Resources

BESO Structure Document

This document outlines specifics around how our union will work: how we will decide priorities and make decisions together, elect our representative negotiations team, vote on our contract, decide membership, elect officers and representatives, ensure collaborative and positive relationships with management, and make sure all our voices are heard. Our work will be driven by everyone’s issues, concerns, and perspectives.

BESO FAQs

Frequently asked questions about our union.

Our Rights in the Workplace

“Joining together with your co-workers to organize a union is a fundamental right recognized in U.S. labor law. It’s even affirmed in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (AFL-CIO).

Interfering With Our Rights (What Employers Can’t Do While We Unionize)

“Employees have the right to unionize, to join together to advance their interests as employees, and to refrain from such activity. It is unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights. For example, employers may not respond to a union organizing drive by threatening, interrogating, or spying on pro-union employees, or by promising benefits if they forget about the union” (National Labor Relations Board).

Employers Must Bargain in Good Faith

“Employers have a legal duty to bargain in good faith with their employees' representative and to sign any collective bargaining agreement that has been reached. This duty encompasses many obligations, including a duty not to make certain changes without bargaining with the union and not to bypass the union and deal directly with employees it represents. These examples barely scratch the surface” (National Labor Relations Board).