I work at a non profit and we just won union recognition and are slowly moving towards first contract negotiations and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. Would love to chat with some folks about their experiences, especially if you've negotiated around contracts/grants/etc.
See if you can negotiate your contract ending at the same time as the other departments. That way, next time you can negotiate together, with the power of three units threatening strike instead of just one.
To answer your question about selective raises, that's retaliation and a ULP. They did it to us at my last job and we had to fight it.
A lot of reps are fairly new, or are used to a particular wheelhouse, or know more about organizing than labor law, or more about labor law than organizing. That's why it's so important to have worker leadership.
Have you read Labor Law for the Rank and Filer and no contract, no peace?
I went to look up a video that would convey Labor Law for OP at least in part and learned that Staughton Lynd died in November. Found this but unsure as to relevance.
OP, here is a PDF of Labor Law. It really is #1 to read. At least assign it as homework to your union rep. ;)
I have not read those. I'm really bad at reading books, unfortunately though I do try. I have a huuuuuuuge list I need to go through. Luckily the only things that interest me are like, political literature and sociology
Our department just won our election two months ago where one started negotiations in February, and the other just doesn't want to collaborate with anyone for some reason, I have no idea why. We arent even exactly sure when we will start negotiating either. So I don't think it's realistic, which sucks because more people is more power.
I read in this article from a union busting lawfirm that they can get away with it so long as they can prove that it wasn't due to anti-union animus. Do you mind sharing your experience with fighting that? Also, it is true that before our first contract we cannot receive raises across the board until after negotiations?
On the management retaliation:
Unfortunately, my experience is that the rep filed a grievance and it was out of my hands. What is important imo is immediately framing it as retaliation and making the boss the bad guy before the boss can blame the union. Make it an issue to organize around or management will.
Management can give you a raise whenever they want. Ant "my hands are tied" rhetoric is the bosses trying to blame the union for their own retaliation.
On the coordinated bargaining: you don't have to bargain at the same time this time around to line up expiration dates and bargain at the same time in 3 years.
Yeah, the narrative control had been frustrating because the first BU had been so hush hush about their negotiations and never stood up to management during all staff meetings that management took control. Every meeting started with "so union negotiations are going great!" Followed by a new rule or power taken away with a "sorry guys it's because union!" tacked on at the end. My dept wasn't unionized and we were afraid to push back on that then so I really want to start pushing back and getting way more vocal/transparent when we start negotiating, AND to push on this particular issue.
Our union rep has told us multiple times that since this is our first contract negotiation that the conditions of employment would be frozen until getting a ratified contract, which includes frozen wages. We don't get normal raises, it's been like 5 years so idk if that has something to do with it?
Idk how big your workplace is, but at mine, everyone in the Organizing Committee picked a few leaders to talk to on an ongoing basis. and that way, the most influential people in the workplace were getting their opinions on union stuff from us. That way the 4 person OC was able to reach all 60 workers with pro union messaging.
my actual union is pretty small, its like maybe 1/7th of the whole org population. I think we do tend to split and talk to different folks, but the two anti union folks in my department are vehemently opposed to changing their minds in the slightest. Heels dug in hard. I'm hoping that over time as they see updates and such they might come around but I don't know. As for talking to other people in the agency, we are all pretty siloed; working remote and in different buildings across town. Especially since the pandemic lock downs it's been even worse. I think some of us have tried to have conversations with the non unionized folks but it still does seem to be for naught. Idk WHY the first BU didnt start giving updates/announcements to the whole agency to try and innoculate people a bit, but i definitely plan to with our negotiations