January – March: Bargaining Committee gathered information from the membership through surveys.

April – June: The Committee along with Regional and International reps start to put together proposals based on the survey results.

July: Bargaining Committee meets with the company to start the give and take fight. The company will be focused on getting the most out of the employees at the cheapest price while the union will fight for improvements for the members in a fair, enforceable contract.

-        Once a tentative agreement is reached between the Bargaining Committee and the company, a meeting will be held for the membership to vote, also known as ratification. There will be mediators there to help explain the proposal to those who may want it.

-        If 50% plus one vote yes, we will have our new contract.

-        If 50% plus one vote no, there are several options that could occur:

• Both sides go back to the table to keep bargaining and have another vote
• Lockout: this happens when the company withholds or denies employment to current employees and may hire temporary employees (company’s version of a strike)
• Impasse: this happens when both sides cannot reach an agreement with the belief of future discussions not yielding much progress.
• Strike: this happens with the members withholding their labor (see article about strikes for further details on the different types of strikes as well as what is expected of you as a union member if there is a strike).