Reader submitted questions

Here's some tough but fair questions someone submitted to the website. We reached out to USW to get the answers straight from the horse's mouth. Settle in and have a read, there's details here:

 I have a few questions:

1. What are the political ties of the USW? I don’t want part of my dues going to pay for some whacko libtard’s campaign or be told which political party have to vote for .

Answer: The USW doesn’t support one political party over the other. Our Union has a very diverse mix of members with all different political affiliations, and it would not make sense to always side with one political party over the other. The goal, politically, of our Union is to support Pro-Worker, Pro-Union, pro-health and safety legislation, regardless of party. Specifically to you guys, we have thousands of oil/gas working members and support legislation that enhances the ability of unionized workers in the oil and gas industry to maintain their jobs into the future, have long term job security, industry leading wages/benefits and make it home safe to their families. Our Union is made up of industrial workers, miners, oil/gas, paper, manufacturing, rubber, atomic, chemical, etc. Not your typical “liberal” industries. The goal is to have legislation that supports these industries and the workers that make them run.

Additionally, it is illegal for Unions to use dues dollars to specifically support a particular political candidate. No dues money EVER goes to a politician.

Even then, only 1 cent out of every dues dollar goes to pro-worker legislative action. 1/100 of Dues money goes to legislation, but never to individual politicians.  

All of that said, for transparency sake, the Union does have a PAC, but it is 100% voluntary and again, does not ever come out of dues. When members choose to contribute to the PAC, their voices are heard on which candidates to support and regardless of R or D, the pro-worker/working class candidate is what matters. SO you’ll see that the overall International Union may support one candidate over another but they could be D or R, as long as they support workers and their Union.

This Union will never tell members who they have to vote for and can never make members vote any one way. It would also be illegal for a union to tell their members to vote a certain way or lose their membership.  

2. If we were ever to strike what are the requirements of the picket line? How much will the USW strike fund pay? If I go and get a side job to pay the bills while there is a strike going on will I get kicked out of the union?

Contrary to what the Union busters will say, a Strike is never a forced action. It is something that the members (you all) must vote on and approve overwhelmingly. If it ever gets to the point in contract bargaining where the bargaining committee feels like it’s the only option, it will go to a vote by the membership. You all are the union and only you can choose whether to go on strike. So, that said, IF the members ever voted to strike, the rules of the picket line are the same. Showing up and participating on the line are voluntary actions. If you all decide as a group that striking is ever necessary, it doesn’t work if only a few people show up or if half of the guys are crossing the line. So, nobody can force a strike and nobody can make you show up to a strike but you would never even call for a strike without the pledge of a large majority of the guys that they’re going to be on the line.

A strike is the last nuclear option in a chain of potential non-strike union actions, that would show the company you guys are serious.

The strike fund is set up in a way that it pays out a small stipend (a few hundred dollars a week) and then will also pay for necessities, like bills, mortgage, truck payment, etc. It is not full pay but is set up in a way to make sure that members are paid for their needs while on strike. So, if you have a mortgage payment, for example, you could get a check cut for the cost of the mortgage payment, or car payment, etc.

Strikes in the oil/gas industry are excessively rare because of how much the company loses every minute that production is down. We have tens of thousands of oil/gas workers in this union and the last big strike at ONE refinery was in 2015. You guys have A LOT of power, and can flex that power in contract bargaining, without ever needing to strike.

If someone gets a side job during a strike, they will NOT get kicked out of the union. The USW is not like some trade unions that do not allow you to have side work. If someone got a side job at any time as a member, that is not a reason to ever lose membership in our union, strike or no.

 3. If I ever decide to leave the company and the union are there mandatory union exit fees?

There are NOT union exit fees. If someone quits at CP, and goes somewhere else, good luck to them. That’s it. No more dues to the USW (unless you go to another USW represented facility). There are also no Initiation fees for any newly organized group. Once you all do organize, any new hire after that will pay the (ten dollar) $10.00 initiation fee. There are also No dues until you have bargained and ratified a first contract. So everyone will know what’s in their contract and vote on it, before ever paying a penny in union dues.

4. How many union reps will be in Kuparuk and Alpine?

The USW has a structure of:

a. Shop Stewards, who are your coworkers that you guys elect. They will be your everyday, on the ground, first line union reps. If something happens, a violation of the contract, discipline, grievance, etc, the shop steward will be the first contact. There is usually at least one shop steward per area, per shift. But you guys have a huge say in how many stewards you want and we can even bargain the number into the contract. The stewards get steward training and always have help up the next level. So, you’ll ALWAYS have coworker/reps on site at Kupark and Alpine.

b. The next level is Local Union representation. Here is where the Local union elected officers will be involved. There are up to 11 elected Local Union officers and they will also be workers from the slope, who know and do the same work. You guys will elect your everyday, coworker, on the ground reps. We also already have members and  solid structure on the Slope. Those members can and will be available to assist and give advice during the whole process of building up your group.

c. Every bargaining unit is assigned One International Staff Representative, who will be the last line of defense, if the shop stewards or Local Union officers are unable to resolve a problem (which they usually are). The International Rep will be the only Union rep who isn’t on the slope doing the same work. They are the resource for moving things to the next level, getting legal advice, bargaining high level grievance/arbitrations, etc.     

I know those answers are long, but hopefully detailed and helpful enough to be able to answer the questions thoroughly. If any more questions come from this, or if anything is unclear, always feel free to reach out.

In case there are questions about where dues money goes:

How Your Dues Dollars are Used - United Steelworkers

Editor's note-  alright, I know that was long but thanks for sticking with it...  you did good for being an illiterate knuckle dragging over-paid moron. (Sorry, been in a bunch of meetings with management, I think their assessment of us is starting to rub off on me).