Unions 101
So what is a union?
A union is a group of workers coming together to gain:
- Respect on the job
- Better wages and benefits
- Flexibility for work and family needs
- A voice in improving quality and services.
Union Fast Facts
- Over 15.5 million union members represent a cross section of people—women and men of all ages, races, and ethnic groups.
- Unions members work in hospitals, nursing homes, auto assembly plants, on construction sites, trains, buses, and airplanes.
- Time magazine’s “Person of the Century,” Albert Einstein was a founding member of the Princeton Federation of Teachers Local 552 union, signing its charter in 1938.
- In colonial, times, carpenters, cabinetmakers, and cobblers' guilds worked to improve pay. In 1825, Boston carpenters struck for the 10-hour workday. In 1886, 5,000 members of the Knights of Labor conducted the first major strike, against the Iron Mountain Railroad in Arkansas.
Questions? Call 1199C headquarters
Philadelphia: 1-215-735-1300, New Jersey: 1-856-428-9500