Safety in Numbers.
Join a Union!
Join a Union!
How to join a Union.
Many workers think about joining a Union, but don't know how. There's an easy way and a hard way.
The easy way is to seek out a place that has an existing Union, and apply for a job. At most unionized places, once you are hired, you will have thirty days to join the existing Union.
The hard way is to form a Union where you already have a job and no Union.
CAUTION: do not use company email, company computers, company land lines, company copy machines, company Fax machines, or company cell phones to research, to contact, or to discuss anything related to Unions. These communication mediums are monitored by management, and you should keep in mind that management is terrified of Unions.
Forming a Union where you work is a difficult time-consuming process. And, since management is terrified of Unions, management will strongly resist the worker's efforts to gain a voice at work through unionization. So, before you start talking about a Union where you work, get in touch with a Union Representative that will help you organize. Here is a link to the AFL/CIO website that lists various Union's websites and who they generally represent.
Many of these websites enable you to contact the right person to help
you form a Union.
Even though Federal and state laws guarantee the right to form unions, and eligible employees have the right to express their views on unions, to talk with their co-workers about their interest in forming a union, to wear union buttons, to attend union meetings and in many other ways to exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association, management may terminate you for talking about a Union, and it might be years before you get any justice from a judge or arbitrator.
Union organizers assist workers in forming unions on the job to give them the same opportunity for dignity and respect, good wages and decent working conditions that other Union members already have.
Many workers think about joining a Union, but don't know how. There's an easy way and a hard way.
The easy way is to seek out a place that has an existing Union, and apply for a job. At most unionized places, once you are hired, you will have thirty days to join the existing Union.
The hard way is to form a Union where you already have a job and no Union.
CAUTION: do not use company email, company computers, company land lines, company copy machines, company Fax machines, or company cell phones to research, to contact, or to discuss anything related to Unions. These communication mediums are monitored by management, and you should keep in mind that management is terrified of Unions.
Forming a Union where you work is a difficult time-consuming process. And, since management is terrified of Unions, management will strongly resist the worker's efforts to gain a voice at work through unionization. So, before you start talking about a Union where you work, get in touch with a Union Representative that will help you organize. Here is a link to the AFL/CIO website that lists various Union's websites and who they generally represent.
Many of these websites enable you to contact the right person to help
you form a Union.Even though Federal and state laws guarantee the right to form unions, and eligible employees have the right to express their views on unions, to talk with their co-workers about their interest in forming a union, to wear union buttons, to attend union meetings and in many other ways to exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association, management may terminate you for talking about a Union, and it might be years before you get any justice from a judge or arbitrator.
Union organizers assist workers in forming unions on the job to give them the same opportunity for dignity and respect, good wages and decent working conditions that other Union members already have.
This is the "Join a Union" Page
The
Union Advantage.
Working people in all walks of life join together in unions to gain a voice at work. Union members have a say about pay, benefits, working conditions and how their jobs get done—and having that say gives them the Union Advantage.
You may have neighbors, friends, relatives and so forth who are in a Union. If you bring up the subject of belonging to a Union, you will probably get a mixed bag of comments about Unions, as you will about any other organization.
Generally, Union workers have better pay, better working conditions and so forth than non-Union workers. This is great, but there's more. As a Union member, if you don't like the way the Union is being administered, you can run for any office in the Local (Shop Steward, President, Business Agent, Treasurer, etc), and if you win, you can do the job yourself!
And, there's more. If you have a complaint, you can bring it up to the Shop Steward. If your complaint is covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and you don't like what the Agreement says, once every few years the Agreement in re-negotiated, and you can bring your issue to the negotiating committee, or, if you wish, you can become a member of the negotiating committee.
And, there's more. If you don't like the Shop Steward, you can run for Shop Steward in the next Union election.
Working people in all walks of life join together in unions to gain a voice at work. Union members have a say about pay, benefits, working conditions and how their jobs get done—and having that say gives them the Union Advantage.
You may have neighbors, friends, relatives and so forth who are in a Union. If you bring up the subject of belonging to a Union, you will probably get a mixed bag of comments about Unions, as you will about any other organization.
Generally, Union workers have better pay, better working conditions and so forth than non-Union workers. This is great, but there's more. As a Union member, if you don't like the way the Union is being administered, you can run for any office in the Local (Shop Steward, President, Business Agent, Treasurer, etc), and if you win, you can do the job yourself!
And, there's more. If you have a complaint, you can bring it up to the Shop Steward. If your complaint is covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and you don't like what the Agreement says, once every few years the Agreement in re-negotiated, and you can bring your issue to the negotiating committee, or, if you wish, you can become a member of the negotiating committee.
And, there's more. If you don't like the Shop Steward, you can run for Shop Steward in the next Union election.
Harry Truman, when he was President of the United States said,
"If I were a working man, the first thing I would do is to join a Union."
"If I were a working man, the first thing I would do is to join a Union."
