Starting a Union Branch

Introducing the Canadian Secondary Students’ Union to your school is a great way to foster community and defend the interests of your fellow students. In each school, one student must take it upon themselves to be the first in standing up for their classmates by supporting the Union, and today that can be you. These guidelines are fairly simple, but their execution will require commitment and perseverance.

Step One: Register Your School

Email CSSU@gmail.com with a brief request for union registration. Please include some information about your school for our website and what city or school district your school is in. We should respond quickly and put your school into our network. As the first person to register your school, you will be made Interim Representative until members can be gathered and an election held.

Step Two: Sign Up Members

Now that your school has been put on the CSSU map, priority number one is signing up members. The greater the number of members, the stronger the Union will be. With a large group of committed students comes greater negotiating power and the ability to organize larger and larger activities.

Advertise the Union however you can; posters, social media, morning announcements, a sign up table at lunch, whatever you can think of to get people to join up. Talk to friends, speak at club or team meetings, walk around at lunch break with a clipboard and a smile. At the bottom of this page we’ve included more specifics, but each school is different and will require a specific brand of publicity to succeed.

Step Three: Organize Meetings

Once you have managed to get some of your classmates onboard, you should capitalize on the interest and momentum by holding a Union meeting. The meeting should be accessable and convenient to the students of your school, and at a time that doesn't overlap with classes or extracurricular activities. Ideally, you can get ahold of a classroom or multipurpose space after school or during a lunch break, but this too will be highly variable and dependent on your school's available spaces and schedule.

In order to get people to meetings, you can use similair strategies as getting members, even integrating the two efforts. Take advantage of promtional materials, social media, and even word of mouth. Informational meetings can be an excellent way of gaining members. Before the meeting, sketch out an outline or agenda for some main topics to cover. There is a guide on Union meetings at the bottom of this page, but it should mainly consist of discussion, activity proposals, and establishing plans through voting.

Step Four: Elect a Representative

After your Union branch has a decent number of members, at least 20-30, and you have met a few times to discuss ideas, now you can elect an official Union Representative. This is a simple process, no different from any other vote before. Candidates are able to argue on their behalf or campaign in the days leading up to the vote if they want, so this should be announced in advance. Anybody can run, everybody should vote. And that includes you, Interim Representative, you can be promoted to full Representative!

Among the most vital qualities of an effective Union is a democratic process. This means that people need to know that this vote is happening, that they can vote and be voted for, and when and where it will occur. People can show up for their first meeting and vote, or choose to abstain if they can't decide. Remember that while the whole of the Union branch and each school's respective student population should be involved in as many decisions as possible, but many decisions will fall to the shoulders of your Representative.

The most delicate factor is how long to wait for members. If an election occurs one week in, you probably aren't representing the student body very well. And you have to remember that until an election, you're only filling in. If you wait too long, it's no longer a democratic process. Most often, around the three week or four week mark is best, but this too will vary based on school and general student culture.

Step Five: It's Out of Your Hands!

Now you can be content that you got the ball rolling and there is now a growing community motivated and willing to lend a helping hand and stand up for the school at large. Unless, of course, you have just been elected representative. Unfortunatley, there's no instruction guide for being a leader. We have some suggestions some guideing principles, we'll send them along as soon as you ask for them. And know that we're all in this together, the point is to rely on each other. But it's also about forging your own path, finding your own way forward. And we have every confidence in you.