Occidental College offers this webpage as a source of information about our discussions with our union partners. In an effort to promote transparency, this will include FAQs, updates on discussions and other relevant information for our community.
General Union FAQs
A labor union is a group of two or more employees who join together to advance common interests such as wages, benefits, schedules and other employment terms and conditions.
The National Labor Relations Act is a federal statute that establishes certain rights to collective bargaining in the workplace and establishes rules for how employers may engage with represented employees.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) “is an independent federal agency created in 1935 and vested with the power to safeguard employees’ rights to organize, engage with one another to seek better working conditions, choose whether or not to have a collective bargaining representative negotiate on their behalf with their employer, or refrain from doing so. The NLRB also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions, as well as conducts secret-ballot elections regarding union representation.”
An election is overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Eligible voters fill out a ballot that will ask whether they wish to be represented by SEIU Local 721 for purposes of collective bargaining. Once ballots are cast by eligible voters, the NLRB will tally the ballots. A simple majority of those who vote will determine the outcome. For example, if only 10 student employees were to cast ballots and 6 were to vote in favor of the union, the union would be deemed the exclusive bargaining representative for all student employees.
Collective bargaining is the mechanism or process for an organized group of workers and their employer to pursue mutual agreement over workplace issues.