Organize!
Posted by Vice President John Adams Jr.
Our Local's Organizing Committee helps assist people currently working for non-represented employers, who want to be part of C.W.A. Some of the key reasons workers want to organize their workplace are: stagnant wages, poor or no benefits, unfair treatment and unsafe working conditions, just to name a few. Workers who decide to organize with C.W.A. recognize the benefits of gaining a contract and a collective voice in their workplace. Organizing is never easy; however, if the majority of workers in a non-represented workplace are committed to one another and dedicated enough to put forth the necessary effort, they will surely win their C.W.A. representation election.
Your Legal Rights
Employees covered under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) have the legal right to form a union in their workplace. The NLRA says:
(SECTION 7)- "Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations to bargain collectively through representation of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining..."
(SECTION 8)- "It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer... to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7..." Most public sector, railway and airline employees have similar protections.
How Do I Start an Organizing Drive in My Workplace?
Our Local is prepared to assist workers in the technical and customer service profession organize within their work-place. If you are a worker who would like more information on how you and your co-workers can become a part of C.W.A., please contact John Adams at #(916) 557-0146, or online at Organize@cwalocal9421.org
4 Steps to unionizing your workplace
There is a legally approved process for bringing in a union to your workplace. In general, forming a union takes several months longer for large workplaces, and involves 4 basic steps. Here is non-technical explanation of the how the laws work, and what we at CWA will do to help you exercise your rights:
1. Contact us
Set up a meeting with our organizer and members, and we will work with you to explain the union process and how joining CWA can help you improve your job. Information that will help us understand your situation at this point includes:
Your workplace:
- what company do you work for?
- what is your job title?
- what type of work do you do?
- how many employees are there? In your job and other titles?
Your issues - are you concerned about:
- Pay or benefits?
- Discrimination or favoritism?
- Job security? Afraid of layoffs?
- Workload? Being assigned impossible tasks?
- Safety or health on the job?
Also, talk to your coworkers to see if they have the same concerns. And be careful! Many employers will harass or threaten you if they think you are trying to form a union - harassment like this is illegal, but sadly not uncommon. It's the sad truth that when you want to form a union, you should be very covert at the first stages, until you have a big group.
To contact us, call 916-484-9421 or the CWA national organizing hotline at (toll free) 866-347-8947. You can email our local organizer, organize@cwa9421.com, or the CWA national organizing department at http://www.cwa-union.org/about/organize_contact.asp
2. Committee
You can't organize a union by yourself! Working with a CWA organizer, you will need to form a group of your coworkers who will become the core of the union movement.
Generally, the committee should be about 10% of the bargaining unit, so that they can communicate face to face with all the other employees. The committee should represent everyone: both by including a mix of job titles and departments, and also racial, ethnic, age and gender groups at the workplace.
- A "bargaining unit" is the legal term for the group that is be designated by the government to be eligible to vote in the union election and be covered by the contract. It separates the employees from the management, so that the two sides can be clear about who is who.
3. Campaign
When the committee is ready, you will bring the message to the entire workforce. The goal of the campaign is to win a government-supervised election. (The National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, is the agency which supervises these elections).
- CHARTS. Together, we will "map out" your entire workplace, make sure that we count every employee, and develop a plan to talk to every person individually. The outreach here is done one-to-one by committee members. We need to have an accurate count to measure the feelings of the entire group and plan for the election.
- CARDS. In order to bring in the government, we must gather union authorization cards from at least 35% of the bargaining unit - at CWA, we always wait until we have cards from 50% or more of the employees.
- LEGAL PROBLEMS. Once the cards are filed with the NLRB, there is usually a waiting period - if the employer is anti-union, they can delay this period up to several months by making frivolous legal motions and challenges. This can be very frustrating for you and your coworkers, and it will require a strong commitment to get through this stage.
- ELECTION. Union elections are generally held at the worksite by secret ballot. Government agents supervise the election, and intimidation by the employer is (finally) strictly prohibited. The votes are counted, and a vote of 50%+1 means that the employer must recognize the union!
4. Contract
Union recognition doesn't mean immediate changes at the workplace. You need a binding contract to get legal protections like a grievance procedure or a guaranteed raise.
- After the election, you and your coworkers will do a survey to determine your priorities, elect a bargaining team from your own ranks, and being bargaining with your employer. CWA provides a lot of support here, training and educating you as new members, and sending experienced negotiators to help your team.
- No contract is approved without a vote of the employees who it covers.
- When your contract is ratified, you have a guarantee of all the terms and conditions of your job, and the right to legally enforce them!