JPMC Workers Alliance - Join the Movement!

Can I join?

Most employees and contractors can join. Only managers and supervisors cannot.

The company has a few people who seem to blur the line between management and labor, especially at the very lowest levels. Here’s a guide.

How do I join?

For everyone’s safety and security, there’s no easy front-door you can walk in just yet. Know that we are working behind the scenes to meet the challenges we’ll face in coming weeks and months. While we focus on safe growth, you can help prepare the way.

Step One: Form Strong Social Bonds with Genuine Workers

The CEO seems to want us insular, divided, and defeated — in short, powerless. That is why we’ve been conditioned to leave off socializing with work colleagues; to treat the relationship as one of strictly business. To borrow a phrase, it’s semi-diseased. By rebuilding the social relationships that might have formed naturally in a healthier environment, we begin to heal ourselves. We begin to form community. We begin to unite. For United, We Stand!

• Get to know your colleagues as people, not mere cogs in a machine. Learn what they enjoy doing, what makes them happy, etc.
• Include members of your own team, others you collaborate with, and those you regularly bump into.
• If possible, eat together. However, Avoid clique behavior: Don’t always eat with the same group of people, for instance.
• From time to time, coordinate non-work activities among this social group. Try to select activities where conversation is likely.
• Keep the faith. We are working behind the scenes, but you are part of the solution.

If those bullet points seem like effort, that’s because they are. The status quo is always easier in the short term. Good things in life take an investment.

• This is a non-management activity.

It is normal and healthy for employees to have social time away from the boss.

There’s a reason military officers are not allowed to fraternize with enlisted people: It creates the appearance of favoritism, which engenders distrust and thereby loses battles. By the same token, do not fraternize with the management. Their interest aligns with the status quo, regardless of what they may say. Leave them out of the social circles we’re building. They should not insist on joining. If you get trouble in this regard, let us know.

• Prevent Sabotage, whether Accidental or On Purpose!

As your group grows, occasional small conflicts are inevitable. However, these should normally stay relatively calm and fizzle out quickly. Don’t be afraid to take an active role in guiding conversation towards common ground.

Frequent or sustained arguments are a red flag that something is wrong. As a social leader, it’s your job to step in and fix things.

Here are some ideas:

1. Disperse the group for the day.
2. Privately collect feedback on what other members think about the event.
3. Talk over a plan with your most trusted members.
4. Implement.

Many people can be corrected with a warning. However, for what we’re doing, group harmony is more important than suffering the insufferable. It hurts to kick someone out, but it hurts a lot more over time to keep a toxic person in the group. Don’t be afraid to rip off the band-aid if necessary.

Step Two: Get in Contact

Option A: Committee for Better Banks

The Committee for Better Banks is a coalition of bank workers, community and consumer advocacy groups, and labor organizations.

Go to this link and fill in your information. Explain in your message that you work for JPMC and are interested in joining the JPMC Workers Alliance. Use a personal e-mail and phone number. In due time, someone should contact you.

Option B: Reach out via email - jpmcworkers@gmail.com. Tell us your story, and ask for an invitation to the community. We’ll be in touch.

Option C: Subscribe to the mailing list. At least once per month, if not more frequently, we will be sending out an email with union status updates, and an invitation link to the community.

Step Three: Now you’re in the union! Now what?

What are some ways recently-joined union members can show their enthusiasm for the cause and get some skin in the game?

• Join the weekly meetings
• Post more in the community
• Bring in more friends/colleagues
• Participate in planning and executing events and campaigns
• Help out in the breakout committees
• Share ideas, or take initiative to make already-existing ideas happen
• Be part of the flyering campaign - hang up posters, and show/tell us about it
• Show up for lunchtime meetups at work
• Wear or otherwise display union-logo buttons/magnets/keychains upon your person, desk, bag, car, etc.
• Post about us on social media and/or relevant sites, and share in the community so we know you did it and we can boost each others’ posts
• If you have conversations with your coworkers that are relevant, tell us about them! Mention names if you know them 🙂
• Start to build out a list or map of other union-eligible colleagues in your bargaining unit, which can be loosely based on your cost center and/or manager’s manager. Remember that they must reside in the same country you do! Emailing a complete list to jpmcworkers@gmail.com will gain you a pip of recognition in the community.
• Equip yourself with business cards, know-your-rights posters, and SPIT booklets to hand to your office-mates when the need or opportunity arises.
• Join in on the carpooling effort, and practice AEIOU while you commute!