Imagine how strong our locals could be if we addressed conflict skillfully and healed wounds in our union work. We all know that defending the rights of workers can be an uphill battle. Likewise, we also know that if we don’t address the ways conflict is wounding our relationships and movements, our opposition can just sit back and watch us tear each other apart.
This handout is from AORTA, the Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA) based in the US. Groups and unions in Canada can learn from their experience and thoughtfulness in dealing with internal group conflict that hinders our union and social justice work.
AORTA believes that traditional “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” work has often been used to support performative, superficial shifts – but still maintain the status quo. Effective organizational transformation requires reckoning with and challenging entrenched power structures–both internal and external to an organization–and a willingness to examine and remake cultures, behaviors, and governance away from the nonprofit industrial complex and towards solidarity economies.
To read it, click on the image below, or download it to add to your own toolbox.
After reading, reflect on the following questions:
- What forces and dynamics have created conflict in our local?
- What steps have we taken to address and overcome conflict?
- What can we learn from conflict?
- What changes need to happen for our local to grow and heal?