Your Rights to a Union
It is important for you as an employee to know and understand all your rights as a valuable part of your company. When working to unionize your store, there are certain things your employers cannot, by law, ask you about, threaten you with, or comment on. These regulations have been stipulated by the National Labor Relations Act. Should you become the victim of any of the following, contact a union representative from UFCW Local 540 immediately.
Management cannot:
- Threaten to fire, discharge or punish you should you engage in union activity.
- Give employees who speak out against the union special favors or concessions, and they cannot promise employees promotions who initially support and then oppose forming a union.
- Bar employee union representatives from talking with members during non-working hours.
- Inquire about confidential union matters, including union meetings, union representatives or the union itself.
- Ask you how you intend to vote, or whether or not you currently belong to a union or have signed up to belong to a union.
- Alter your work assignments, your work environment, or working conditions with the intention of firing an employee based on his/her affiliation with the union.
- Threaten or coerce you in an attempt to influence your vote.
- Make threats regarding the discontinuation of benefits, wages, vacations, or job security should you and your fellow employees vote for a union.
It’s also crucial for you to understand some of the key steps you’ll navigate as you and your coworkers start building out your union.
How to Build a Union
Phase 1: Forming a Union
There are two ways that you and your coworkers can come together to form a union in your workplace.
The easiest and usually quickest way to gain union representation is through a “card check agreement.” This is where the employer agrees not to interfere with your choice to join a union. Once a majority of your coworkers fill out and sign authorization cards, you’re ready to win union representation.
If your employer doesn’t agree to a card check and a majority of your coworkers have signed authorization cards, then you will hold a union election. Filling out an authorization card at this point does not make you a member of the union, or require you to pay any dues, it just shows that you would like to have an election so you and your co-workers can decide whether or not to form a union.
Phase 2: Election
If your employer refuses a card check agreement, the union will send a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct an election. You shouldn’t have to wait longer than 5 to 8 weeks once the NLRB has been contacted.
Since it is a secret ballot election, your boss will not know how you voted – just how many employees voted for union representation.
Phase 3: Negotiations
The next phase begins when you elect a group of your fellow workers to a negotiating committee.
The purpose of the negotiating committee is to assist professional union negotiators in getting a fair deal while negotiating your contract. The negotiating committee will survey the wants and needs of you and your co-workers to find out what the major concerns are and how best they could be solved through the contract.
Collective bargaining takes place between two groups – one composed of the negotiating committee and your union representative, and the other composed of representatives from management.
Usually after each collective bargaining session, the contract is returned to you and your fellow workers for discussion. Once the negotiating committee agrees that they have a good contract, they will bring it to their fellow co-workers for a final decision. Should the workers reject the contract, it will go back to the bargaining table for further negotiations until a contract is agreed upon. However, if a majority of employees approves the contract, the contract then goes into effect.
Phase 4: Membership
Texas is a “right-to-work” state, which means you won’t automatically enjoy the benefits of being a union member when you start working at a union workplace. Instead, you’ll have to officially sign up to be a member after you and your coworkers vote to approve your union contract. You can contact one of your union representatives to sign up.
