SHARE Union Organizer

About SHARE

The SHARE Union represents 4000 healthcare and medical school workers at UMass Memorial Health, a safety net teaching hospital system in Central Massachusetts. SHARE organized in 1997 to give staff a voice in decisions about their work and a way to take care of each other. A non-traditional union, SHARE builds community through continuous one-to-one organizing and negotiates using interest-based bargaining. In 2016, SHARE negotiated a Labor Management Partnership with UMass Memorial to improve SHARE members’ work experience and keep our hospitals strong. Department-level Unit Based Teams are a cornerstone of that work. SHARE is closely connected to its sister SHARE union at UMass Medical School and the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW), and is affiliated with AFSCME. We encourage you to find out more about what we’ve done and what we care about.

SHARE Organizer Key Responsibilities

Organizer

• Build relationships of trust with every member in their assigned departments – one-to-one organizing is the most important thing we do.
• Support members’ participation in their Unit-Based Teams.
• Develop SHARE Reps, with a focus on young members.
• Support individual members through disciplinary problem solving (SHARE’s version of a grievance procedure).
• Build working relationships with managers and HR reps in their areas.

“Systems Nerd” Specialty – We are looking for someone who can fill the organizer role and also have the technical skills/aptitude to become a resource to the organizer team for managing systems, such as costing contracts (spreadsheets), managing member data (database manipulation), and project management.

A strong teammate – Organizers are part of a tightly-knit and constantly collaborating team.

Job qualifications

Experience with organizing, community outreach, or advocacy.

Personal characteristics: Empathy, cheerfulness, optimism, curiosity, sense of humor, commitment to treating all people with kindness and respect (members, non-members, hospital managers, HR staff, co-workers), appreciation of differences, tolerance for uncertainty, interest in learning new things, creative thinking. Desire to help individuals, build a strong union, as well as change the course of history.

Soft skills: Active listening, mentoring skills, collaborative decision making. Understand yourself well enough to be interest-based. Desire to help members and managers resolve conflicts. Give and receive feedback well. Have fun; help others have fun.

Hard skills: Proficiency with Microsoft Office or equivalent, excellent verbal and written communication skills. Experience with using spreadsheets for calculations; comfort with databases; ability to plan, track and implement projects.

This position requires travel between multiple Central Massachusetts locations, so applicants must have reliable transportation. This position is in-person 3 or more days a week, as well as occasional weekends and evenings/nights, offset by flexibility in work schedule.

SHARE members are a diverse group, and SHARE is committed to equal opportunity for all employees and applicants and encourages applications from all qualified candidates. As an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE), we do not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, creed, color, age, sex, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, disability, or any other classification protected from discrimination under applicable law.