Friday, May 3, 2019

Why Unionize?

So now that we have employment standards and human rights legislation, why unionize?

Nonunionized workers have to fight for themselves, take up their complaints with employment standards, or human rights, or sue in civil court. Unions represent people through the grievance process and take up the costs and the representation for the worker.

Group purchasing power on health benefits, group retirement plans, etc.

Unionized workers have access to rulings in other unionized workplaces (jurisprudence). For example, progressive discipline (emphasizes correction, and the minimum level of discipline required) is a principle that applies to all unionized workplaces because arbitrators have said so. Nonunionized workplaces do not have to use progressive discipline.

Unionized workers have the help of representation in key meetings with their employer. This provides accountability and levels the power dynamic. Nonunionized workers do not have this.

In nonunionized workplaces, a worker’s wage rate is at the whim of the employer, and sometimes gets improved if the employee has good negotiating skills. In a unionized workplace, the workers negotiate as a group and all have a say in the wage rate, and other key workplace conditions.

An effective union can fill the role of a partner with the employer, bringing key concerns to the table to be solved before they become huge problems, and letting the employer know when the workplace culture is failing. Professional union representatives and trained stewards can use conflict resolution skills to increase the chance of the employer really listening to those concerns.

You might be interested in

Search