All workers covered by a collective agreement are involved in bargaining. Through a union, workers elect a bargaining committee. The bargaining committee sits across the negotiating table from the employer. The employer side is usually made up of lawyers and HR representatives. The union’s bargaining committee receives direction on workers’ bargaining priorities in a number of ways. Before the union’s bargaining committee prepares its proposals, workers are sent a survey, asking them about workplace issues and problems they may be facing due to their working conditions.
Workers can voice their concerns to their union at any time, through grievances, at meetings or just by talking in the workplace. The more workers are involved in communicating with their union, the more their concerns will be brought to the bargaining table.
Workers can campaign around making significant changes to the collective agreement, such as the current campaign around unpaid work launched by many unionized flight attendants. Workers’ demands for better working conditions make their way to the bargaining committee and then get proposed to the employer at the negotiating table.
Through these methods, workers voices are heard at the bargaining table.
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