“Some might think I’m crazy, but to me it’s thrilling, because it’s one of the best examples of what a union can do.”

This year I am spending several months of my retirement with the UNITE HERE election campaign in Reno, Nevada, heading its volunteer operation, something I have done now for four election cycles. Why would I volunteer for 12 hours a day, in 100 degree weather in the summer, and snowy conditions in November? Some might think I’m crazy, but to me it’s thrilling, because it’s one of the best examples of what a union can do.

UNITE HERE in Nevada, known as the culinary union, represents more than 60,000 hotel and food workers in the Las Vegas area, and several hundred in Reno. By all accounts, its canvassing operation is a game-changer in Nevada politics. While the Las Vegas area is reliably blue, and the state’s rural counties are reliably red, the Reno area is roughly a third Democrat, a third Republican, and a third independent. So the Reno area swings the state. Every vote really counts.

UNITE HERE’s canvassing operation in Nevada is second to none. I’ve participated in and even led political campaigns in past decades in battleground states, but none compares to the strategy and rigor of the culinary union’s operation. UNITE HERE targets certain voter populations and mobilizes its members to knock on doors. The members are housekeepers, waiters, cooks, and bartenders, and most of them are people of color. Many of them are already leaders in their workplaces, but some are rank and file workers who have been selected by their union as future leaders. They come from as far away as Alaska, New Jersey, and Texas. When they reach Reno, the union trains them to step out of their comfort zone to speak to total strangers, tell stories about what matters to them personally, listen to different points of view, and then advocate for working people’s best interests.

In the Reno environment, this is not always easy. In certain neighborhoods Trump signs create a hostile environment where some residents are scared to open the door and say what they think. African American canvassers may encounter harsh racism, and have been threatened by gun-toting residents. Latino immigrant canvassers may be treated as if their voices are not as valuable as those of native-born people. When these kinds of problems arise, they are brought up in morning and evening team meetings, where canvassers analyze the problem and recommit to build strength together.

Though I sometimes help with training canvassers, my main role is to coordinate the volunteer effort, where friends and allies of the union knock on doors in a parallel effort to the union’s. For the past two cycles we have partnered with Seed the Vote, a network of progressive groups that sends volunteers to battleground states. This year more than 1000 volunteers will knock on over 100,000 doors in Reno. You can join us and donate to our effort by going to “Donate to Seed the Vote”.

Over the many years that I have spent volunteering with UNITE HERE in Reno, I have witnessed many members come forward and take on increased leadership, both on the campaign and in their workplaces. They go home and treat their workplaces like their political “turf,” using the organizing skills they learned in Reno. As individuals these members have become empowered, and collectively these new leaders have made the union more powerful.

That’s why I keep coming back.

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