Union FAQ

Union FAQ

What do unions do?

Unions are a tool through which a workforce, acting as a single entity, negotiates working conditions, compensation, and benefits with an employer. While an individual worker has limited negotiating leverage, a union, representing the full labor force, offers substantial leverage over the employer. This additional power allows workers to secure more substantial improvement to their workplace. Further, as unions are composed of members of the workforce, they allow workers to actively change their workplace, thus making the workplace more inherently democratic.

Before a union can negotiate on behalf of a labor force it must be recognized as representing the laborers. This can happen in two ways: first, 30% of workers sign cards or a petition to form a union and submit it to the NLRB there will be a general referendum on union formation with a simple majority of voters deciding the result, alternatively the employer may voluntarily recognize a union as representing a majority of workers. Both processes take broad support from the workforce, so involving every worker as much as possible is essential.

Collective bargaining follows a recognition campaign.Collective bargaining is when a union negotiates with an employer on behalf of the bargaining unit, the part of the labor force represented by the union. During this process the union is represented by a bargaining unit that negotiates terms with the employer’s representatives, and, after sufficient deliberation, an agreed upon draft will be sent to the rank-and-file union members for a ratification vote. In the event that a bargaining unit is unable to negotiate an acceptable contract, rank-and-file members may remove and replace them. After a contract is ratified the protections and guarantees earned by the workers will remain in place for the duration of the contract.

When workers form a union they collectively come up with a proposed contract that includes all of the rules of the workplace as well as any changes to those rules that they would like to see. That proposed contract is negotiated over by the union and the administration until full agreement is reached, then the edited contract goes back to the full union membership for a vote. If the membership ratifies the final contract it will become the official rules by which the administration and workers operate.

The NLRB is the National Labor Relations Board, an administrative agency created by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The NLRB oversees union elections and cases can be brought before the board to investigate and remedy unfair labor practices instituted by employers. In a 2016 filing from Colombia graduate students the NLRB ruled that graduate student workers employed at private universities are entitled to protections under the National Labor Relations Act, including the right to form a union for the purposes of collective bargaining. In 2021 a proposed rule reversing this decision was withdrawn, helping to secure Northwestern graduate student’s right to form a union for the coming years.