Organizing Director

CTUL Organizing Director

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL)

Organization Summary

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL) is a worker-led organization where workers organize, educate, and empower each other to fight for a voice in their workplaces and in their communities. We partner with other organizations and leaders to build a movement to win racial, gender, and economic justice. We identify the root causes of injustice and work to shift the balance of power between those who have it and those who don’t to improve the lives of our communities for present and future generations. 

CTUL focuses on organizing the most vulnerable workers in our economy to take on the .1% of corporations who decide how the Minnesota economy functions. Where workers have little to no access to joining unions, CTUL innovates strategies with workers that help create new vehicles for workers to build power and have a voice on the job. In an economy where the top financial players hide from accountability behind walls of laws they have created to protect themselves, CTUL builds strategies to hold them accountable for the conditions of those who create their wealth. 

Over the last 16 years, CTUL has made the impossible possible by winning systemic changes in industries where it was thought impossible to organize. This work has improved the lives of thousands of workers by winning back over $7 million dollars in stolen wages, winning wage increases that bring $883 million dollars PER YEAR back into the poorest communities in the Twin Cities. Testimony from our members and organizers has helped shape and pass policy that protects workers from further exploitation and imprisoned labor brokers for some of the most egregious conditions of labor trafficking. Over the next ten years, CTUL will be breaking barriers into new territory for workers to have a voice in the construction industry and with service workers in Downtown Minneapolis using the Building Dignity and Respect Program and Labor Standards Boards. Visit our website at ctul.net to learn more about our work.

Position Summary

CTUL’s Organizing Director creates a strong and consistent organizing culture across all campaigns, fostering accountability with Organizing Leads for worker organizing outcomes. The Organizing Director creates and maintains systems and practices that support the development of highly skilled and disciplined organizers. These organizers will effectively build power with workers across the Twin Cities through relational organizing including outreach, deep leadership development, popular education, agitation, and campaigning.

Salary & Benefits

CTUL has a tiered salary range set by the Staff and Board based on the principles of economic justice and inclusion. This salaried position is currently compensated at $72,100 per year with an annual raise of 3%, dependent on the budget. This full-time position will normally work 80  hours per pay period, including some work on evenings and weekends. Benefits include: 3 weeks paid vacation, unlimited sick days, 5 recuperation days, 19 paid holidays, 90% employer-paid medical and dental insurance for you and your immediate family, 100% employer-paid vision, life and disability insurance, a monthly phone stipend, and an annual end of year bonus of 5% of your annual salary which can be used towards a retirement fund. 

Responsibilities

• Develop the leadership of Organizing Leads through individual check ins, group meetings, and trainings for leads that pertain to strategic campaigning and base building.
• Working with Organizing Leads to consistently use tools for staff development and leading teams. Tools include: team check in agendas, field plans, work plans and calendar, reflection/reporting, staff development plan. 
• Partner with Organizing Leads to develop structures and practices that form a consistent organizing culture. 
• Creating a culture of accountability amongst Organizing Leads including regularly checking in on:
• Progress of worker committee development and campaign leadership
• Progress towards organizing goals 
• Progress in their development of the organizing staff team
• Oversee internal Organizer training plans
• Connecting with directors, communications, and fundraising staff to bring in an organizing perspective, advocate for organizing needs, and communicate organizational priorities to organizing teams
• Connecting with leadership and organizers of other organizations to learn from each other, investigate innovate models of organizing and promote our own
• Makes budget decisions related to organizing and supports lead organizers in managing budgets.
• Engage in external relationships to connect to opportunities for our worker leaders and campaigns
• Use data to evaluate and improve our organizing

Expected Outcomes

• Consistency across organizing culture including a shared language and shared expectations across all organizing teams
• An organizing culture that includes:
• Organizers who push and agitate each other to be their most powerful selves
• Organizers who support each other, and the organization to create conditions for success
• Organizers who prioritize base building
• Organizers who are disciplined but flexible, creative and able to problem solve
• Lead Organizers set strategic and effective organizing goals, develop plans to meet their goals, and achieve intended outcomes in their respective organizing programs and campaigns. 
• Lead Organizers effectively manage, support and push their teams to be successful organizers. 
• Grow the base of leaders who are deeply committed to CTUL and active in moving their campaign forward and building the organization.
• A larger base of leaders who can be counted on to take smaller steps that contribute toward campaigning and/or building the organization
• Organizational and campaign priorities are applied consistently across organizing teams
• Data is used to evaluate and improve our work
• Organizing teams are using technology and/or implementing new ideas to enhance and innovate their organizing

Qualifications: 

• Commitment to CTUL’s mission and vision
• 5+ years of worker organizing experience and a deep understanding of labor and movement work
• Experience in developing strategy and campaigns in which directly impacted members lead
• Skilled facilitator
• Confident and compassionate manager; experience bringing out the best in others through supervision and mentoring. At least 3 years of supervision experience
• Skilled in developing the leadership of workers and staff 
• Ability to think and act resourcefully and strategically; ability to pivot in changing conditions while maintaining discipline in our campaigns and programs
• Willing to take strategic risks and build the necessary support to mitigate them
• Possesses a strong and nuanced political and social analysis, experience putting analysis into strategic action
• Ability to navigate the complex intersections of racial, gender, and class and other dynamics of power
• Results-driven success engaging and including workers or constituents with meaningful participation and authentic influence in campaigns and the organization
• Ability to connect workers’ rights to a wide variety of issues and needs, while maintaining focus on CTUL’s mission
• Ability to navigate conflict in a generative way that gets results and strengthens organizational culture 
• Bilingual in Spanish and English strongly preferred

How to Apply

Submit a resume and cover letter to operations@ctul.net using the subject line “CTUL Organizing Director.” Position open until filled. 

CTUL is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from people of color as well as persons with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, women, immigrants, folks from working class backgrounds, and formerly incarcerated people.