A field guide for our pre-majority union — drafted with our neurodivergent membership in mind.
Most members, if asked to draw their union, will draw a pyramid — officers on top, rank and file below. Some will flip the pyramid. Both are wrong, and both miss what organizers actually do.
The Labor Notes "bullseye" model (from Secrets of a Successful Organizer) pictures the union as a dartboard with concentric rings:
- Core (center): people who are always thinking about organizing — even on their time off.
- Active / Activists (1st ring): people who can be counted on when an issue heats up, and who will recruit others.
- Interested / Supporters (2nd ring): people who will wear a button or sign a petition, but won't yet bring others along.
- Disengaged (3rd ring): people who don't yet see the union as a factor in their working life.
- Hostile (outside the rings): a small number of true opponents. Don't argue with the haters. Spend your time elsewhere.
Your job as an organizer is to move people one ring inward, one step at a time. You are usually not trying to convert someone from disengaged to core in a single conversation. The exception is a high-stakes fight that forces collective action — a strike, a mass layoff — which can shift people overnight. Most days, slow and steady wins.
A second core principle: the heavy concentration of coworkers in the outer rings is not a sign of failure. Most coworkers will never become dedicated union volunteers. That's fine. Even winning campaigns are run by a handful of core members; activists join in as needed; supporters and the disengaged participate when stakes are highest. A common rule of thumb is one activist for every ten workers — we don't need more than that to win.
We're a pre-majority union: roughly 1,000 members in a workplace of 100,000. We need to grow membership and density, but not by burning out the people we already have. The bullseye model helps us:
- Set realistic expectations. Growth is incremental. We're trying to thicken every ring, not to convert the whole workforce to the core.
- Distribute work honestly. It pushes against the savior-organizer pattern where one or two people do everything and call it leadership.
- Build a real democratic structure. A union with a fat, healthy active ring is more democratic than one with a tiny, exhausted core making every decision — even if the core is "elected." Concentration is not the same as organization.
Most of our members are neurodivergent. The bullseye model fits this reality better than most organizing frameworks because:
- It legitimizes different levels and styles of involvement. Nobody has to organize "the way the e-board says."
- It centers specific, scoped, time-bounded asks — which work far better for ADHD/Autistic processing than vague "get involved" appeals or open-ended emotional pitches.
- It treats movement between rings as non-linear and normal. Capacity fluctuates. Stepping back is not failure.
- It pushes organizers away from heroic, exhausting, all-or-nothing engagement — which tends to chew up our most capable members.
A working principle for everything below: energy is finite, capacity fluctuates, and the organizer's job is to make space for many kinds of contribution — not to extract maximum effort.
The disengaged are not enemies. They simply don't yet see the union as a factor in their working life. They may be new, isolated, overworked, demoralized by past failures, or just unaware the union exists. Your job is to give them a low-stakes way in.
- They don't come to meetings, don't read union emails, don't wear union swag.
- They may not know the union exists, or may confuse it with HR.
- They aren't openly hostile — they shrug, change the subject, say "that's not really my thing."
- They've never been asked anything specific by anyone in the union.
The bar at this stage is acknowledgment, not action. The "task" is often just one human conversation that confirms the union exists and notices them.
- A one-question survey ("What's the worst thing about your shift?")
- Reading a single short text or one-page handout
- Simply informing them that AWU exists
- Sharing one workplace gripe in a 1-on-1 (not a meeting)
- Showing up to a no-pressure social event — coffee, lunch, a walk
- Signing a low-involvement petition on a popular issue
Offer multiple modalities — in person, voice, async text, written form. Don't require group settings or 60-minute commitments as the first ask.
- They start asking questions back ("What is the union working on?").
- They mention the union to a coworker.
- They link specific frustrations to power dynamics, rather than "that's just how it is."
- They show up to one thing without being chased.
- They tentatively ask, "What can I do?"
- Make a specific, scoped, named ask — not "get involved." "Can you sign this petition by Friday?" "Can you come to the 30-minute info session on Tuesday at 5?"
- Tell them exactly what to expect: who, when, where, how long, what they'll be asked to do, what they will not be asked to do.
- Connect their personal frustration to a current, real campaign so the ask isn't abstract.
- Introduce them to one other supporter so they're not isolated when they show up and you're busy with others.
- Send a follow-up message after their first action thanking them and naming what they did. Specific recognition beats generic praise.
- They stop responding (this is often just life — don't take it personally).
- They show up but seem drained, distracted, or overwhelmed.
- They mention something happening outside work — health, family, a major schedule change.
- They quietly unsubscribe from comms or ask to be removed from a list.
At this circle, "stepping back" mostly means don't keep pushing. The right move is usually:
- Take them off rapid-contact lists.
- Make clear there's no judgment and no debt — they don't owe the union anything.
- Keep them on a low-frequency channel (a monthly summary, not weekly action alerts).
- Reach out occasionally as a human, not as a recruiter.
- Trust that disengagement isn't permanent. Many future activists were "the disengaged" twelve months ago.
Interested folks already get it. They'll sign things, wear things, show up. The leap from Interested to Active is the leap from passive consent to taking responsibility — bringing other coworkers along, organizing in their own unit, owning a piece of work.
- They consistently sign petitions, wear buttons, attend big events.
- They share union content or talk it up in their friend group at work.
- They know basic workplace rights (or want to).
- They speak up sometimes in meetings but don't run them.
- They aren't yet asking other coworkers to do things.
This is where the "specific ask" discipline matters most. Tasks should be:
- Time-bound and clearly scoped (not "help out with phonebanking" — "phonebank for an hour on Tuesday")
- Owned by the person, not co-piloted by you
- Visible enough that completion feels real
Examples:
- Phonebanking a list of 10–20 coworkers on a specific issue
- Having three 1-on-1 conversations with coworkers in their department
- Tabling at a shift change for a defined window
- Distributing flyers in their work area
- Recording or writing a short testimonial about a workplace condition
- Running one agenda item at a meeting (not the whole meeting)
- Maintaining a piece of a membership tracker
For neurodivergent members:
- Lean into individual strengths. A data-loving member might thrive maintaining the membership tracker. A strong writer might draft comms. Don't force everyone into the same organizer mold.
- Provide written task descriptions, not just verbal instructions. Even a three-line text after the conversation prevents a lot of dropped tasks.
- Offer scripts and templates, but make them adaptable. Some folks need scripts to reduce cognitive load; others find scripts unnatural and prefer bullet points to riff from.
- Build in clear endpoints. Open-ended commitments are an executive-function trap.
- They complete tasks reliably and ask "what's next?"
- They start recruiting on their own — bringing coworkers to events without being told.
- They identify problems and propose solutions, not just react to direction.
- They show up to internal/strategy meetings, not just public actions.
- They show good judgment — knowing when to push and when to listen.
- They want the bigger picture, not just their slice.
- Bring them into planning conversations, not just execution.
- Co-author a piece of strategy or comms with them.
- Pair them with a Core member for a campaign action or two.
- Give them genuine ownership of something — not "help with," but "you run this."
- Have an explicit conversation about what Core membership looks like and what it asks of them. Don't surprise people into leadership.
- Share decision-making power, not just labor.
- Tasks start getting dropped or finished halfway.
- They go quiet for weeks at a time.
- They come to meetings but seem checked out, irritable, or anxious.
- They tell you, hint to you, or vent to a coworker about being overwhelmed.
- They show signs of burnout: cynicism, dread of union work, physical exhaustion.
- You notice sudden social withdrawal.
- Have a direct, low-pressure conversation. Don't dance around it. "Hey, you've been carrying a lot. Would you be ok with handing off the new-member outreach for a couple months?"
- Make stepping back structural, not vibes-based. Name a specific role/task they're letting go of and a specific person picking it up.
- Set a check-in date. They're not "out forever," they're "out till May."
- Make sure they know the union doesn't operate on guilt or debt.
- Don't replace them and forget them. Keep them on lower-intensity comms; check in as a friend, not a recruiter.
- Model it yourself. If leadership burns themselves to a crisp, you've taught everyone else that's the standard.
The Core is not a status or a title. It's a workload and a way of thinking. Core members are people who are thinking about organizing on their off days — people for whom the union is part of their identity rather than a side gig. In a 1,000-member union, the Core is probably 20–40 people. In a healthy union, the Core grows over time and people rotate through it without stigma.
- They show up consistently — including for the unglamorous work (note-taking, follow-ups, data entry).
- They're trusted by coworkers; people in their unit go to them with problems before they go to union staff.
- They think strategically: not just "what do we do this week" but "where are we trying to be in six months?"
- They develop other people. They don't hoard relationships, information, or credit.
- They can hold disagreement without taking it personally.
- They keep showing up after losses, not just wins.
- Owning a campaign or workstream end-to-end
- Mentoring Active members and bringing them into the Core
- Sitting on the leadership/coordinating body or a committee with real authority
- Strategic planning — analyzing the workplace, identifying pressure points, thinking about timing
- Negotiating with management, or preparing to
- Conflict mediation between members
- Holding institutional memory: documenting decisions, maintaining systems, onboarding new organizers
- Representing the union externally — to other unions, community, media — when they want to
For neurodivergent organizers in the Core:
- Distribute roles based on actual cognitive fit, not seniority or "rounding people out." Someone brilliant at strategy may be terrible at running meetings, and vice versa. That's a feature, not a problem to fix.
- Build explicit communication norms. Written agendas before meetings; written summaries after; a Core decision-making process that doesn't depend on the loudest voice in the room. Whoever facilitates should explicitly invite written or async input.
- Acknowledge that Core work is sustained executive-function labor. ADHD members in particular may need scaffolding (shared task trackers, accountability partners, deadline reminders) — not because they're less capable, but because the work is genuinely cognitively demanding.
- Make masking unnecessary inside the Core. If members feel they have to perform neurotypicality to be taken seriously, they'll leave — often after burning out and erroneously blaming themselves.
- They're already being treated as a leader by other members, formally or not.
- They've successfully developed at least one or two other members from earlier rings.
- They have a workable analysis of the workplace and the union — not just opinions.
- They handle setbacks without quitting or scapegoating.
- They want it. This matters. Don't draft people into senior leadership.
- Open up the books — financial, structural, strategic. Real Core membership requires real information.
- Train them: in the union's history and structures, but also in skills (organizing conversations, contract analysis, facilitation, escalation strategy). Labor Notes trainings are an excellent external option.
- Give them protected space to make decisions and learn from mistakes — including ones you wouldn't make.
- Connect them to broader networks: other locals, regional bodies, allied unions.
- Make succession explicit. Talk about who will replace whom, eventually. A Core that can't reproduce itself is a Core that will collapse.
At Core level, burnout is the leading risk — especially in a pre-majority, under-resourced union, and especially for neurodivergent organizers who may be accumulating exhaustion until they crash. Watch for:
- Sleep, health, or relationship deterioration that they (or you) can connect to union work
- Increasing irritability, paranoia, or all-or-nothing thinking
- Showing up but contributing less; or contributing the same but resenting it
- "I'm fine" said too many times, especially right before a crisis
- Missed deliverables in someone who normally never misses
- Meltdowns, shutdowns, or sustained dysregulation
- Withdrawal from social/personal life outside the union — the union becoming all-consuming
- Talking about the union with bitterness rather than commitment and hope
- Have the conversation early, before they hit a wall. Once someone fully burns out, they often don't come back, or come back bitter.
- Plan the handoff like a campaign. Identify the work. Identify who picks up which piece. Set a transition date. Document.
- Sabbaticals are real. Six months off Core duty is not desertion.
- Decouple identity from role. Many Core members feel that stepping back means they're no longer "themselves." Affirm that they're still part of the community, still respected, just not currently carrying such a taxing load.
- Model it. Officers and senior organizers should visibly take breaks. If your top people are working 60-hour weeks year-round, you've built a cult, not a union.
- Don't punish stepping back with social withdrawal. The Core is a community, not an obligation. If the only way to maintain friendships is to keep working, you'll get coerced labor and only build resentment.
- Respect that "I need to be done for now" is a complete sentence. Don't probe. Don't extract a return date if they can't give one. Believe them.
For at-a-glance use once you've read the full guide. The body sections above are worth reading.
| Circle |
How to identify them |
What to do (good tasks) |
How to develop them |
| Disengaged |
Doesn't read emails or attend events; may not know the union exists; not hostile, just absent; has never been asked anything specific by an organizer. |
One-question survey; a single short handout; tell them AWU exists and what it does; share a workplace gripe in a 1-on-1; low-pressure social event; sign a popular petition. |
Make a specific, scoped, named ask. Tell them exactly what to expect (who, when, where, how long). Tie the ask to their frustration. Introduce them to one other supporter so they're not alone. Follow up with specific recognition. |
| Interested |
Signs petitions, wears buttons, shows up to big events; talks union with friends; speaks up sometimes but doesn't run things; not yet recruiting others. |
Phonebank a defined list; three 1-on-1s in their department; tabling at shift change; flyering their work area; a written or recorded testimonial; run one agenda item; maintain one piece of the tracker. |
Bring them into planning, not just execution. Co-author strategy or comms. Pair with a Core member for a campaign. Give true ownership of one piece — "you run this," not "help with." Have an explicit conversation about what Core asks of people. Share decisions, not just labor. |
| Active |
Completes tasks reliably and asks what's next; recruits without prompting; proposes solutions instead of just reacting; comes to strategy meetings; shows judgment about when to push and when to listen; wants the bigger picture. |
Owning a campaign or workstream end-to-end; mentoring earlier-ring members; committee with real authority; strategic planning; bargaining prep; conflict mediation; institutional memory work; external representation when they want it. |
Open the books — financial, structural, strategic. Train in skills (Labor Notes is a strong external option). Give protected space to make decisions and learn from real mistakes. Connect to broader networks (other locals, regional bodies, allied unions). Make succession explicit. |
| Core |
Always thinking about organizing — even off the clock; trusted by coworkers as the go-to before staff; thinks 6+ months out; develops others without hoarding credit; holds disagreement without taking it personally; keeps showing up after losses. |
Same as Active, plus sustaining and reproducing the Core itself — onboarding new organizers, mentoring Active members into Core, holding institutional memory, planning succession. |
Deepen and sustain. Watch hard for burnout signs. Plan handoffs like campaigns. Normalize sabbaticals — six months off is not desertion. Model stepping back from the top. Develop named successors so no role rests on a single person. |
A column deliberately not in this table: "how to identify people who need to step back." Those signals are too important and too easy to miss to compress into a row. Read the full subsections in each part of the guide.
¶ A Final Note on Democracy and Disorganization
Maintaining organization and two-way communication is absolutely critical to building a successful union.
1. Don't confuse organization with concentration. A union can be efficient because three people make every decision and the rest are spectators. That's not democracy and it's not durable power. The bullseye is healthy when the rings are growing and people are moving inward over time — not when the Core is small, exhausted, and self-replacing.
2. Don't confuse disengagement with hostility. In a 100,000-person workforce with only 1,000 members, the vast majority of people are in the outermost ring not because they're against you but because they don't yet have a reason to be otherwise. The cleanup work is making the union visible, accessible, and worth a stranger's curiosity. Then the bullseye does its work.
Adapted from the Labor Notes "Aim for the Bullseye" framework in Secrets of a Successful Organizer (Bradbury, Brenner, and Slaughter, 2016).