DISCLAIMER: This website is for information purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO
ORGANIZE YOUR WORKPLACE
Organizing your workplace to exercise “collective voice” is exponentially more effective than trying to improve your working conditions as an individual worker.
The employment conditions in a unionized workplace are determined by a collective bargaining agreement, while employment conditions in a non-unionized workplace are prescribed by provincial labour standards legislation.
Labour standards legislation in Newfoundland and Labrador is weak and, as such, offers little protection for non-unionized, low wage workers, and migrant workers and absolutely no protection to “gig workers” because they are misclassified as self-employed independent contractors.
The Workers’ Action Network of Newfoundland and Labrador is not a union; rather, a worker-driven community that enables non-unionized, low-wage workers to collectively organize to improve working conditions in the workplace.
United, exercising our “collective voice”, we can more effectively fight for the right to decent work, including fair wages, paid sick days, employment equity, and protection for independent operators and migrant workers.
Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you have the right to “freedom of association”.
This means you have the right to organize your co-workers for the purpose of collectively improving your working conditions.
RECOMMENDED READING
RANKANDFILE.CA
ALL ABOUT UNIONIZING
Unionizing your workplace is an effective way to give you and your coworkers a strong collective voice to address workplace issues.
Unionized workers have better rights, protections, and working conditions through collective agreements which they negotiate with their employer through their union.
You and your co-workers have the legal right to be members of a union and participate in its activities under the Labour Relations Act (1990).
Although this legislation prohibits employers from interfering with efforts to unionize a workplace, employers often make use of loopholes to impede the unionization of their workers.
This is one of the challenges that Stephanie Ross and Larry Savage identify in their article on unionizing workplaces, The Advantages of Unionization are Obvious, So Why Don’t More Workers Join Unions?
Therefore, we recommend this excellent article by long-time labour activist Doug Nesbitt, Crash Course: Starting a Union in Your Workplace, if you are considering unionizing your workplace.