GENERAL MEMBERSHIP BRANCHES

Your local IWW community

What is a GMB?

A General Membership Branch (GMB) is the basic unit of the IWW and organizes local workers in all industries who are not yet in an Industrial Union. It consists of 10 or more dues paying members who live within an hour’s travel of each other.

The difference between a branch and an assorted group of IWW members is that a branch is an official chartered unit of the IWW and is entitled to rights and responsibilities as defined in the IWW Constitution.

What your local branch wants to do is up to you and the other workers in it – decided democratically within the bounds of the constitution and policies of the IWW.

What can I expect at my local GMB?

Education

Learn from the experiences of other local workers organizing unions at their jobs as you build towards a union at yours

Democracy

Be part of the larger democratic decisions made in the union through your elected branch delegates

Organization

Start building the capacity for a union at your job through learning how to organize with workers around you

Solidarity

Be part of something bigger than yourself and your workplace – meet other fellow workers, be supported by them, and support them in turn

Comradery

Find joy with your fellow workers in standing together and fighting for a better world

Community

Get to know other local friendly fellow workers who are invested in building a kinder, a more humane, and a more just future

Is my GMB a union at my job?

Your local GMB is not a union at your job – but it is a place which will support getting one.

Getting to a formally recognized union at your job takes time and organization – one advantage of the IWW way of organizing a union is getting results on your way to a formally recognized union. When you have strong relationships with other workers at your job you can already start winning improvements in your working conditions through direct action even before your union is formally recognized.

Building these relationships is building the fundamentals of getting a union at your job. Half of the dues your local GMB collects can be used as that GMB decides – including supporting organizing campaigns like yours to get a unions at work.

Join the IWW!

Connect to your local branch and other workers organizing near you.

Find a Branch Near You