"Working with other Unions,
we built a coalition and elected candidates to the school board who oppose
contracting out our jobs. Working together, unionized workers can have
great power."
-Michael McKee
"In our last contract we
won a good raise, two extra personal days off and a two-level pay upgrade
for completing a two-year degree program"
-Cheryl Davis-Darrell
Public School Child
Development Assoc.
"Thanks to the Union's successful
campaign to win passage of the Railroad Retirement and Survivors Act, I
can retire at 60 and in good health. So many people who finish a
life of hard work and stress aren't healthy enough to enjoy the
retirement they worked so hard for.
-Jerry Gross
"Thanks to the efforts of my union we won
our first defined benefit pension plan in our last contract. This
happened even though so many workers across the country are losing good
pension plans".-Phyllis May
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What is a Union?
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How do people form a Union?
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Does the law protect workers joining a Union?
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What kinds of workers are forming Unions today?
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How do Unions help working families?
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What has Unions accomplished for all workers?
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What challenges face workers today?
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What about workers in other countries?
A union is a group of workers who form an organization to win: Respect
on the job; Better wages and benefits; More flexibility for work and
family needs; A counterbalance to the unchecked power of employers; and
A voice in improving the quality of their products and services.
When workers decide they want to come together to improve their jobs,
they contact a union to help guide their organizing efforts to join a
union. Once a majority of workers show they want a union, sometimes
employers honor the workers' choice. Often, the workers must ask the
government to hold an election. If the workers win their union, they
negotiate a contract with the employer that spells out each party's
rights and responsibilities in the workplace.
Yes. Under the law, which supports freedom of association, employers are
not allowed to discriminate against or fire workers for choosing to join
a union. For example, it's illegal for employers to threaten to shut
down their businesses or to lay off employees or take away benefits if
workers form a union.
A wider range of people than ever before, including many women and
immigrants, are building unions-doctors and nurses, poultry workers and
graduate employees, home healthcare aides and wireless communications
workers, auto parts workers and engineers, to name a few.
Through unions, workers win better wages, benefits and a voice on the
job-and good union jobs mean stronger communities.
Union workers earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers and are more
likely to receive health care and pension benefits than those without a
union.
In 2000, union members' median weekly earnings for full-time wage and
salary were $696, compared with $542 for their nonunion counterparts.
Unions lead the fight today for better lives for working people, such as
through expanded family and medical leave, improved safety and health
protections and fair trade agreements that lift the standard of living
for workers all over the world.
Unions have made life better for all working Americans by helping to
pass laws ending child labor, establishing the eight-hour day,
protecting workers' safety and health and helping create Social
Security, unemployment insurance and the minimum wage.
Today, thousands of workers want to join unions. The wisest employers
understand that when workers form unions, their companies also benefit.
But many other employers fight workers' efforts to come together by
intimidating, harassing and threatening them. In response, workers are
reaching out to their communities to help them exercise their freedom to
improve their lives.
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What about workers in other countries?
Unions fight to ensure that corporations and
governments around the world respect all workers' fundamental rights to:
Come together and negotiate with employers; Refuse forced labor; Reject child
labor; and Work free from discrimination.
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