IBEW Local 488
the Right Choice
IBEW Local 488
For over 100 years, Local 488 has been delivering on it’s mission to create and ensure a workplace that provides safety, fairness, and dignity for all our members. We stand for the ideals that have made America the great nation that it is today: democracy, equal opportunities and a chance to live the American dream.
Complete an authorization card today and start the process to join our ranks!
Frequently
Asked
Questions
As a starting point, here are some basic questions and answers about IBEW 488 and your membership with us.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is committed to improving the lives of North America’s electrical workers and their families. With more than 725,000 members, the IBEW is among the world’s strongest labor organizations, representing workers in a range of skilled occupations in a wide variety of fields, including utility, telecommunications, broadcasting, manufacturing, government, and railroad. Formed in 1891, we have earned our reputation as the oldest, largest, and most professional electrical union in the world.”
Unions are about a simple proposition: By joining together, working women and men gain strength in numbers so they can have a voice at work about what they care about. They negotiate a contract with their employer for things like a fair and safe workplace, better wages, a secure retirement and family-friendly policies such as paid sick leave and scheduling hours. They have a voice in how their jobs get done, creating a more stable, productive workforce that provides better services and products. Always adapting to the challenges of our nation’s evolving workforce, unions are meeting the needs of workers in today’s flexible and nontraditional work environments. Because no matter what type of job workers are in, by building power in unions, they can speak out for fairness for all working people in their communities and create better standards and a strong middle class across the country
Signing a union card is just the first step of a thorough process in determining whether a company wants to obtain a union contract. In order to obtain this contract, a majority of employees must sign union cards, authorizing them in collective bargaining with their employer. A petition can then be filed with the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board), requesting that a secret ballot election be held to confirm that a majority of employees want the union. If that majority votes in favor of the union, the NLRB will certify the union as the official bargaining representative.
The union acts as the voice of individual employees. Unions challenge unfair or arbitrary decisions made by an employer or company. A union ensures that the individual employee takes part in decisions regarding issues such as hours of work, level of wages and salaries, job assignments, and safety. Companies sometimes forget that the success or future of the company is a direct result of the employees. Therefore, employees must have a say in the future of the company. A union only maintains a sense of democracy within a company and should be considered a constructive influence.
Union Money
Earnings by Occupation, 2012 Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers’ Median Weekly Earnings:
In nearly every occupational category, workers who are not members of unions have smaller paychecks than union members. By comparing the wages of workers within occupational groups, the cost of not being able to bargain collectively is clear.
Good workplace relations can also be a major positive: the important work of Freeman and Medoff (1984) emphasizes the importance to the management of a collective union voice which facilitates joint labor/management discussion of workplace problems. This openness is enormously important: productivity is always a social process and not just a technical one. If individual workers are treated with dignity and respect; if workplace rules are perceived as fair; if workers can raise concerns and have them equitably resolved; if workers know that they will share the benefits of workplace change; and if workers have a say in working conditions, training, and health and safety issues, then workers are likely to work cooperatively with management.
Authorization Card
A copy of the IBEW form will be sent to IBEW and to you as well.
All information is strictly confidential and never shared with the employer!
721 Main Street
Monroe, CT 06468
203.452.7679
[email protected]
Membership Website: www.ibewlocal488.org
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