[wpforms id="989" title="false" description="false"]What Happens After You Sign a Union Card?
Many employees in numerous Companies have signed membership application cards with the Machinists Union. They have considered the options and made that commitment to themselves, their families, and to their co-workers.
The Union card gives the Union the authority to bargain for a Collective Agreement on behalf of the workers in the shop or plant being organized. Call us Today.
Here’s the Basic Process to Join the Union:
There are some detailed and formal legal steps to follow but the union organizer will assist you with those requirements.
The basic steps in organizing a union aren’t difficult:
(1) You and a majority of your co-workers (excluding management) sign a membership card indicating your desire to become unionized.
(2) The union will file an Application for Certification as the bargaining agent for your workplace before the appropriate Labour Relations Board, depending on what jurisdiction you are employed in.
- In BC, you must sign up at least 45% of the employees in order to apply for certification.
- In a federally regulated workplace, you must have at least 35% employee support to apply
(3) The Labour Relations Board will review all membership cards received and determine whether to conduct a supervised vote at the workplace. If the majority votes in favour, the Union is certified.
The Provincial Labour Code allows a union to be certified based solely on the membership cards (with no vote) if there is 55% employee support for the union.
The Federal Labour Code allows a union to be certified based solely on the membership cards (with no vote) if there is 51% employee support for the union.
When the Union has the majority of the employees signed up, they may apply for a certification at the Labour Relations Board. If the majority votes in favour of the Union then you are members of the Machinists Union.
Remember – the employer will never see the membership cards, and absolute confidentiality is maintained at all times by the Machinists Union.
Once a certification has been granted by the Labour Board, the Union will notify the Company we wish to commence negotiations for a contract. We will meet with the employees to discuss what you want to see in your Collective Agreement.
The bargaining proposals that are put forward to the employer are Your Proposals. They are put together from the requests made by the Union members, and as a group you determine what your priorities will be. This is Your Union and you will have a representative on the bargaining committee to assist our full time Business Representative in negotiations with the employer.
The Machinists Union represents all new workers in the same professional manner that we do with our other shops and members. Just ask the employees of many other IAM-represented shops across British Columbia.
Here’s the truth for so many of them: Membership in the Machinists Union doesn’t cost—it pays!
Contact the Machinists Union Today.