Know Your Union Lingo

Do you know what a shop steward is? What about Weingarten Rights? If you hang around union people long enough, there are terms that will keep popping up that can be confusing if you’ve never worked a union job before or had much experience with labor unions.

Get to know these important union terms listed below. For a longer list, download the UFCW Glossary of Labor Terminology.

Authorization Card

An authorization card is a form you fill out when you want a union at your workplace. In some cases, these cards also let you confirm that you’re ready to have an election to vote on starting a union.

Bargaining Agent

When you start a union in your workplace, the larger union you join (comprised of many workplaces) becomes your bargaining agent. In our case, UFCW will have the duty to help you and your coworkers bargain for the best union contract with your employer.

Bargaining Rights

Your legal right to negotiate the way your workplace is set up is the basis of your bargaining rights, as guaranteed by the rights outlined in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Bargaining Unit

When you start to unionize, everyone who is able to vote in your union election will become part of the bargaining unit after your election. That same group of people will then be responsible for negotiating and voting on your contract. Who can or can’t join your bargaining unit is defined by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and legal precedent.

Card Check

In some cases, you can start a union without a formal NLRB election. You can use a card check to prove to the NLRB that a majority of workers in your proposed bargaining unit have filled out authorization cards. If your employer voluntarily recognizes these cards, you’re ready to start a union!

Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is what we call the process of negotiating your working conditions between you and your employer when making your union contract. Unlike a nonunion workplace, where every employee is on their own (and it’s usually up to the boss to decide your pay, benefits, and working conditions), in a union shop we all work together and use our strength in numbers to win the best contract for everyone.

Grievance

Whenever your supervisor violates your union contract, you may file a grievance against them. This is a formal complaint that includes a fair process to decide the outcome. Most of the time, if you are unable to resolve the dispute with your supervisor, then your grievance is taken to an arbitrator, who is a neutral third party that decides the outcome of your case. This is very different from what happens at a nonunion shop where the boss gets to decide on whether what they are doing is right or wrong. Grievance/arbitration is the fair way you can deal with your employer when they violate your union contract. With the help of a representative or shop steward, you will be able to work through these procedures. Grievances serve to make sure you aren’t, for example, disciplined or fired unfairly.

Organizer

When you want to start a union at your workplace, we will connect you with union organizers to help support you as you talk to your coworkers, build committees, and organize your workplace.

Organizing Committee

To start a union, you will work with organizers to build an organizing committee. This committee is a crack team of your most reliable and trusted coworkers who help get everybody else at your work on board. Together you’ll connect with the rest of your coworkers, get their authorization cards filled out, circulate petitions and take other actions, and build more support from your coworkers and the community.

Picketing

When you see people outside of their workplace carrying signs and passing out flyers, you’re seeing a picket. A picketing action can be for protesting working conditions or illegal or unfair actions taken by the employer. A formal picket involves workers with signs moving in a line at the entrance of their workplace. In many cases, they are discouraging people from entering their business during their action. We engage in picketing to build awareness of our fights by letting the broader public know what’s happening at our workplace. And the more our employers see that our community is ready to stand by us, the more likely they are to listen to our demands.

Rank & File

The rank and file of a union refers to the members of our union. The rank and file are where the strength of the labor movement lies and are who makes our companies successful. When the rank and file are organized, they can be successful along with the company.

Ratification

Ratification is when you and your coworkers vote to approve your union contract and is the last step in making a collective bargaining agreement.

Shop Steward

If you want to help stand up for your coworkers at a union shop, you might become a shop steward. You get training so that you can support coworkers in grievances and make sure your employer follows the word of your contract, while still doing the regular tasks in your job.

Tentative Agreement

During bargaining, when both your union bargaining committee and your employer settle on a section of your contract, you have reached a tentative agreement that allows you to move on to the next subject of bargaining. You work through this process until you have reached tentative agreements across your entire contract, and once you have, you and your coworkers vote on whether or not to approve the agreement.

Union Bug / Label

That cute little icon you see on union-made products is what we call a union bug and it shows that the work is performed by union labor.

Union Contract

Your union contract, or collective bargaining agreement, is the document that you bargain for with your employer laying out all your working conditions, benefits, and more. Learn more about how union contracts can help you make your work better!

Union Representative

A union representative is an employee of the union that works with you to make sure you and your coworkers know everything about your contract and helps enforce it. Union reps are here to have your back in any disciplinary meetings you face and to support you in any grievances you may file with your employer.

Weingarten Rights

Weingarten Rights are the rights of employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act to request union representation during investigatory interviews with their supervisor if they reasonably believe that the interview could result in their being disciplined. Weingarten Rights also guarantee the rights of union representatives and shop stewards to assist and counsel employees during interviews which could lead to discipline. Learn more about your Weingarten Rights.