Q: I have been offered a new job. This is a unionized position, and all the jobs I have had up until now have not been unionized. What will be the main differences?
A: For a unionized employee, the employment relationship is governed by a collective bargaining agreement. It covers all the unionized workers in the workplace and sets out hours of work, dispute resolution, seniority, and most other matters pertaining to the employer- employee relationship.
For non-unionized workers, the employment contract is most often not written at all, or may be a letter of offer when the job is commenced.
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Although there is legislation that governs both unionized and non-unionized employees, such as the Labour Standards Act and Occupational Health and Safety Act in Sask-atchewan, there is specialized legislation that applies to unionized workers in every province.
In Saskatchewan, the Trade Union Act governs the collective bargaining process, rules relating to strikes and lockouts, the role of the Labour Relations Board and other subjects that relate exclusively to unionized workers.
For unionized workers, the pay rate is included in the collective agreement, usually as one of the document’s schedules.
Unionized workers accumulate seniority the longer they work for the employer, so newcomers to the workplace, with the fewest hours of seniority, generally have the lowest priority for scheduling of hours, call-back and layoff for seasonal employment. Seniority is also crucial for applying for other jobs within the union.
Both unionized and non-unionized workers are generally subject to some form of discipline that is expected to be progressive (verbal warnings, then written warnings, then suspension, prior to termination). The treatment of disputes in non-unionized workplaces is governed by such policy manuals that may exist in the workplace, statute law (especially occupational health and safety, labour standards, and human rights legislation), and apart from that, case law (Common Law) governs workplace disputes.
For unionized workers, the collective bargaining agreement covers how workplace disputes are handled.
It is usually handled by the grievance process, which involves various stages at which the dispute will be heard. If not settled, it goes to arbitration, a specialized area of dispute resolution in labour law pertaining to unionized workers.
In rare circumstances, the decision of arbitration boards will go to the courts, but for the most part the decisions of labour arbitration boards are final in resolving disputes arising out of unionized workplaces.
Generally, non-unionized workers may be terminated at any time and may qualify for severance pay.
Such disputes are referred to as wrongful dismissal disputes. Unionized workers are not entitled to sue their employer for wrongful dismissal. If they are dismissed, they are usually represented by their union in a grievance. Again, this is dictated by the collective bargaining agreement grievance process, and if necessary, it will go to a board of arbitration.
While non-unionized employees generally represent themselves in the workplace, unionized workers are represented by their union.
