Organizing

If you are not already a member of LIUNA and you are interested in joining, contact the local union office located closest to your home (see the affiliates page). The Local Union staff will tell you whether they are accepting new members and the amount of the initiation fee. Opportunities to join the union may vary from area to area depending on the availability of work, the skills in demand and the number of members who are registered on the local union’s out-of-work list.

Special consideration will be given to individuals who are employed by a non-union company and who are willing to participate in a union organizing drive. An organizing drive involves collecting applications for membership (cards). If the Union is able to file cards from 55% of the workers employed on a job site on the date that an application is made to the Labour Board, the company will be unionized. The cards are confidential. The Company does not have access to them and must respect the will of the majority. Companies who are engaged in industrial, commercial or institutional work automatically become bound to a collective agreement with good benefits and fair wages – as soon as they are unionized! Companies performing other work must, once unionized, bargain a collective agreement with the Union for that work.

If you would like to unionize your workplace, send your name and contact information to one of
our business representatives.