When a group of workers act and speak together, their employer has to listen. That’s how unions make things better at work.
That is why unions members get better pay, compared to workers not in unions.
Union membership brings a premium for your salary and the treatment you receive at work.
When union members can elect someone to speak for them; the Union Representative takes their concerns with management and can also help individuals.
Union members are more protected from injury or mistreatment at work, and your union can stand up for you as an individual facing problems at work as well as representing all of your co-workers in an industrial dispute.
Union members get access to training in employment rights, safer workplaces and skills such as ICT to help them get better-paid jobs.
Legal recognition in the workplace
In many workplaces, the union is legally recognised by the employer. In these workplaces, the union reps have the right to formally negotiate, or collectively bargain, with managers about pay and other terms and conditions.
A union becomes recognised either when enough members have joined and the employer has agreed to recognise the union, or when the union has won a vote of workers. Collective bargaining works for workers who are under such agreements between employers and trade unions, and how standards are raised all round.
Most sensible employers welcome having a union in their company. They understand that it is better for workers to be able to raise problems and sort them out rather than having to just put up with unfairness or poor treatment.
And unions can help companies plan for the future and manage change – as well as making sure workers have an independent voice if big changes like redundancies or site closures are planned.
