The Contract Process

Unless you are a CEO, you don't have a lot of leverage to demand benefits at your workplace. Every year or two, you might go to your boss and ask for a raise or an extra day of vacation, but usually you can't do much about what hours you work, what health benefits you receive or how your retirement benefits are structured.  Organizing a union and collectively bargaining gives professional employees the leverage needed to negotiate fair and equitable terms and conditions regarding their career development.

The first step to a contract is to join together as a union. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) defines the rights of professional employees to organize and secure representation in collective bargaining with their employer.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enforces the NLRA and provides the framework and rules for conducting an organizing campaign and collective bargaining.  Through a secret ballot process, that embodies the most basic principles of democracy, the NLRB insures that you will be able to act in your own best interests without fear of retribution or retaliation.

What steps are necessary to obtain your contract?

• Contact the UWUA to begin the process
• Form an internal committee among the employees
• Identify the issues of concern
• Have a majority of employees sign confidential cards authorizing the union to represent them in collective bargaining with your employer
• File a petition with the NLRB requesting a secret ballot election to be held.
• Have the NLRB arbitrate the appropriate voting population, based on a shared community of interest.
• Have the NLRB verify that a majority of eligible workers desire an election
• The NLRB will conduct and monitor a secret ballot election
• Win the election based on a majority of those voting
• Begin the bargaining process

When a majority of employees vote in favor of the union, the NLRB will certify the union as the official bargaining representative and the employer must meet and bargain “in good faith” on the proposals that the employees submit through their representatives.

It’s all about the Contract!  Your company executives would not work without contractual guarantees.  They know a contract assures them and their families that their future is secure, and free of unnecessary distractions.   Why should you and your family expect any less?  Safeguard your future !  Contact the Utility Workers Union of America for more information on how you too can have the protection of a contract.

Call

1-(888) THE-UWUA

1-(888) 843-8982