If you are interested in getting the benefits of a Union Contract please contact us at 1-800-492-2009 or contact Deepak Kullar at join@usw2009.ca
Regardless of where you live in Canada, you have the legal right to join a union and take an active role in helping to establish a union where you work.
You and your co-workers have the right to:
• discuss the union at work during non-working hours
• distribute union information in non-work areas during non-working hours
• sign a USW membership card
• help fellow employees join your union
• participate in meetings to discuss joining your union
Your employer cannot:
• interfere with the formation, selection or administration of your union
• coerce or intimidate employees to stop them from joining your union
• discriminate against employees because of their activities in support of your union
• make promises like better pay or benefits to encourage employees to oppose your union
• threaten to close your workplace or lay people off if you form your union
• demand to know about your union support
• help anti-union employees to oppose your union
• spy on employees for the purpose of observing union activities
What you can expect when you become a Steelworker:
With a union, you can have a voice and respect at work, a real say in your pay and benefits, fairness, job security, and safer working conditions. The USW works with you to end unfair treatment, inconsistent rules, favouritism and intimidation. Working with the USW, you can make work safer, improve job satisfaction and pride in your workplace.
Without the protection, support and strength of a union, working people depend on the ‘goodwill' of management.
With a union, the people who actually do the work have a say in how things operate. Instead of simply reacting to arbitrary decisions coming from management, you will have a stronger voice in the policies and decisions that affect you and your family. And that means real problem solving.
Union contracts emphasize fairness and equality with one set of rules negotiated by and for all employees. With a union, you can reduce arbitrary disparities and inequities. And when your pay, benefits and other terms of employment are written into your union contract, they can't be changed without your approval.
As union members, you will have protection from unfair discipline and discharge through a grievance procedure. This allows you to challenge management decisions that you believe are not justified.
Having a union at your workplace can give you real input in restructuring and other decisions that can affect your job security. It also allows employees to speak out about problems on the job without fear of retaliation, and to have a say when cost-cutting, contracting-out, and other decisions are considered. With a union contract, you can cut out favouritism, challenge unfair discipline, and make sure seniority is considered in layoffs, promotions, transfers and other decisions.
The USW is committed to working with you to negotiate health and safety provisions in your contract to reduce the hazards and risks of work. We want to promote the well-being of our members, our families and our communities.
Union members have better pay. Union membership allows you and your co-workers to negotiate a fair pay system that applies to everyone and provides raises you can count on. Many union contracts provide increases to ensure that employees are fairly compensated for experience, commitment and length of service. With a union, you know when to expect a raise and how much it will be.
Unionized employees have better benefits. By forming a union you can negotiate a contract with benefits and retirement income plans that are guaranteed in writing.
With your union, you can work to solve problems in an equal partnership with management. Over time, union membership helps employees and management build constructive, positive relationships based on cooperation and respect. And that makes for a better working life.
Being a USW member is more than an opportunity to exercise your rights and win fairness at work - it is also an opportunity to expand your own skills, to build new friendships and to see the world through new eyes. Working people of all backgrounds, languages, races and life experiences have come together in the USW for the common purpose of improving their families' lives.
In one organizing drive after another, the Union sees employers use the same old tricks. Managers and supervisors make misleading statements and false promises to fool you about the Union. Be Prepared for these tricks. It is your best protection.
If you're considering a Union, read these and discuss them with your co-workers. Other employers have scared workers with these typical threats and promises before. Don't wait until the election is over to discover you've been tricked by distortions, hollow threats and empty promises.
Management and other employer "mouth pieces" will tell you that the Union will force you out on strike, whether you want to or not. They'll try to create fear by telling you that during a strike you can lose your job. They'll ask you how you and your family will survive.
If the employer says that having Unions means you'll be forced to strike, the employer is lying. In fact, when the employer threatens that the Union will force you out on strike, the employer is breaking the law.
A strike is a decision voted on by you and your co-workers. If a majority of you don't vote to strike, there won't be one. That's why strikes are so rare.
Often during the organizing campaign, a "Vote No" Committee will surface. Members may be recruited from friends and relatives of management. They're usually promised special treatment or promotions for doing the employers dirty work.
The "Vote No" Committee will pass out literature filled with employer distortions, spread false rumours and insult your co-workers who support the Union.
The employer knows that if you and your co-workers are united, you can stand up and win your rights. It will use the "Vote No" Committee as a wedge to try to "divided and conquer", because it wants to create confrontation and division.
The Union creates a sense of common purpose and solidarity among you. The Union promotes inclusion, communication and input from all workers.
Management will tell you that the Union just wants your money. They will attempt to mislead you by talking about the high cost of dues and initiation fees and how they are spent.
You pay no dues until you review and vote to accept your contract. You actually have an opportunity to see how a USW contract can improve working conditions and economic benefits prior to paying dues.
Dues are used to provide educational, legal, technical, and other professional resources and services needed to level the playing field when dealing with management.
Management will also call the Union an "outsider." The employer will tell you that the Union will take your dues to pay big salaries of Union bosses. They will tell you that you will never benefit from paying dues money.
USW members decide how to spend their dues money. Forty-four percent of all dues come back to your local to make your Union strong. The rest goes toward a range of professional services that work for you, including lobbying provincial and federal government on worker issues and providing legal backup if the employer violates the contract you negotiate.
The employer will try to scare you and your family by saying that the Union will promote violence and conflict. Near election time, the employer may cause problems or confrontations, then blame it on the Union.
USW exists to solve problems peacefully. Workers and management sit down as equals to talk about them. Discussing problems resolves conflicts and avoids violence.
The employer will claim it doesn't have to sign a contract even if you vote Union. Since it is illegal to directly threaten not to sign a contract, the employer will say it doesn't have to agree to what you want in a contract.
The employer is legally required to negotiate with the Union. Nearly every employer talks tough during an organizing campaign. But ask your employer representative how many contracts it negotiates -- with suppliers, vendors, customers, etc., to keep its operations on track.
In fact, ask the executives if they have an employment contract. Ask them what it covers. Ask them to let you see it.
The employer will tell you that when you negotiate a contract, you'll lose the wages and benefits you already earn. They will attempt to make you believe that you gain nothing with a Union.
First contract negotiations begin with the pay and benefits you now have. You'll build from there. You'll decide what to ask for in your contract, then vote on it. The strength of your contract will be as strong as the strength and participation of you and your co-workers in the Union.
Management and employer "yes-men" will tell you that there may be cutbacks and layoffs because of the Union. They will claim that a Union cannot save jobs. They usually point out loss of jobs at specific Union employers in an attempt to scare workers into voting no.
It is against the law for management to threaten loss of jobs if workers vote for a Union. More than ever, during tough times, it's important to have the protection of a Union contract.
Your manager or supervisor will start treating you better and show sudden concern for your well-being. You'll be told that they didn't know you and your co-workers were dissatisfied -- that problems will be worked out. Management will provide opportunities for you to share your concerns.
When workers give employers another chance, they end up bitterly disappointed. If the employer wins,nothing changes. Or if it does it doesn't last for long.
Your employer will try to make you feel special and promise a promotion. They may try to tell you that a Union will keep you from getting job advancements. The employer will promise special treatment and favours if you turn against the Union.
It is illegal for the employer to promise anything to you for not being involved with the Union. Still, they will make "deals" with some of your co-workers to make them feel important. Their special "deals" will never amount to the gains they'd make with a Union contract.
The employers "mouth pieces" will tell you the Union is bad and try to make Union supporters look like they're doing something wrong.
Workers choose to become Union members because they care about their jobs and their employer. You and your co-workers have good ideas -- a Union gives you a means to have real input in workplace changes through a formal enforceable process. It's illegal for an employer to threaten or discipline workers for their Union activities.
Management will attempt to make you feel that a Union is useless by stating "there are no guarantees," which is true, until you negotiate and secure them in a contract.
A Union guarantees that you will have a seat at the negotiating table where decisions are made on wages, hours and working conditions. It guarantees an opportunity for real input decisions affecting workplace change. USW guarantees that you will have the resources available to deal with management at all levels. A negotiated contract is your guarantee.
If you, or anyone you know wants to make real change and improvements at work, join us.