Need A Union?

Top 10 things FPD/AHPE and its Divisions

do for every member:

q	We represent you to your employer

q	We defend your pension

q	We negotiate your pay and conditions

q	We protect your health and safety

q	We promote equality at work

q	We improve career opportunities

q	We campaign for people in many public and private sector professions

q	We organize nationally and locally

q	We will train your representatives

q	We provide legal support and financial services

If your workplace is non-union:

n	You’re what’s referred to as an “employee at will” and your boss can discipline or fire you whenever he or she wants to, for any reason, and you’d have little recourse.

n	Your boss would probably have an “open door” policy, and he or she would “listen” to you, but still do whatever he or she wants.

n	Your boss has the sole discretion and authority to determine your wages, benefits and other terms and conditions of work, and if you don’t like it, you can hit the road.

n	Your boss has the sole discretion and authority to make changes to your wages, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment, at any time.

n	Your boss has the sole discretion and authority in matters of hiring and promotion.

If your workplace has a union contract:

n	There would be grievance and arbitration procedures available to you in the event you are disciplined or terminated so that your rights are protected against wrongful actions by your boss.

n	There would be actual contract negotiations that require both labor and management to listen and reach amicable and mutual agreements.

n	Wages, benefits and working conditions are issues that are mutually discussed in contract negotiations, and if you don’t like it, you have the chance to work to change them.

n	Changes can only be made by the mutual understanding and written agreement of both labor and management.

n	Hiring and promotion is covered by contract, with seniority and other factors governing.

q	Union members earn substantially more in pay and benefits than non-union workers.

·	Wages and benefits for the average union worker in the private sector totaled $37.02 per hour in September 2009, compared to $26.38 an hour for the typical non-union worker.

·	In September, the average union worker in the private sector earned $23.00 per hour in wage and salary income, while the average non-union worker earned $19.03 per hour. That’s a difference of $3.97 per hour, or $8,258 per year for a full-time, full-year worker.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation -- September 2009,” Table 5

q	Union members have better benefits.

·	The average union worker in the private sector receives $14.02 per hour toward their benefits package while their non-union counterpart receives only $7.34 per hour.

Workers deserve a secure retirement, yet only 65% of non-union workers in private sector receive retirement benefits through their employer, through either a traditional pension or 401(k). However, 87% of union workers in the private sector have employer-provided retirement benefits. In the public sector, 97% of union workers have employer-provided retirement benefits, while 84% of non-union workers do.

·	Only 69% of non-union workers in the private sector receive health care benefits through their employer while 90% of union workers do. In the public sector, 95% of union workers receive health care benefits through their employer, with 81% non-union workers getting this essential benefit.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation -- September 2009,” Table 5

Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employee Benefits in the U.S., March 2009,” Tables 1 & 2

q	All told, total compensation for union members is higher than for non-union workers and this appears to hold true across occupations and industries.

·	Union workers in protective service jobs (such as security guards and corrections officers) earn $992 per week, compared with $611 for non-union workers.

·	This union premium also exists in office and administrative support occupations where union workers earn $782 per week compared to $595 per week for non-union workers.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Union Members - 2009,” Table 4

Do you work in a right-to-work state? Do you know what this actually means?

Here’s a little background -

In 1947, the Republican-controlled Congress passed an amendment to the National Labor Relations Act allowing states to ban collectively bargained union-security agreements that require workers to pay for union representation. In other words, right-to-work laws say unions must represent all eligible employees, whether they pay dues or not. This forces unions to use their time and members’ dues money to provide union benefits to free riders who are not willing to pay their fair share.

Supporters of right to work laws claim these laws are necessary to protect employees from being forced to join unions. But federal law ALREADY protects workers who don’t want to join a union in order to get or keep their jobs, and this individual freedom argument is just a sham.

Right-to-work is plain and simple union-busting, designed to encourage “free riders” and to weaken or destroy unions. But even more detrimental:

·	Right to Work endangers safety and health standards that protect workers in the job by weakening unions that help to ensure worker safety by fighting for tougher safety rules;

·	Workers in states with Right to Work laws have a consistently lower quality of life than in other states - lower wages, higher poverty and infant mortality rates, less access to the health care they need and poorer education for their children;

·	Right to Work laws hurt women and their families, and people of color and their families, by keeping wages low.

RIGHT TO WORK HURTS EVERYONE

Right to work laws just aren’t fair to dues-paying members. If a nonunion worker is fired illegally, the union must use its time and money to defend him or her, even if that requires going through a costly legal process. The idea of a union is that everyone benefits, so all should share in the process and everyone should pay their fair share of the costs of union representation.

Given a recession brought on by unchecked corporate greed and scandal, and given that we are living in an era of relatively stagnant wages, diminishing health benefits and less retirement security, we should be strengthening workers’ ability to organize unions, not discouraging and busting them.