UNION SHOP = UNION POWER:
“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.
Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.”
– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
What is Union Shop and why is it important?
Union Shop means we ALL participate in shaping our union.
Union shop is how we enforce our contract wins. MIT is trying to undermine our union security to erode our union power.
Union Shop builds Union POWER.
We ALL contribute to the costs of upholding our contract, and we ALL benefit from union protections.
Union Shop is FAIR and DEMOCRATIC.
Every worker contributes their fair share and has the opportunity to vote for our shared future.
Union Shop is COMMON and PRACTICAL.
Many other unions at MIT have union or agency shop. Many other graduate worker unions across the country have union shop, especially in the private sector.
FAQ and a brief history on union shop:
What is union (and agency) shop?
Union shop is a union security agreement wherein all workers covered by the CBA become dues-paying members of the union as a condition of their employment.
Agency shop (this is what we have in UE 256, MIT GSU) is a variation of union shop where workers can either become dues-paying union members or otherwise waive their union membership and, instead, pay equivalent agency fees, opting out of voting rights of members.
These are contrasted with open shop, where workers must go out of their way to become union members and the financial costs of contract enforcement are unfairly concentrated on a small fraction of workers, weakening collective power.
What do union dues and agency fees go toward?
Approximately one-third of our dues will fund the operation of our local union. This includes compensating organizing staff, putting on events, maintaining organizing infrastructure, initiating mediation and arbitration of grievances, building a local strike fund, and whatever else our membership deems appropriate for advancing our collective interests. The remaining dues go to the national union, helping to pay for professional legal and research resources, national union staff who support campaigns like ours, and a general fund to support workers who strike.
Importantly, UE does not make political contributions, so none of our dues will be used to support electoral campaigns. In fact, UE has long been a leader in open ledgers and accountability in rank-and-file union democracy. To read more on UE’s philosophy of utilizing dues and their open ledger system, see Open Books, Tight Fists.
Why Union Shop over so-called Open Shop?
Open shop and ‘right-to-work’ laws use the guise of “choice” to cloak anti-worker policies and union-busting tactics.
Right-to-work laws are laws in place in various states that bar employers and unions from allowing a union shop. Thankfully, Massachusetts allows for us to have a union or agency shop.
In the mid-1900s, ‘right-to-work’ laws were introduced to limit worker organization, and carry on a particularly racist legacy from Jim Crow American South
While the ‘right-to-work’ or “Open Shop” may sound neutral or even positive, these laws and policies are inherently anti-worker. Moreover, states and unions that adopt them consistently have lower wages, fewer benefits, and weaker worker protections.
Our first contract fight: Prepared to Strike for Agency Shop!
During our first contract campaign, we recognized that securing agency shop was fundamental to winning a strong and secure contract.
We knew that without agency or union shop, our organizing would be diluted and diverted towards signing up our co-workers for union membership, instead of focusing on building real participation in our union, enforcing our contract, and fighting for the issues that consistently afflict graduate workers.
We ultimately won agency shop after launching a credible strike threat, and union security has been foundational to our union from day 1.
Agency shop has meant that we have the resources to enforce our contract and handily defend our rights and protections. Check out the Zap for grievance fights that our union has engaged in over the course of our first contract!
Union Shop means we are united. Open Shop leaves us divided. And we know that united we win, divided we beg. We refuse to give up our agency shop and relinquish our collective power as a union.
Want to talk to your co-workers about what union shop means for them? Join the Contract Action Team, a group of graduate workers who invite our coworkers to stay informed and participate in our contract campaign! Sign up here.