Union Membership

General Information:

What is a union?
A union is a group of workers who form an organization to gain:

• Respect on the job
• Better wages and benefits
• More flexibility for work and family needs
• A counterbalance to the unchecked power of employers
• A voice in improving the quality of their products and services

 

How do people form a union?
When workers decide they want to come together to improve their jobs, they work with a union to help them form their own local chapter. Once a majority of workers shows they want a union, sometimes employers honor the workers' choice. Often, the workers must ask the government to hold an election. If the workers win their union, they negotiate a contract with the employer that spells out each party's rights and responsibilities in the workplace.

Does the law protect workers joining unions?
It's supposed to-but too often it doesn't. Under the law, employers are not allowed to discriminate against or fire workers for choosing to join a union. For example, it's illegal for employers to threaten to shut down their businesses or to fire employees or take away benefits if workers form a union. However, employers routinely violate these laws, and the penalties are weak or nonexistent.

What kinds of workers are forming unions today?
A wider range of people than ever before, including many women and immigrants, are joining unions; doctors and nurses, poultry workers and graduate employees, home health care aides and wireless communications workers, auto parts workers and engineers, to name a few.

How do unions help working families today? Through unions, workers win better wages, benefits and a voice on the job-and good union jobs mean stronger communities. Union workers earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers and are more likely to receive health care and pension benefits than those without a union. In 2004, median weekly earnings for full-time union wage and salary workers were 1, compared with 2 for their nonunion counterparts. Unions lead the fight today for better lives for working people, such as thorough expanded family and medical leave, improved safety and health protections and fair-trade agreements that lift the standard of living for workers all over the world.

Introducing Our Union:

Our Union is an organization comprised of Painters, Decorators, Paperhangers, Drywall Finishers, Glaziers, Fabricators, Material Handlers, Floor Coverers, and many other allied trades. It has over 140,000 members and is growing larger every day.

Your Local Union and What It Does for You:

YOUR LOCAL UNION is the building block of the organization. It is chartered by the International Union. It cannot be dissolved so long as ten members constitute it and want to preserve it.

YOUR LOCAL UNION is governed by laws adopted by the members and approved by the General Executive Board. Its president, secretary and other officers are elected for specified terms. It meets regularly during each month.

YOUR LOCAL UNION negotiates agreements with employers on wages, hours, holidays, vacations and other working conditions, it represents you in adjusting grievances, issues your union card, issues transfer, withdrawal and reinstatement cards and may discipline members who violate union rules. It carries on the basic work of the union.

YOUR LOCAL UNION may elect delegates to the International Union Convention. It must affiliate with the District Council if there is one in your area. With proper endorsement by your members, your Local Union may affiliate with the Painters State Conference. Special branches of our trade, such as Glaziers, Sign Writers, Paintmakers, and Carpet and Linoleum Layers may join Regional and National Conferences of their trade.

YOUR LOCAL UNION cooperates with unions in other industries. It joins with all other AFL-CIO unions to make up the State Federation of Labor in your state; in Canada, it joins the Canadian Labor Congress.

YOUR UNION does not stand still. It seeks constantly to improve your living standards. It bargains at regular intervals for better conditions from your employers. Your union gives you security on the job. It influences local, state and federal government to pass laws helpful to workers. It teaches the truth on important social questions. It takes a part in community affairs to get you your rights as a citizen. It brings democracy into economic life.

How We Can Serve Our Union:

Just as the union serves you, so you can help your union. Here are some things you can do:

1. Attend union meetings faithfully.
2. Speak up at meetings (not afterward!).
3. Elect the best qualified officers possible.
4. Give them your complete cooperation.
5. When you become eligible, be willing to serve as an officer, a trustee, or a delegate to the Central Bodies with whom your local union is affiliated.
6. Volunteer for union committee work, such as visiting sick members, planning educational programs or getting voters registered.
7. Encourage others to join the union.
8. Study the union agreement under which you work. Report violations to your officers.
9. Know the General Constitution it outlines rights and duties of members.
10. Read your union publications, both local and International.
11. Take an active part in community life.
12. Be a credit to yourself and your union in all your relations with the public.

 

To follow these principles will take time and energy, but the effort will pay off. If you do a good job of helping your local union, the union will do a good job of helping you! Your union is what you and your fellow-members make it.

Our Rights as Members of Our Union:

YOUR UNION is a democratic organization. It is governed by the members. You have the basic right to take part in union affairs and help decide policies.

THESE ARE SOME of your rights as a member of the IUPAT:  to attend the meetings of your local union, to vote in local union elections, to discuss wages and conditions in connection with union contracts, to have help in settling job grievances, to enjoy all the benefits won for the members by the union.

YOU ALSO HAVE THE RIGHT:
To receive death benefits as provided under the General Constitution, to receive the International's monthly Journal, to enjoy any special benefits provided under your local union's by-laws. You have the right to an honorable withdrawal card when you leave the industry. You have the right to transfer from the jurisdiction of your own local union to that of another.

Our International Union:

YOUR INTERNATIONAL UNION is the union's highest authority. It operates within the framework of the constitution, like all the subordinate bodies. It is guided by policies laid down at conventions.

THE CONVENTION meets every five years. It is composed of delegates elected by the local unions. It does its work through convention committees. It decides policies by majority vote of the delegates. It may amend the union's governing law and the constitution. It acts as a final court of appeal in all union matters. It elects the General Officers.

THE CONSTITUTION is the highest law of the union. It was first adopted in 1887. It has been kept up-to-date by periodic revisions. It may be amended by the convention or by General membership referendum. It sets forth the duties and functions of the General Officers. It sets forth the rights and obligations of all subordinate bodies. It sets forth the rights and duties of membership in the union. You are given a copy of the International Union Constitution when you join our ranks. Read the Constitution! Know the laws of your union. Respect the laws, which are the foundation of democratic government in your union!

At each convention you elect officers to govern the administrative and financial affairs of the International and to represent you on all matters vital to your trade.