First Step – Connect
Once you and your fellow employees have decided that a union can help you stand up for your rights as workers and improve your workplace, you’ve taken the first step in the process of forming a union. You should now contact Ray Wade, Organizer for Local 780G who will help guide you through the process.
Toll Free: 1-800-876-5171
Cel: 780-668-6400
Email: rwade@unifor780g.org
Second Step – Mobilize
The actual process of forming a union in your workplace is not complicated. To be certified, a union must demonstrate that it has the support of the majority of employees in a workplace. Your union organizer will help you empower a group of your co-workers to form a campaign team whose goal is to win a union vote at work. This is achieved by having employees sign a union membership card (or sometimes a petition) indicating the desire to be represented by the union.
Once at least 40 per cent of employees have signed cards indicating their support for a union, an application for certification is made to the Labour Relations Board.
When the Board receives the application from the union, has determined that the union has fulfilled necessary requirements, the Board will, as soon as possible, conduct a representation vote to determine if a majority of employees in the bargaining unit favours certification.
The vote is by secret ballot, and the majority of those employees who actually vote determine the outcome. If 50% plus 1 of the employees who vote supports the union, it is certified as the exclusive bargaining agent for the employees.
Third Step – Negotiate
Legally unite your co-workers and start negotiations with your employer for a contract agreement that spells out your pay, your benefits and gives workers a stronger voice to solve problems at work.