Step 1: Get Together with Your Co-workers
If you are frustrated with issues on the job, it’s likely there are many of your co-workers who share that frustration.
Get together with them and start discussing what areas you want to see improved. Whether that’s wages, paid time off, health bene-
fits or all of the above - you’ll never know if others are concerned about the same things as you if you don’t talk to them.
Initial discussions don’t necessarily have to be about the union. Instead, they should be about what changes would make your job better.

 

Step 2: Build Support for the Union
If there appears to be interest, the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) will work with you to start identifying who of your co-workers may be interested in forming a union. There will likely be a core group of you who help identify the issues your co-workers are concerned about. That same group will also provide basic information about the worksite, including shifts, classifications and wage/benefit packages.
You will also begin the process of using breaks and non-work time to talk to co-workers about the benefits of forming a union. (The law states that workers must conduct union related activities, only during non-work hours such as breaks, lunches, parking lots and after shift hours.) There will be ALOT of questions. So, the IAM will use off-site meetings and phone calls to educate you on anything and everything union related. At its core, a Union is about you and your co-workers joining together to demand better in the workplace. It all boils down to putting power into the hands of those of you that make your workplace run efficiently on a daily basis.
Alone, you have no more power than what the company allows you to have, and that can be taken away without notice. Joining together as a union, you can make real, purposeful changes on the job. This is the beginning of that process!

 

Step 3: Collect Authorization Signatures

We use authorization cards (A-Cards) to gauge the level of interest in forming a union, and we must have them to file for a union election.

Authorization signatures are collected in two ways:

• Physical paper authorization cards.

• Electronic authorization signatures.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency charged with conducting union elections, requires 30 percent of a worksite to submit authorization cards to require an election. The IAM, however, will not file for an election until a majority of your co-workers have submitted authorization signatures. An election with less than a majority of card signers often loses.

This is also around the time the company will decide to hire a high-priced lawyer or consultant and begin their anti-union campaign.

One of the very first things they will do is attempt to cause confusion surrounding the authorization signature. They will equate signing a card to “writing a blank check” or “signing your life away.” Let's be crystal clear: Authorization signatures are not membership applications. That is an entirely separate form that is filled out after an election is won.  Authorization cards will not be shown to the employer, in fact the law states that who supports and who does not support the union is none of your bosses business. That information is between you, your union organizer, and the National Labor Relations Board.  Again, they are tools for the IAM and the NLRB to gauge interest in forming a union. They are the only entities that will ever see the cards.

 

Step 4: Hold a Union Election

If there is interest from a majority of your group, the IAM will file a “Petition” for representation with the NLRB. At that time we will also ask your employer to recognize the IAM as your collective bargaining representative. The overwhelming majority of the time, the employer will instead make the choice to have a secret ballot union elec- tion. In fact they will do everyting in their power to use that time

to dissuade you from forming a union as part of their anti-union campaign.

Sometimes, a “hearing” is then needed to define the “unit”. The company and the IAM need to determine who among the group of employees are to be represented by the union. There are certain individuals such as super- visors that may not belong in the union. Once the “unit” is defined, we contact everyone in the unit to answer any questions they may have and again assess the level of

support. Elections are secret ballot and typically held at your place of employment. The IAM becomes your official bargaining representative if 50% +1 of those voting cast a “yes” ballot. 

 

Step 5: Bargain Your First Contract

If you vote for the IAM, one of the first things we will do is survey

all of the workers at your shop to identify issues and problems you would like to see addressed during negotiations with the company.

A negotiating committee is then nominated and elected by you and your peers, consisting of co-workers in your bargaining unit.  A experienced IAM representative, who will be your assigned "IAM Business Rep" will be the lead negotiator and will represent the will of your shop, under the drection of your elected negotiating committee. The negotiating committee and Rep then meets with the company to start contract negotiations. By law, the employer is required to bargain over “wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.” This includes:

 

• Wages

• Health and safety procedures

• Discipline and grievance proce- dure

• Arbitration

• Seniority

Fringe benefits are also negotiable. These include:

• Vacation

• Holidays

• Pensions

• Health insurance

• Sick time

Once a “tentative agreement” is reached, you and your co-workers will vote on whether to accept or reject the contract offer.

You do not pay dues until you and your co-workers vote to accept a contract.

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