Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to imply that hot shops can't be organized. I meant that a hot shop is a good starting point. But it is nowhere near sufficient - a strong committee with experience working together and the support of the community are the only things that are going to save you when the knives come out. As someone argued somewhere, you should never go public until you have exhausted the gains you can make without going public.

I was recently involved in a campaign similar to OP's where the whole shop was on board before they even contacted the IWW. We got around 75% of them to sign cards at the first meeting we ever had with them. Turns out their committee barely existed. The "meetings" the workers were having to discuss unionizing were actually just their usual hangout spot after work. The fact that it was literally next door to their office probably explains why the boss immediately found out and started firing people. They filed for an election since they were backed into a corner. They barely won the election, and only then did they have their first couple of collective actions (marches on the boss). By this point the company knew they could fire anyone at will and the workers wouldn't be unified enough to do anything about it, so the whole campaign fell apart leaving a trail of burnt out organizers and a slew of workers thrown out of their jobs who will only ever look at the IWW with scorn from now on.

So yeah, don't try that approach.