How to Unionise at Work

But if the last few years of crisis after crisis have hit workers hard (let’s face it: things haven’t been easy since at least 2008), then how do you get a job that pays better and doesn’t leave you burned and bummed out? Maybe you could keep switching jobs until you find one in the same industry that magically doesn’t stress you out and pays twice as much? Best of luck with that.

No, at some point, you’re probably going to decide that it makes sense to stick with your current job, but try and make it suck less. For these reasons, there’s a renewed interest in something that used to be commonplace: labor unions.

In 2022, filings to the National Labor Relations Board—the mechanism by which you make your labor union legit in the eyes of the government—were up 60 percent year on year. In other words, unions are Having a Moment.

Unions are about clubbing together with your colleagues to push for better working conditions, rather than stepping over them in your attempts to pucker up to the boss. If that sounds relevant to your interests then read on. And remember, you have nothing to lose but your chains.

Simple answer: A union is really just any group of workers who come together to act in their collective interests at work. Boring legalistic answer: A union is a recognised organization that supports workers and fosters positive industrial relations between them and their employer.

Basically, if you and your workmates club together to make things better, you’re a union. Say the air conditioning has been broken for weeks, your office is unbearably hot, and management is too cheap to call an engineer. If you complain to your boss, you’re one whiny troublemaker. If you get all your workmates to co-sign a group email to your boss that politely yet firmly demands a new AC unit—and have a plan for what to do if the demand is refused—then congratulations, you’re a union!

The truth is that most employers tend not to do anything much for workers out of the kindness of their hearts. If you’re a fan of taking two days off at the end of the working week, a custom commonly known as the “weekend”, then you have unions to thank for it, rather than the magnanimity of bosses.

Every employer paying minimum wage is basically saying, “If I could legally pay even less, I would”. And the fact that union membership is at a relative historical low is part of the reason everyone’s wages are so crappy right now. Don’t take my word for it: A 2021 report by the Economic Policy Institute think tank reported that the decline in unionization has translated to a loss of earnings equivalent to $3,250 for a median full time worker.

“Even if you have a well-meaning manager, there are going to be things that benefit you as workers that are not going to benefit the company,” says Tom, an organizer at the London branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), where he has organized workers in the US and UK. “Higher pay, reduced working hours, hiring more staff—these are things that cost money. At some point, our interests are going to rub up against the interests of management, so it's really important that you have an independent voice on the job, and some mechanism to push forward your interest as workers.”

The numbers speak for themselves. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-union workers earn just 85 percent of what unionized workers earn ($1,029/week vs. $1,216/week). A 2022 report by the House and Senate committees found that unionized workers are 18.3 percent more likely to receive employer-sponsored health insurance, and employers pay more towards the health insurance than non-unionised workers.

In fact, unions are good for all workers. According to the Department of Labor—hardly a Maoist sleeper cell—"when more workers have unions, wages rise for union and non-union workers. The converse is also true: when union density declines, so do workers' wages."

So, you’ve watched Sorry to Bother You, read the first half of this article, and convinced yourself that if you want change, you need to start a union in your workplace. What now?

“The first thing to do is to join one,” says Tom, straightforwardly enough. Find out whether there’s a union which represents workers from your industry and sign up. However, the next step is not simply to tell all your colleagues to join the union too, because this might give them the ick. “If you say the word ‘union’ to them, they might think of these, old-fashioned organizations that miners joined.” Instead, start talking to them about problems in the workplace.

“You want to find an issue that is widely and deeply felt. They care about it across the workforce and they're actually willing to do something about it. And then you just want to start having lots of little conversations with your workmates about it.”

Say you’re pissed off because you’ve just been offered a measly 3 percent annual pay rise despite inflation sky-rocketing. Ask your colleagues: What do they think of the offer? Unless you are surrounded by people who simply love to be paid less and less as each year passes in some kind of financial cucking kink, you’re probably not on your own.

Then you might get a group together to discuss the issue. Tom explains: “That's when you start building up to saying, ‘Hey, we're already working collectively together on this issue. Turns out, I'm a member of this union, they're willing to back us if we want to push this forward.’”

Then it’s a question of momentum. “Think what practical steps need to be done and give yourself a timeline,” says Tom. This is “one of the most important things that you can do.”

“People often get bogged down in writing the perfect demand letter to management and have all these really well thought through reasons for why we should get whatever we're asking for. Actually, what's far more important is to have a plan: If they say yes, what happens next? If they say no, what happens next?”

Also: Have a notebook. Knowledge is power. Note down the concerns of your colleagues, and note down things management tells you. They might make a promise to improve things and six months later, when nothing has changed, deny they ever said it. If that happens, you’re going to feel pretty damn pleased when you have the receipts. You should also protect yourself by taking a note of any concerning conversations you have with management—which brings us to…

Unions are powerful because you bargain as a group, so the default response from management is always the same: “Individualize, individualize, individualize,” says Tom. If you’ve made a group pay claim, expect your employer to start a pay review process where they wish to discuss your pay as an individual, alone, in a small room with harsh lighting. They might also kick the can down the road in the hope that your union drive will run out of steam.

Then there are the superficial changes. “We’ve had workplaces where workers raise issues of pay and then the next week management says, ‘Every Monday, we're gonna do a food order for you guys. So you'll have snacks in the break room throughout the week.’” Whatever you do, don’t get distracted by the snacks. Mmmmmm, snacks.

Employers do sometimes turn nasty. When Amazon workers at a warehouse in New York tried to unionise, the company hired anti-union consultants, told them they could lose their wages, and called the police on an organizer who was distributing lunch to workers. The Amazon Labor Union won anyway as JFK8 became the first Amazon warehouse in the US to pass a union vote.

The point is, organizing a union means you’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone, so give yourself as much protection as possible. “That means strength in numbers, knowing your legal rights and having the backing of a union,” says Tom.

And another tip: “Once you go public, high level HR is going to get involved because they see unions as something to be fought against. There's a lot that you can accomplish before getting to that stage… Only go public as a union once no further gains can be made without going public.”

Organizing is a marathon, not a sprint. “Your timeline needs to be months and years, not weeks,” says Tom. “Be prepared to dedicate a minimum of four or five hours a week, but some of that will be in work time.”