A Union Contract, what is it?

(A collective bargaining agreement is the legal term for a union contract.)

Many workers attempt to justify anti-union rhetoric with the age old "cost of living" argument. Let's dig into our contract provisions that have nothing to do with the cost of living in one area or another. We are going to use our Aerojet, Florida contract as an example. The IAM represents over 5,300 site locations, and every one of them were nonunion at some point. The workers had enough, came together and did something to change their lives forever.

If you want a union, we must get 65% of hourly employees to sign a Union Authorization Card. This will not happen if we can't get the required number of signatures. Let's get this done! sign up below.

(The Company does not have authorization to ever view these cards. The union and the National Labor Relations Board are the only eyes that will see them.)

Contact the Union

Imagine having grievance and arbitration rights if your employer comes up with lame excuses to not bump you up in your job classification.

Imagine that the company must abide by a set of rules that cannot be broken. No favoritism when selecting people for promotions, and what if your work ethic actually made a difference...

A Union Contract sets rules regarding pay progression that MUST be followed. A company cannot suppress worker pay and overall benefits in order to boost share prices and shareholder dividends.

Everything involving money, conditions of employment, and hours of labor are mandatory subjects of bargaining. That means the company must negotiate or they are in violation of federal law. They don't have to agree with us, nor us agree with them, but the law states "good faith bargaining" which means both sides must move closer each bargaining session. In bargaining we get much more and have power that non-union shops do not.

With a Union Contract, you negotiate yearly raises. You know what raises are going to be, instead of being upset or disappointed last minute when the company throws nickels at you for breaking historical production records. As a union shop, you and your co-workers vote on accepting a contract, and you are a threat if they don't offer reasonable and comprehensive raises. Your record-breaking production output is a tremendous argument at the bargaining table! (Keep in mind that 4% of $36.00 an hour is a much better raise than 4% of $20.00 an hour.)

Aerojet in Florida managed to get a (Birthday Holiday) added in their contract. If this isn't a true example of Union power, I don't know what is.

Finally, I would like you to look at the job codes and wages of our union Aerojet facility in Florida. Is the cost of living that much higher? Or maybe this union thing actually makes a difference. Not including the wages below, is a union contract with set provisions like the example above worth the $75.00 a month in union dues? You decide.

YOU DESERVE BETTER!