The National Labor Relations Act gives you the right to organize a union in your workplace. Here's what you are allowed to do ... and what your employer is not allowed to do ...
The Five Basic Steps to Organizing a Union
Although every workplace is different and the needs of workers
vary, there are some basic steps involved in winning a union voice
on the job. Here's how it happens ...
To begin organizing a union at your workplace there's a simple
starting point before going through the steps listed below: quietly
talk to a few of your co-workers who you think may be interested
in organizing. Privately talk it over with your co-workers ...
This small group starts to privately discuss workplace issues,
what is involved in organizing a union, and making plans to contact
UE. When you're ready, contact us and a UE representative will meet
with the small group to answer your questions and help you develop
a comprehensive organizing plan.
Step 1: Build an Organizing Committee
Leaders are identified and an
organizing committee representing all major departments and
all shifts and reflecting the racial, ethnic and gender diversity
in the workforce is established. Organizing committee training
begins immediately. Committee members must be prepared to work
hard to educate themselves and their co-workers about the union
and to warn and educate co-workers about the impending management
anti-union campaign. The organizing committee must be educated
about workers' right to organize and must understand UE policies
and principals of democracy and rank-and-file control.
Also at this step basic information about the workplace must be
gathered including:
- workplace structure: departments, work areas, jobs, shifts
- employee information: name, address, phone, shift, job title,
and department for each worker (employee list)
- employer information: other locations, parent company,
product(s), customers, union history
Step 2: Adopt an Issues Program
The committee develops a program
of union demands (the improvements
you are are organizing to achieve) and a strategy for the union
election campaign. A plan for highlighting the issues program in
the workplace is carried out through various organizing campaign
activities.
Step 3: Sign-Up Majority on Union Cards
Your co-workers are asked to
join UE and support
the union program by signing membership cards. The
goal is to sign up a sizable majority. This "card
campaign" should proceed quickly once begun and is
necessary to hold a union election.
Step 4: Win the Union Election
The signed cards are used (and required) to petition the
state or federal labor board to hold an election. It will
take the labor board at least several weeks to determine who
is eligible to vote and schedule the election. The union
campaign must continue and intensify during the wait. If
the union wins, the employer must recognize and bargain
with the union. Winning a union election not only requires
a strong, diverse organizing committee and a solid issues
program, but there must also be a plan to fight the employer's
anti-union campaign.
Step 5: Negotiate a Contract
The organizing campaign does not let up after an election
victory. The real goal of the campaign, a union contract
(the document the union and the employer negotiate and sign,
covering everything from wages to how disputes will be handled),
is still to be achieved. Workers must be mobilized to support
the union's contract demands (decided by you and your co-workers)
and pressure the employer to meet them.
Organized! Make It Your Union!
In UE, we are proud of our democratic tradition: UE members run
their own local unions - and there's no other union where this is
a truer statement. But you don't "go it alone," either. UE will
be with you every step of the way - helping with everything from
organizing to to negotiating your first contract ... and helping
you learn how to build and run your own local union.
Will we still be there after you win your first contract?
Absolutely! While we want and encourage our locals to make
their own decisions on issues of local importance, the resources
of the national union will always be there when you need them -
along with a staff person to provide guidance and support. To find
out more about how UE works as the "USA's Rank-and-File Union",
check out our "About UE" section and especially our on-line pamphlet,
UE Aims and Structure.
