If Union Members Should Reject The Proposed Labor Agreement

Even under a security agreement, workers who oppose full membership of the union can remain „key members“ and pay only the share of contributions directly allocated to representation, such as collective bargaining and contract management. They are known as opponents and are no longer full members, but yet protected by the trade union contract. Unions are required to inform all insured employees of this option, created by a Supreme Court decision known as Beck Law. Under current legislation, workers and unions cannot insist that employers in their sector negotiate jointly with the union or a group of unions.10 Workers and unions are obliged to adopt this approach with multiple employers, whereas this would both coordinate negotiations within a sector or branch and prevent employers from pitting workers and unions against each other in different places. The NLRA should be amended to make it clear that workers and unions in a common sector or sector can coordinate and insist on important contractual conditions – such as the duration of the collective agreement, the terms of use of subcontractors by the employer, etc. – that help them develop power in their sector or sector. Unions sometimes negotiate a main contract with an employer or employer organization, and then insist that reorganized employers sign the framework contract rather than negotiate an individual contract. This scheme is common in the construction and entertainment industry, but it is also used by other unions in other sectors. (See examples of negotiations with several employers below. 25. Noam Scheiber, „Nissan Workers in Mississippi Reject Union Bid by U.A.W.,“ New York Times, August 5, 2017 (report on a UAW organizing campaign at Nissan, which found that „veterans earn about $26 an hour in the plant, typically only a few dollars less than veteran workers represented by the union in large U.S. companies and well above the median wage in Mississippi).

Current legislation allows employers to participate in NLRB bargaining units and employers use this process to manipulate the bargaining unit and delay and defeat trade union organizations. Employers often seek to complement the collective agreements proposed by the union by workers, not because they want to negotiate with greater unity, but to water down union support by adding workers not yet organized by the union.9 Under current legislation, workers and unions are limited in their ability to insist that their employer negotiate with them the terms of employment of workers of suppliers and subcontractors of their employer.