Burnout at the Stake

Solutions to Martyrdom Culture in Solidarity Unions

It all began when fellow worker J told me about their experience in the Arab Spring. They explained that the revolutionaries in Yemen had been prone to a martyr mentality. Over the course of many protests, the army shot many of J’s people. The situation looked grimmer and grimmer and J explained that they started to hope they would be the next one to die for the revolution. As things got worse, the martyrdom mentality spread through the protestors, as many of them wanted the situation to resolve, either in victory, or in their death.

J then surprised me by saying that they saw a similar mentality in the IWW and other leftist groups of western countries. According to them, leftists often want to sacrifice themselves for the cause. In Yemen, it meant giving your life to the cause. It means burning on the stake, never stopping your chants. In the US, it means giving all your time and energy to the work of organizing. And that leads a lot of us to experience burnout.

Did you know that, according to a March Membership Coordinator report in 2023, out of all the members of the IWW in NARA, only 27 percent were members before COVID? That means a lot of our organizers from before 2020 have left the organization for one reason or another in just 3 years. Where did they go? Why did they leave? I believe burnout is at fault in most of those cases. Which leads me to my next questions: How are we going to defeat capitalism if we are so burnt out we leave the union? How much knowledge, wisdom and experience have we lost in the past 5 years that could help us now, when we need it the most? How do we prevent burnout?

I interviewed 18 members of the IWW to find answers. Here is the result of that research:

Symptoms of 1st degree Burnout

“If I’m going to die young anyways, I might as well die young for the revolution.”

–A lot of us, at some point in our lives

Recognizing burnout early is very important, but it’s hard to spot burnout in others if you don’t know the signs…and even harder to admit to feeling burnout when you see the symptoms in yourself. Be on the lookout for:

• Doing most of the work in the branch/campaign
• Feeling isolated from other fellow workers
• Executive dysfunction (difficulty doing tasks that were previously easy). Examples include going to meetings, doing 1 on 1s, answering messages, instigating projects and administrative tasks
• Anxiety related to the union
• Guilt about incomplete tasks
• Not asking for help
• No longer seeing the point of the union
• Difficulty following a union group chat
• Losing track of tasks and appointments
• Impatience
• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Soreness and stiffness
• Headaches

Burnout affects members who are deeply involved with campaigns and branch administration because they often end up doing too much. Burnout also affects members who aren’t invested in campaigns and administration because they don’t feel like they have any skin in the game.

In the Organizer Training 102, we learn that burnout feels like “I’m the only one who does things” and “If I don’t do it, no one will.”

The causes of burnout that we have identified are the following:

• A lack of personal connections with fellow workers in the branch/campaign. Being new to the space means that you don’t have those connections. This means that new members burn out quickly after joining. Being new members they probably didn’t make themselves essential, which means that their burnout is less visible than the burnout of long term members.
• Feeling under represented in the branch/campaign. This can be based on age gap, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, and more.
• Feeling like only a few active members do all the work in the union.
• Abuse from other union members. It happens. It’s the reason we have the grievance procedure and the Gender Equity Committee. But those things don’t prevent 100 percent of the abuse that happens online or in person. So it’s important to help abuse victims recover from the trauma, especially if the abuse came from within the union.
• Wanting union tasks to be done perfectly, which gets in the way of delegating.
• Taking personal responsibility for the branch/campaign and its progress.
• When an active campaign slows down or dies, it causes burnout in some of the external organizers who take responsibility for the failures of the campaign.

Firefighting 101: What Doesn’t Work Against Burnout

I started experiencing burnout the week after I returned from the 2023 NARA convention. I identified the problem within a few days, but I was slow to find a solution. Hell, I was even slow to look for a solution because I hoped it would just pass. After that, I got more and more depressed until I gave up on an IWW film project that was very important to me. But that ended up being the solution.

In my interviews, everyone who experienced burnout said one of their first impulses was to ignore the problem and keep going…and everyone confessed that it hadn’t worked for them, simply made it worse. Some even took on more tasks, which makes a lot of sense. As activists, we are keenly aware of the injustices of the world and we feel an urgency to resolve them. Every second that capitalism endures, the people and the planet die a little more.

But organizing a union–and in the long term, a revolution–is a marathon, not a race. Each of us is needed, so we have to hang on until the end. It’s difficult to admit to ourselves, but that means pacing ourselves for the long run.

On the other end of the spectrum, walking away completely also does not work. You will recover, but without the support of fellow workers you will lose your connection to the union and not return.

Another strategy that doesn’t work is to stay silent about burnout. A lot of the administrative work we do in the union is invisible. We do it alone more often than not, and it is rarely acknowledged, simply because others do not know about it. Our impulse is often to keep that work hidden to avoid bothering other union members. But how can others advise us, help us, thank us for, and shadow us in those tasks if we do not talk about them?

When on Fire, Stop, Drop and Rotate

“It’s OK to burn out. It’s normal and healthy to take a break.”

–FW Glenn

First off, it is important for us to be kind to ourselves and to one another. If you are reading this article, it’s probably because a fellow worker sent it to you. It is likely that this active member is doing a lot of unseen work like sharing resources and offering advice. Please take the time to acknowledge that work and thank them for it. They are likely one of the union people who is most at risk of burnout.

Here are a few things you can try when you experience burnout:

• Take a step back from union work. Your union responsibility is now to take care of a precious fellow worker: yourself. It might not stop the burnout, but it will stop it from getting worse. 
• Let your fellow workers know when you experience burnout and when you decide to step back from tasks/responsibilities. Fellow workers report that seeing how others step up when they withdraw has been a huge relief.
• Ask fellow workers to check in on you regularly and stay in touch.
• Delegate tasks. That can be super hard to do when you are already experiencing burnout. Delegating makes you do more union work in the short run, not less. First you have to find someone to do the task, then you have to make sure they know how to do the task. Finally, you have to check up on the task when it’s done. But if you never delegate, you will always be the only one who can do those tasks. That is something I advise you to do before you experience burnout.
• When you ask for help on a task, ask an individual, not the room or group chat.
• Define the long term union goals of the IWW, and your personal goals in the organization. Write those goals down and regularly reread them.
• Ask a fellow organizer to do a 1 on 1 with you so you get a chance to be agitated and educated for once.
• Talk and hang out with fellow workers of the IWW outside of union related tasks/meetings.
• When you start doing union tasks again, do not take on too much too quickly.
• Set aside off times in your schedule where you do nothing union related.
• Take time to consider a task before you volunteer for it.
• Learn to turn down a task.
• Focus on workplace organizing. Having eyes on the prize will help with the recovery by reminding you of the union’s purpose.
• Prioritize interacting with branch members in person rather than online.
• Manage medication if needed to help with a condition that makes burnout worse.
• Sign up for cognitive/behavioral therapy: Learning to say no, dealing with pressure and anxiety, learning to not bring yourself down.
• Use online tools to understand anxiety, depression and burnout (if therapy is too expensive).
• Sleep, diet and exercise.
• Practice self care.

Branches Need Fire Prevention

“4 hours per week is all we need for the revolution.”

–FW Brad Fougère

At the 2023 NARA convention, I noticed that my branch wasn’t the only one with low member engagement. Many fellow workers reported that no more than 12 people regularly show up to branch meetings. For most branches, between 5 percent and 10 percent of their members come to meetings and take on organizing tasks.

The rest are inactive. They pay their dues, but do not engage with the IWW in other ways. I asked the convention delegates what their branch did to engage inactive members in activities and campaigns. Each branch had different solutions that I compiled in the following document.

These strategies will help your branch against burnout because more active members means more folks that you can delegate tasks to when you experience burnout.

And there’s more that branches can do to prevent the burnout of their members:

Organize regular socials and 1-on-1s with all branch members

FW Noemie observed that in the Montreal branch, newer members do not return after a burnout whereas senior members are able to recover and re-commit after a break. This could be because the only members who get to be senior are the ones who develop strategies, resistance or networks to combat burnout.

If that’s the case, then we take a page from those senior members’ books. We can make a system that prevents burnout for everyone, as soon as they join.

Senior members have a social network more connected to the union. Being friends with fellow workers means that you’ll still hang out with them while you take a break for burnout. It’s those connections that encourage members to return after a burnout. Noemie says that stronger connections help organizers recover faster, and identify signs of burnout early.

A branch can foster those connections by having regular socials to get people together, and have delegates do multiple 1-on-1s with all branch members.

Foster validation and emotional support

Gratitude and recognition of one’s efforts are super important to prevent burnout. I recommend creating a culture where we express gratitude and validate other branch members for tasks accomplished. At the end of every meeting in the Austin branch, we go over the organizing tasks (aka action items) that were assigned at the last meeting. I always take the time to thank fellow workers and make them feel valued for tasks finished. When you give a task to a fellow worker in a 1-on-1, make sure you follow up with them. It makes one feel valued.

Officers do more tasks, so their mistakes are more visible. Branch members should learn constructive criticism skills and empathy to prevent the burnout of officers.

Split positions of responsibilities

If your branch’s Secretary Treasurer experiences burnout, make a motion to split the position in two: Austin GMB did it twice so now we have a Treasurer, a Secretary, and a Correspondence Secretary. This has allowed us to spread out the duties that are often held by just one member. Be wary that doing it too much is counterproductive because each person sharing related duties must take time to coordinate.

After elections, have the new officers share responsibilities with the old members for a month for proper training/shadowing.

Make sure you split the responsibilities into different, explicitly-defined roles. Three co-secretaries rarely accomplish as much as one secretary if their responsibilities are spread out vaguely.

Foster a culture of shadowing

I try to always let the branch delegates know when I do an intake interview or 1-on-1. Sometimes, the schedules align and a fellow worker gets a chance to learn from my techniques and failures. Later, you will know you can delegate that task to them if you feel burnout.

As an officer, engage with your potential successors before elections

It gives them opportunities to shadow you, and it lets you set expectations. 

High expectations can lead external organizers to burn out if they aren’t told about their odds of success: One in ten of the leads who reach out to us follow up with a second meeting, And one in ten of those go on to form an organizing committee. Telling an EO early will alleviate some of the disappointment when a lead gives up.

Conclusion

The reasons this article is coming out so long after convention is ironic. I was experiencing burnout. And knowing the solutions and advice given to me by my fellow workers didn’t instantly solve the problem. It gave me a path forward, but I still had to walk it. Those things take time. But, thanks to some awesome fellow workers, I made it through and finished the article.

Turns out, the real solution to burnout was the friends we made along the way.