One Strong Voice For Working Families

More Than 130,000 Skilled Workers Nationwide
Have Won The Right To IUE Representation
In Collective Bargaining.

Collective bargaining is a powerful tool for positive change.

• It gives workers a way to exercise our Constitutional right to representation in the workplace.
• It gives us a voice for winning the pay and respect our work deserves.
• It's literally democracy at work.

Winning IUE representation secures us powerful national resources while ensuring our right to elect Local leadership and decide our own affairs.

Better Pay and Benefits

Since 1949, the IUE has been a powerful force in winning first-rate contracts for more than 130,000 skilled workers in the U.S. and Canada. The national contracts IUE has negotiated with GE and General Motors have won workers like us top pay, and have kept the rising cost of health care premiums from being dumped on working families.

Greater Job Security

The seniority rights in IUE contracts also protect workers from random layoffs during downsizing, buyouts or mergers. And IUE contracts prevent lifelong pension savings from being squandered. IUE makes sure corporate managers comply with pension laws. Federal law gives us the right to be represented. Only we can exercise it.

God Gave Every Worker The Right To Dignity--The IUE Gets It In Writing

Decent treatment is every American's basic right. That's why Federal Labor laws give workers the right to choose a union to represent us sin collective bargaining.

The longer we wait to exercise this right, the longer we'll come up short on wages, working conditions, safety standards, skyrocketing health care costs, job security, and many other urgent needs.

Who Is IUE?

The IUE is a powerful voice for the rights of America's skilled workforce. For workers who build everything from cars and jetliners to appliances and furniture, IUE ensures a voice in the workplace. IUE wins the dignity and respect skilled workers deserve. Representing more than 130,000 skilled workers nationwide, IUE has won thousands of our members some of the highest-paying contracts in their industries with top-flight health and pension benefits to match. Read on to learn how IUE representation has given working families powerful resources for meeting today's tough economic challenges.

The Powerful Resources IUE Puts At Our Command

With the economic power corporations possess, we need more resources than ever to make our voices heard. IUE members meet this challenge by maintaining control of all major decisions locally, while calling on the union's national resources to strengthen our hand through contract bargaining. Here are the resources at our command:

• Democracy In Action. IUE membership gives us the power to compete with the resources of management, and to set respectable standards for our wages and benefits. Like the Locals that make up the IUE, we will elect our own leadership, choose priorities for our negotiations, and vote to ratify or reject contract settlements.
  
• Negotiating Clout. IUE's bargaining experience is a valuable resource. IUE has taken the lead for decades in coordinated bargaining with other major unions to win the highest-paying contracts and foremost job security in the electrical industry. A staff of labor economists and experts in seniority and benefit rights also helps members secure better benefits, as well as resist the wave of corporate downsizing. In short, our members are more secure than most workers in a time of widespread insecurity.
  
• Education, Training and Improved Safety And Health. The IUE's Education Department and field staff provide members with training in everything from processing a grievance to techniques for winning in contract bargaining. The IUE also provides training for Local Safety Committees to improve worker safety on the job. IUE members can call on worker-oriented industrial hygienists to ensure a safer and healthier work place.
  
• First Rate National Research. Information is power, so support from IUE's Research Department increases Locals' bargaining leverage. The IUE maintains computer data bases on companies and their competitors, conducts wage surveys, and keeps ups-to-date records of health care costs for regions throughout the U.S. With this information, workers can challenge management's bargaining claims.
  
• Outstanding Labor Lawyers And Legislative Expertise. The IUE's staff of experienced labor lawyers and legislative activists provides Locals with the expertise needed to ensure that companies are complying with the letter of the law in the workplace, in negotiations, and in administering pensions. In addition, IUE lobbies Congress on laws impacting workers' rights and benefits, and coordinates testimony before Congress by our elected leaders. Locals are also kept informed about the latest rulings on workers' rights from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
  
• Public Relations And Social Action. IUE keeps every member informed through the IUE News, a bi-monthly publication. IUE's Communications Department trains members on how to handle media relations, and assists Locals during negotiations. The Department also provides professional support for developing Local publications. The IUE's Social Action Department helps Locals build community support for worker and civil rights. In addition, Social Action includes the IUE's Women's Council. The Department also administers the Union Privilege Benefit Program, which offers members a wide range of benefits, such as low-rate credit cards, low interest loans, and economic assistance for first-time home buyers.

Local 787 Selections