7 Reasons to Go Union

1) Strength in numbers – the union represents you with your employers, making sure you’re always paid exactly what you’re owed, that you’re treated with honesty and respect, and that any grievance you have is fairly dealt with.

2) No worksite competition – in the union, you don’t have to compete with your fellow workers for a supervisor’s favour. We’re all treated equally. And because we respect one another, we always work as a team.   

3) Safety – nothing is more important to the union or its employers than making sure every single worker is safe on the job. New union members are always amazed when they begin work on a union jobsite…they can’t believe that they don’t have to ‘cut corners’ to get the job done faster.

4) Great pay, pension and benefits – The union regularly negotiates wage, pension and benefit packages that put our members among the higher-earning construction trades.

5) Training – Our Locals spend lots of money providing (mostly free!) training and upgrading programs for our members. In the union, if you’re motivated, you can always make yourself more employable by earning new trade, safety and supervisory skills.   

6) Job search – Because our locals operate Hiring Halls and dispatch members to employers’ jobsites as they are needed, you can choose how much (or even whether) you want to work. When a job’s finished, or when you decide to go to work, your Hiring Hall Dispatcher places you on the list and as soon as your turn comes up, it’s off to work you go.  

7) Great relationship with employers – contrary to what non-union employers say about unions, every one of our Locals across Canada has a strong relationship of mutual respect with our employers. We are firm in our dealings with them, but we are also committed to work with them to find win-win solutions to the challenges we each face. Strikes and other work disruptions are very, very uncommon.