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I helped successfully unionize my workplace. We are the first unionized archaeologists in North America. Archaeology in Ontario is a government mandated service required under the Ontario Heritage Act and is typically part of the environmental assessment phase of development. If you want to build a housing subdivision, wind farm, expand a road, etc... you need archaeology done. The result of this mandate is about two dozen or so archaeology companies in the province who are privately owned and operated but are regulated by the Ministry of Culture, who lays out the rules of how and when archaeological field work is to be carried out. It also requires a close working relationship with local First Nations groups, and it's not unusual to have two or more representatives on site from various indigenous groups who have a vested interest in the cultural heritage that can potentially be impacted by construction. Archaeology has also a relatively high barrier to entry. Most company job ads require a Bachelor's degree or in pursuit in Archaeology or Anthropology, or a related field. We get a lot of Classics diggers this way. There are some lower field techs that can get hired purely through nepotism who don't have degrees, but they are the rare exception. In order to move up or become a field director, you need a Research license, which requires at least a season of experience working in Ontario. To move up to a project managerial level or higher, you need a Master's degree and then you qualify for a Professional's license, which allows you to undergo projects under the regulation of the Ministry of Culture. This also requires a lot of experience in Ontario digging. So the job can't be outsourced. Heavy machinery is also strictly forbidden on site, all archaeology sites must be dug by hand, unless you're entering the final phases of the dig in which you rent a mechanized bucket to scrape layers off the surface to look for further signs of habitation. In an urban setting you can also hire a bucket to remove the layers of artificial fill on top of your site but that's not until you've established buried in tact cultural deposits below. You can not use an aggregator to separate artifacts from the soil, as some engineers have tried. It doesn't work and I'm pretty sure is also not allowed. Everything must be done by hand. Which means the job can't be automated. To reiterate: Government mandated, high barrier to entry, can't be outsourced or automated, which makes it ripe for unionization. That being said, projects are bid on by the company owners or primary consultant archaeologists, and typically go to the lowest bidders. This results in a race to the bottom in terms of wages and quality of life on site. Average wages were around $18-19/hour with no benefits, pension, boot allowance, physio, dental, etc... Just wages and gently caress off, hoping you get hired back in the spring. Wages went up for a brief period when everyone was getting rich off the wind turbine boom, but they've steadily gone back down to barely being above minimum wage. That all came to a head when a good friend of mine was monitoring some construction during the winter, freezing his rear end off making like $21/hour when he was talking to a guy pounding in snow fencing. It was a Sunday afternoon and the guy was already on overtime from the week previous in which he was making over $60/hour. My friend asked for a raise, was denied, went to the Ministry of Labour, was denied, looked for other jobs but nobody was paying better than what he was already making. For someone with no degree doing an easy job like snow fencing, this seemed like an absolute bullshit situation (for my friend, props to the guy making $60/hour). The old guy told my friend his union ensured he got paid really decently, and told him to check one out. So he started talking to former coworkers of his who all work for different companies, myself included. We approached LiUNA! in hopes they'd take us in. After about 6 months of research they concluded archaeology was the perfect fit and they were glad to represent us. Then the campaign started. We successfully rallied 3 companies to a vote after a year and a half, and now two of them have collective bargaining agreements in place. My boss sent me an email this past winter saying they had no major projects coming up and to find work elsewhere (part of me wonders if she was telling me to go gently caress myself). Cards then started circulating. One way to get someone to talk about a union is to get them to talk about what's wrong with your industry. Walk them through the obvious conclusion, is that if every company collectively raised their wages, then bidding wars would equalize and we'd all get paid better while remaining competitive. Then get them to admit the only way to get to this point is through a union. Once you got them nodding, you should see their face when you pull out a card and say "yes I'm serious are you in or not" and believe me they can't sign fast enough. Two of my friends got fired from one company, and another company fired one person. My relationship with my boss completely changed because she suspected I was the one who started with her company. One thing they don't tell you about organizing is you will find out who your friends really are. I lost some good friends over this, and I considered my boss a mentor and a friend. Now I doubt she'll ever talk to me again which is a shame because she's a brilliant archaeologist and taught me alot. It was never personal but I don't think she sees it like that. If you sign a card the union will take your company to court, and they estimate it costs a company about $50,000 in legal fees to fight an unfair labour practice. The end result: a collective bargaining agreement. I started at one of the companies that unionized this summer and was able to vote in passing a CBA. It came with no raise, and benefits that don't kick in until after 270 days, with a pension not being contributed to until 360 days. I hated this CBA and voted to strike instead but I got outvoted. It's not a great CBA, and not even close to what we were asking for but it's a foot in the door I guess. As we gather more companies on board we become stronger as a profession and hopefully will able to renegotiate a better deal in 3 years. As it stands we estimate the union represents 50% of all archaeologists in the province, and the effect is already felt even at non-unionized companies. People are getting wage increases, full time contracts, benefits, etc... in hopes of not unionizing. The power of a union is felt across the board, not just with your company. You can hear my friends talk about their efforts in this podcast: https://www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/crmarchpodcast/197?rq=union%20canada
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Sep 22, 2020 23:12
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 18:50 |
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:Having gone through the organization, voting, negotiations, and soon ratification (hopefully) of a contract and then enforcement of that contract, i get why it's so hard to find information online about HOW unionizing a workplace works On these three points, there is a reason unions don't have a lot of organizing guides, tips, processes and they don't tell you exactly how you get higher wages and benefits, ie the exact process, because it is a secret for your own protection. Capital has armies of lawyers that pour over anything in print and will use it against you. Same goes for texting, emailing, messaging, etc... Anything in writing can be used against you with about 30% of your coworkers are dead-set against unionizing (and won't think twice about turning you in and getting you fired for organizing), and another 20% will change their minds when it comes time to vote to unionize. I know a girl who blew the whistle on a campaign (which subsequently got two coworkers fired) and ended up with a full time with benefits contract in the company's health and safety department (away from her coworkers who now wanted to tear her a new rear end in a top hat). This also scared the rest of the crew shitless and severely killed our momentum in that company. Thankfully a year and a half later we not only secured a vote with that company, but just ratified a CBA before the end of the year. So yeah not only will companies threaten you, they will also bribe other employees for turning in their coworkers.
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Dec 28, 2020 04:50
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JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:digging around on their website, it’s basically strike power or nothing From what I understand work slowdowns are only really effective in the public sector (bus drivers might not collect fare for example) or garbage pickup, city workers, road workers etc... If you show up to work for a private employer and slow down you can be legally fired for breaching your employee contract. Strike is your next option, and your last resort, first resort being unionizing amd asking your boss politely in the first place. Ultimate answer is seizing the means of production and send the bosses packing putting the facility under worker democratic control but one step at a time.
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Jan 5, 2021 08:13
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In Training posted:updating my situation, our workplace is starting to sign cards and we have enough people indicating they'd vote yes that our unionization is likely to pass when a vote gets scheduled. this is very exciting stuff, it feels a little unreal that just months ago this was idle chatter among friends!! i can't wait to start the bargaining process and get some real protections in place...thanks again to this thread for being a great resource, and I'll keep posting once our vote is done to share the good news.
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Jan 13, 2021 08:15
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