What We Can Do?
Employees are becoming increasingly concerned about the unilateral rights of management to change wages, benefits and working conditions. We are realizing that the only way we can have a voice in this ever-changing work environment is by enabling ourselves to participate in Collective Bargaining. Then protecting our wages, benefits, and working conditions with a Contract.

How Can We Organize?
The first step involved is, obviously, your decision to organize. You should also have some confidence that at least half of the employees at your workplace would be inclined to join a union. You'll need to pull together an organizing committee. Members of the committee spend time talking to co-workers, on and off the job. They circulate union cards and help put flyers together, meet frequently with union staff and each other. No drive can succeed without a solid core of people willing to put in some serious hours, but in the early stages keep things quiet.

You then need to determine what you want the "bargaining unit" to be. That is, who at your workplace will be able to be in the union and who will not? You should include employees that have common duties, interests and similar pay.

Get information on all the locations and shifts people work. Put together as complete a phone list as you can. Find out whether many employees belong to specific ethnic and or cultural groups. Where else does the employer operate? Who are its main customers? Do the employer owners or managers have community or political connections? What do people most want to change at work? What are concrete issues you can address in a first union contract? The organizer can help you sort this out. You need to move people so they'll support the drive and get involved, but you don't want to make promises you can't keep. That will cause problems later.

The Process:
Employees must express an interest in becoming represented by signing Authorization Cards or Petitions. These Authorization Cards/Petitions are not shown to management but are submitted to The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Law requires that a minimum of 30 percent of the employees in a potential bargaining unit must sign cards or petitions to warrant the holding of a secret ballot representation election. (IFPTE likes to see a majority of the employees, usually 60% having signed before filing with the NLRB). The election is held by the NLRB, and takes at least 50% plus one of those voting to establish IFPTE as the bargaining representative. After selecting IFPTE as the collective bargaining representative, the new unit with IFPTE help will engage in negotiations with the employer, which will result in a contract.

These "cards" may be actual cards, or simply a petition. The cards or petition will indicate that the person signing the card would like IFPTE to represent him or her in contract talks regarding wages, benefits, and working conditions, and are completely confidential (the employer never sees them). It is important to get a person's signature and the date on these cards, or they will not be considered valid.

Once you are ready to submit the cards to the NLRB (which entails handing the cards to an official and filling out a form), you should mail a certified letter to management indicating that you wish the union to be recognized. This is just a formality, as management will almost always refuse to recognize a union without an election. Once you have submitted the cards, the NLRB will contact the employer to schedule a hearing to determine the actual bargaining unit, and to schedule the election. At the hearing, the employer will many times try to pack the bargaining unit with employees that are likely to vote no, and try to challenge employees that are likely to vote yes.

Once the bargaining unit is made final, the NLRB will schedule the date of the election. Almost all employers mount anti-union campaigns. They seem to work from the same playbook, hire the same consultants, tell the same lies and play the same tricks. Looking at other campaigns can give you a good idea of what to expect in yours.

Use the information you gathered about the employer to broaden your base of support. Opportunities for doing this will vary greatly from employer to employer. In general, you want to let your boss know he's being watched, and any dirty tricks he plays will be noted by his customers, his associates in the community and his political allies. Sometimes you can exert real pressure.

Media attention, when you can get it, can also be useful.

How can I help?
Keep talking to your co-workers and getting cards signed until you have cards from well over half of the people. Then you're ready to turn interest and support into real union representation. The election is secret ballot, overseen by an NLRB agent, with the ballot asking the question, "Do you want "IFPTE" to represent you in contract talks with "The employer?" A "yes" vote is for the union, a "no" against. A simple majority wins.

If you win, congratulations! The employer must enter into contract talks with the union regarding wages, benefits, and working conditions. If you lose: you must wait at least one year before trying again.