The Process Employees Can Use To Unionize
A union can be described as an employee organization where a group of workers join together to improve and guarantee their wages, benefits and working conditions. In most cases, unions have been used to achieve respect and fairness on the job and acquire a stronger voice to impact employer’s decisions ( McAlevey, 2016). Prior to forming a union, there are some steps that need to be followed.
Firstly, the workers need to know the union should work within some stipulated laws. In this regard, they should be informed of their legal rights and the purposes of the union. According to the National Labor Relations Act workers have rights to attend meetings during non-work time to describe the formation or joining a union (McAlevey, 2016). It would be illegal to set hold such meeting during work hours. Workers need to realize that is their right to talk about the union whenever non-work talk is allowed. It is the employees right to share literature and sign cards or petition s that would facilitate the formation of the union.
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Employees would need to gather information about where they work and analyze the issues that affect them. It is also useful to look at the common theme that can be used to bring the workers together. For instance are there chances that workers are mistreated, discriminated against or poorly paid (McAlevey, 2016). Such issues can be rich grounds to help in forming a union. It is necessary to form an organizing committee that will help unionization to succeed. This committee will serve to educate other workers on the benefits of unionizing and what the law says concerning workers’ rights.
The other step is lobbying for majority support and signing of authorization cards or petitions. Then the committee will need to request the NLRB to hold a secret a ballot election that would decide if the union would be formalized (McAlevey, 2016). The workers can also request the employer to recognize their union- though this might risk getting unfavorable result. After the union is formalized the members will need to commit to a fair contract that involves the employer and describes all aspects of employment.
How Collective Bargaining Can Deliver Improvements for Workers in the Organization
Collective bargaining is one of the major functions of unions. It is meat to push for the best interest of the employees. Ideally collective bargaining is the process in which unions negotiate with employers to renew a collective agreement or enter into a new one. This kind of negotiation will allow the participants to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that will make the employment better (Hattam, 2016). It will provide an opportunity for improving working conditions. This can be achieved through better wages, better working hours, improved health and safety and the employees might be offered more reasonable overtime. Collective bargaining has been used to improve working conditions in different countries and has reduced chances of mistreatment and offshoring- sending well-paying jobs overseas.
What To Consider Regarding a State’s Rights-To-Work Laws
It is necessary to note that in most states, the Right-to-work laws prohibit unions and employers from entering into contracts that only employ unionized workers to the jobs in the contract ( Hattam, 2016). This means that employees can receive their benefits of the union even though they might not be paying their fees to the union. Workers are also free to join unions when they want to; no one should be forced to join a union. Additionally the federal law prohibits employers from the non-right to work states from forcing employers to unionize ( Hattam, 2016).
References
Hattam, V. (2016). The Right to Work? Rethinking Labor and Politics in the 19th and 21st Centuries. Perspectives on Politics , 14 (2), 451.
McAlevey, J. (2016). No shortcuts: Organizing for power in the new gilded age . Oxford University Press.
