bullying, unwarranted accusations, and social humiliation? A group of union leaders, organizers, and activists gave this question some serious thought during a training session while in Philadelphia in early November 2024, just days leading up to the United States’ federal election. OSSTF/FEESO was represented by President Karen Littlewood, Executive Officer Sherry-Ann Bowen-Gorden, and Provincial and Regional Organizers Allison Cillis and Jared Hunt as part of a group of education sector unionists who jumped at the opportunity to join a larger group of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members from Ontario and their American SEIU counterpart in the city of brotherly love. SEIU units south of the border are famously known for their deep, issues-based organizing, and how they leverage this during state and federal elections. For SEIU, asking members to take part in get-out-the-vote activities and support a progressive candidate, like Kamala Harris, in the weeks leading up to election day is the culmination of years of careful member engagement. We traveled to Philadelphia to learn from SEIU and support their get-out-the-vote (GOTV) strategy by canvassing in West Philadelphia—communities predominantly made up of Black and Latine residents. We did workshops and solidarity training in the mornings and practiced what we learned by door knocking until late in the day. The importance of stories and storytelling was a common theme throughout the morning trainings and daily door knocking.

We trained to use a script that combined asking residents about the daily challenges with the development of a plan to vote. Not only did we listen with empathy to stories of struggle, but we also helped shape a narrative of change—showing that a plan to vote for Harris was a meaningful step toward improving their quality of life. SEIU’s GOTV tactics in West Philadelphia, the rest of the city, and across the state during the final days of the election were built upon a much broader strategy, one that involved years of members engaged in issue and policy-based community organizing, in key neighbourhoods, towns, and states. Although a good portion of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh supported Harris, a sizable majority across the state did not. Nevertheless, for SEIU the work continues. The act of building connections through shared stories of struggle positions organizing as a form of resistance against a fractured, class-based society—an approach made evident in the way SEIU organizers engage with digital organizing and storytelling.

Unions and social justice organizations are losing ground in the digital organizing ecosystem because of the neoliberal alt-right’s ability to produce viral content. Competing against neoliberalism and alt-right organizing has become increasingly difficult. The experience of citizens in neoliberal capitalism causes a fractured society, where institutions of power see people as individual taxpayer, voter, or consumer units, to name a few. Champions of neoliberal capitalism thrive in a fractured, individualistic society because it’s much easier to accumulate wealth, to gain political power, and to avoid helping vulnerable people and the environment. They’re not interested in the social consequences of posting bombastic, untruthful, and blatantly extreme positions on social media because the messaging serves the purpose of continuing to fracture the collective identity of communities. They don’t care where their punches land, so long as they sow distrust and cause division.

Union training, representational structure, political action, and collective agreements bring members together to reduce societal disparity and division. The organizing work of unions can lead to solidarity and collectivism, especially around bargaining and social justice campaigns. As such, when making social media posts, union leaders and politically active members take into consideration the societal impact of their messages, doing their best to limit social harm. Union and social justice activists feel they must build social media presence respectfully, demonstrating an understanding of accurate information through research and lived experience, as they aim punches squarely at neoliberal figures and elected policy makers. For progressive people to like and share, they must see good, social value in the post. It’s important to stress that this type of social approval doesn’t happen in neoliberal alt-right social media posting; an influencer posts something and followers automatically engage. There’s no earned value required, which leads to greater virality.

According to SEIU training, unions and social justice organizers need to build their own version of virality. SEIU digital organizers strongly feel that it’s possible, but it takes a coordinated effort to build commitment culture. We know that on average individuals check their phones 58 times per day, that 97% of texts are read within 3 minutes, and that half of members get their news from social media. It comes down to a matter of building a rapid response network to utilize short videos to tell stories that lead to real action. After all, a good story aimed at the right people can cause change. What does this kind of digital solidarity look like? When Drew Barrymore attempted to cross the picket line in the Writers Guild of America strike, the social media storm that ensued led her to eventually stop production and to publicly apologize. Barrymore’s attempt to keep her show going serves a good example of how digital storytelling can bring about positive change. Following hundreds of strategic posts, the National Book Award organization rescinded its invitation to Barrymore to host its annual awards show. Digital stories reached greater frenzy when she double-downed and taped her show anyway. During the taping, the show’s three unionized writers picketed the CBS headquarters in New York with signs calling out Barrymore’s decision. The pressure apparently led to the cancellation of future guests. She eventually apologized and decided not to air the taped shows. The digital storytelling around Barrymore’s decision to cross the strike line shows what’s possible when union members use well-timed digital organizing to take back the narrative.

Another storytelling strategy implemented by SEIU was their 2024 relational GOTV program. After looking at past election results, the union recognized the importance of getting people out to the polls to vote. We know in terms of engagement with elections, storytelling plays a large role in keeping important issues at front of mind for voters, as well as talking to potential voters about their election voting plan, but the use of storytelling needs to go even further. SEIU wanted to use a tactic that activists, volunteers, and members could do to reach out to their personal networks, since reaching out to someone they knew felt much more comfortable than strangers.

This was not something that SEIU did flippantly. They put a lot of thought into the message and how they would train their members to send targeted messaging out, whether it was in person, via email, text or phone call. Relational organizing was done with a simple strategy where members would ask family and friends to reach into their personal networks. They called this tactic, “you plus three.” In other words, the idea is to reach out to three people you know to encourage them to vote for the candidate. This tactic has the chance of increasing votes for the candidate. For SEIU, it also allows them to learn about new voters who have a specific social relationship with the union member. Not only is relational organizing a good way to create social mapping of members, it’s also a good opportunity to teach and practice persuasion and voter turnout tactics.

SEIU was thoughtful in their pacing of when they asked their members to do this type of organizing, recognizing that outreach is episodic. Regardless, organizers strategized creative ways to expand relational organizing within bargaining units. They hosted Zoom parties and in-person get-togethers so people could socialize and take action. During the federal election, SEIU expanded relational organizing by deploying members to high foot traffic areas with a poster that passers-by could take a picture of and send to their friends and family to encourage voting. Relational organizing tactics like this are effective in part because they are easily digestible actions for people to take. Regardless of the outcome of the election, SEIU saw many wins using the strategies and actions implemented. They found new ways to empower and educate their members about relational organizing. In turn, they now have the capacity to continue to expand and refine these tactics in upcoming internal and external campaigns. SEIU organizers found the funding and time spent on organizing in these ways to not only be impactful but will be sustainable in the long-term.

It is undeniable that elections in the United States feel very different than here in Ontario. There is a willingness among Americans to talk about politics and their own issues and beliefs that isn’t quite the same north of the border. The notion that you can’t talk about politics at the dinner table is still quite prevalent in Canada. This social phenomenon is troubling and problematic because it has the (sometimes intentional) effect of silencing and disenfranchising voices. How can children grow up to know how to discuss the political economy or policy shaped by political discourse, for example, if the notion of politics is taboo in their home? OSSTF/FEESO membership has a diversity of strong stories and experiences to share about public education and beyond. As front-line teachers and education workers, we have the ability to connect educational concerns to other issues that people care about through our shared stories. It is important that we learn from the methods SEIU uses during American and Canadian elections and encourage our own membership to share their truths—not just with friends and family, but with the public—about why it is so important that we elect education friendly candidates and governments.

____________________