What Is A Labor Union?

Words to Know

  • Bargaining or collective bargaining: when a labor union and their bosses try to agree on rules for the workplace
  • Bargaining committee: made up of workers at the company. They write the contract and advocate for it in bargaining sessions. 
  • Bargaining sessions: meetings between a labor union and their bosses. They share ideas. They try agreeing about what the contract should say. 
  • Contract or employee contract: A contract is an agreement between a union and their bosses. The contract sets rules about working conditions.
  • Discipline meeting: A meeting where management talks to you about something they think you did wrong at work.
  • The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA): a law that gives union workers our rights.
  • Negotiate: When people share their ideas and try to agree 
  • Stewards: Union members who help other members of the union. 
  • Union, labor union, or workplace union: a group of workers who protect their rights at work. Union members advocate together. Their advocacy together makes workplaces more fair. 
  • Wall to wall union: when workers with different types of jobs are all in the same union together.
  • Working conditions: All the things that affect your day at work. Things like pay, time off, health care, accommodations, and more.
     

What is a union?

A labor union is a group of workers who protect their rights at work. Labor union members advocate together. Their advocacy together makes workplaces more fair.    

 

Sometimes, labor unions are just called unions. Bosses are not in unions.

 

Workers get a lot of important rights when they start a union. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is the law that gives union workers our rights.
 

Some people say that unions are not important today. That is not true. Unions help workers get a fair employee contract. The employee contract is sometimes just called a contract. A contract is an agreement between a union and their bosses. The contract sets rules about working conditions. Working conditions are all the things that affect your day at work. Working conditions are things like:

  • Pay
  • Time off
  • Health care
  • Accommodations
  • And more
     

Contracts create rules about things like

  • how much you get paid
  • the times when you work
  • what happens if you get in trouble at work
  • what happens when you are sick
  • what happens when you want to take a vacation
  • how your boss can protect you
  • what happens if you leave the job
  • and more
     

The NLRA says unions can do collective bargaining. Sometimes, collective bargaining is just called bargaining. Bargaining is when your labor union and their bosses try to agree on rules for the workplace. The bargaining committee is made up of workers at the company. The bargaining committee writes the contract and advocates for it in bargaining sessions. Bargaining sessions are meetings between a labor union and their bosses. At these meetings, both groups negotiate. That means each side shares their ideas and tries to agree about what the contract should say. 

 

It can take a long time to win your first contract. Winning a contract can sometimes take weeks, months, or even years. Once that happens, the contract is still not yet final. The whole labor union needs to vote on the contract. If more than half of the union votes in support of the contract, the contract is final. A boss cannot change or take away a final contract. The law says your boss has to follow the rules of the contract.

 

Having a union is the best way to negotiate a contract. That means being in a union is the best way to make our jobs a better place to work. Workers deserve to have their rights protected.

 

Some people think that  a union will stop workers from talking to their bosses. That is not true.

 

Some unions are just for people who work in a specific part or role of the company. For example, a car company might have one union for workers in the factory and another union for workers in sales. But the Guild of Autistic Self-Advocate Staff (GASS) is a wall to wall union. That means workers with different types of jobs are all in the same union together.

 

If your workplace already has a union and you have a question, you can talk to a steward. Stewards are union members who help other members of the union. A steward can answer union member's questions about bargaining. A steward can also answer questions about the union’s policies. Stewards get extra training about how to help other members of their union. A steward is a good person to ask to join a discipline meeting. A discipline meeting is a meeting where your boss talks to you about something they think you did wrong at work. GASS will explain more about discipline meetings in a future statement.