Local 39 dedicates staff and members to help non-union workers organize a union in their workplace. You will receive support every step of the way starting with learning to make the initial contact with a co-worker to winning a strong union contract.

Efforts to organize a union vary from workplace to workplace. Local 39's staff will help you design a plan that makes sense for where you work. Here's a general description of how it works.

Employees, often just a few at first, have an initial meeting with Local 39's Business Agent to learn more about forming a union. If it looks like there's some interest from co-workers, employees will form an Organizing Committee. The Organizing Committee educates fellow workers about the benefits of unionizing, motivates co-workers to action, develops workplace issues, gathers information and plans the organizing campaign.

If there's enough interest, the next step is to ask co-workers to sign support or "authorization" cards to show interest in having a union. If a large majority of co-workers show support by signing cards (or a petition), you can request the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a secret ballot election. For public sector employees an election is requested through the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC). The election will officially determine whether or not a majority (50% plus one of those who vote) wants to have a union.

Once the election is won, the law requires the employer to recognize the union and negotiate in good faith.

There are other creative ways to put pressure on your employer to recognize your union. A government-supervised election is just one alternative.

Organizing and building a union doesn't stop with winning an election. The next step is winning a fair contract-just as important as winning a representation election. OPEIU helps with negotiating a contract between employees and their employer.