Bargaining basics

Bargaining is a democratic process where your union and employer negotiate the terms and conditions of your collective agreement, or contract.  

HEU members are covered by different collective agreements, depending on where they work.

This agreement determines your wages and benefits, including:

• hours of work
• seniority
• vacation entitlement
• sick leave provisions
• health and safety protocol
• and many other union rights and workplace protections

HEU members are represented at the negotiating table by a bargaining committee, a group of members democratically elected at a local meeting or conference.

As an HEU member, you may be a member of a bargaining association. This means locals from different work sites and different employers join together and bargain as a group.

Or you may be part of HEU’s independent sector, where members at a single work site bargain directly with one employer.

Either way, HEU members are involved in bargaining, with the support of HEU’s professional bargaining staff.

In this section, you will find out how bargaining associations work, how bargaining proposals are written, and how members can get involved.