Interested in Joining a Union?
Contact our Organizing Department at (413) 732-6209 or email workers@ufcw1459.com
By organizing a union, workers can attain significant improvements in the terms and conditions of their employment. Union workers enjoy much stronger legal protections on the job as well as better wages and benefits. Below are some facts about the difference a union makes.
Better Wages
Union workers make on average 21% more in wages than non-union workers. A no-brainer, huh?
Health Insurance, Pension Plans, and Retirement
Many Local 1459 contracts have language ensuring affordable health insurance. The employer pays all or most of the expense. And Local 1459 has negotiated pension plans to ensure a secure retirement for members.
Job Security and Due Process
All Local 1459 contracts contain language that prevents employers from unjustly and arbitrarily terminating, suspending and/or reprimanding a worker without having just cause for their action. That means a manager or boss cannot discipline on a whim, they have to have a reason.
All Local 1459 contracts contain a formal grievance and arbitration procedure to provide workers with due process at the shop floor level. If a worker feels they have been disciplined unfairly, Local 1459 contracts give workers the right to file an official complaint and, if needed, have their case presented to an independent arbitrator to decide on the merits.
GUIDE TO ORGANIZING A UNION
Step 1: Building Interest
Interesting in joining a union?
Meeting with a union representative, learning about your rights and how to go about forming your union in your workplace is the first step. Then, you need a sufficient number of employees to sign Authorization Cards. The NLRB requires that at least 30% of the affected employees sign cards before they will conduct an election. A fair minded employer may voluntarily recognize a union as the employees’ bargaining representative if a majority of the affected employees have signed Authorization Cards. THEREFORE, THE FIRST STEP IS TO SIGN A MAJORITY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Step 2: Request Recognition
Once a majority status has been reached, your union will request voluntary recognition. If your employer agrees, a mutually selected impartial person will verify the cards against the payroll listing. Most employers WILL NOT voluntarily recognize your union. If not, we will then petition the NLRB for a secret ballot election.
Step 3: NLRB Petition
Once a petition has been filed, the NLRB will schedule a “unit hearing” to determine the eligible voters. At this time your employer will begin the anti-union campaign in an effort to convince you that you don’t need a union. Look for raises and other promises of benefit increases. Look for leaflets at work and letters sent to your home; anything in an effort to convince you to vote against your union.
Step 4: Hold Election
Once the NLRB has determined the proper voting unit, they will schedule a SECRET BALLOT ELECTION. Your employer is not allowed in the polling area during the election. The election is actually conducted by an agent of the NLRB.
Step 5: Contract Negotiations
When you have won your election or secured voluntary recognition, the union will conduct a contract proposal meeting(s) to assist you in putting together your contract proposals. At this time, you will also elect from among your coworkers an employee negotiating committee to assist and attend the actual contract negotiations along with the union representatives.
When the committee feels that they have reached a final contract offer, a ratification meeting will be held. At this meeting we will explain the entire contract, discuss it and then vote to accept or reject the contract. Only if a majority of the employees vote to accept the contract does it go into effect. Only then will you become a union member.
EMPLOYER TACTICS
Some companies that feel threatened by the idea of their workers having union representation will resort to various tactics in order to keep you from organizing. These include love tactics and scare tactics that, while opposite in their approach, can both have equally damaging effect for workers trying to get an independent voice at work. It is important to remember your rights as a worker and your federally protected rights to organize.
LOVE TACTICS
Your employer might try to sway you from supporting a union by saying . . . . .
“Give us a chance”
Employers may admit to making mistakes assuring that those mistakes will be remedied, and will never occur again. Management may send out “love letters”, which formally apologize for any wrong doings in the past, and make promises for a better future. But why are they apologizing for problems they know about that may have existed for years? Because they are afraid of losing power in the long run to you and your coworkers.Bribes
Your company may implement temporary changes or improvements in reaction to a union organizing campaign. These changes rarely last beyond the campaign because the employer has no reason to uphold them when the threat of a union goes away. Your employer is free to make these changes after your store votes for or against union representation, but it is illegal for the employer to interfere with the campaign.A Sudden Change in Attitude
The attitude of your employer towards you and your fellow workers might dramatically improve. Management is suddenly very concerned with showing you how much they appreciate and respect you as a member of the company. Activities, such as lunches, dinners and picnics, are organized for workers and their families – activities that did not exist before the union began the organizing campaign.
SCARE TACTICS
Or your employer might try to sway you from supporting a union by saying . . . . .
Management Won’t Listen to the Union
Management wants you to believe that workers coming together in a union have little power, and that, should the workplace become unionized, management won’t bargain with the workers, or comply with the workers’ contract. What management doesn’t want you to know is that, by federal law, they must cooperate when workers form a union.Threatening Your Benefits
It is against the law to threaten your benefits as punishment for supporting a union.Pressuring Team Leaders and Supervisors
Management may pressure your supervisors to subtly, or not so subtly, spread anti-union messages around your store. Many times, supervisors will use their personal relationships with employees to manipulate and harass. Again, under federal law, management is not allowed to promote, recruit, or fund any form of anti-union committee.We’re a Family – We’re a Team
Management might organize a mandatory meeting in order to spread an anti-union message throughout your workplace, emphasizing that the company is a family and should stand united against the union. It is not unusual for anti-union videos and other forms of propaganda to be shown at these meetings.Anti-Union Consultants
Management may get so desperate that they hire highly paid union-busting consultants. These people are paid to keep workers from forming a union at any cost. Many times, employers pay these people as much as or more than it would cost to make workplace improvements that would benefit workers.Strikes
The reality of strikes is that it’s your choice. Your negotiating team of your coworkers will examine all other alternatives before a strike is deemed necessary. Statistically, less than 1% of thousands of UFCW negotiated contracts end in strikes. Only members can decide to strike by a two-thirds supermajority vote.$ Money, Money, Money $
Your employer may attempt to frighten you with talk about all the money you will pay if you form a union. However, these claims are false. When workers come together to form a union at their workplace they aren’t required to pay any of the costs associated with it. You will pay dues only when you have a contract. But dues bring large rewards in pay raises, benefits, job security, representation and working conditions. The added pay and benefits workers receive through belonging to the union are much more than the cost of union dues. The dues go to pay for organizers, legal assistance, support staff, rent, materials, etc. which are all needed to maintain good contracts and adequate representation. No one pays dues until the workers have voted to accept a contract.
Your Legal Rights to Organize and Join a Union
Federal Law Protects Your Right to Form a Union
It is your right to support, form and/or advocate a union at your workplace. Your rights to organize are set forth in Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act: “Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection . . .”
This means that you have the legal right to help organize, to join, and to support a union of your own choosing. You have the right to ask your coworkers to support a union or sign authorization cards on non-work times and in non-work areas. This means that before you begin work, after you are done working, and on your breaks and lunches, you can talk to your coworkers about a union. You can talk to them in the parking lots, cafeteria, lounge, bathrooms, and any other areas where you are not serving a customer. The law protects your right to go to union meetings, and refuse to answer management’s questions about the union.
Activities protected during non-work times and in non-work areas include:
• Filling out an Authorization Card
• Getting others to fill out Authorization Cards
• Attending union meetings
• Wearing union buttons
• Passing out union literature
• Talking about the union to other employees
Federal Law States What Your Employers Cannot Do
It is illegal for management to discriminate against or discharge an employee because of his/her union involvement. The law also says that if you choose UFCW 1459 as your bargaining representative, management must bargain with the union.