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Protect Monarch Workers: Vote Union YES!

VOTE UNION YES Flyer Union Rights Flyer

Use and share this webpage with your co-workers to get the facts regarding the upcoming Decertification vote starting the week of April 4, 2022. Included below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions, Union Rights, and Important Election Dates.

Facts & Anti-Union Tactics:

  • Boss-led attempts like decertifications are ploys to weaken your voice on decisions that impact you at work.
  • While the decertification filing was made by a represented employee, ask yourself, who that individual is and what ties they have to those in charge of Monarch Services.
  • Amidst the pandemic and recovery, workers all across California including those represented by SEIU 521 have won historic contracts. 
  • It’s no coincidence this anti-union attempt to strip you of your collective bargaining rights is happening as negotiations with Monarch are set to begin.
  • Don’t be fooled! – Like clockwork, Monarch management is already engaging in their anti-union plan by intimidating your co-workers, sharing misinformation related to your union, and promising a ‘fruitful relationship’  with employees. Management would rather not have to deal with the power of workers united together. 
  • Remember that without a union to protect your rights, you will become at-will employees. Again management would rather go this route and forgo your union rights.

Understanding the Decertification Process:

As you engage with the decertification process, we want to speak directly to members to inform them of what they could lose if the union is voted out. Now, more than ever, the working life of Monarch employees depends more on the goals we can reach by working together than when we can when we’re divided. We make decisions democratically, including electing leaders of our union and identifying workplace issues, and we have a voice to make Monarch Services a better place to work. Without a union, management has almost all the rights. All your co-workers at Monarch represented by SEIU 521  will have the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to your union by mail and in-person ballots according to the National Labor Relations Board.

KEY UPCOMING DATES:

  • Ballots are mailed to your home: April 4, 2022 (vote UNION YES and return your ballot asap)
  • Last day to postmark your ballot: April 25, 2022
  • Election Day: April 26, 2022

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

A union is a group of working people with the same employer who have decided they can accomplish more by working together than  divided. Decisions are made democratically, including electing leaders of your union and identifying workplace issues.  Having a Union gives you a voice to make Monarch a better place to work. Your contract guarantees pay and benefits in writing and gives legal protections at your workplace. Without a union, management has  almost all the rights.

Being a part of a Union provides you the right to demand to bargain over your contract. Bargaining, or negotiations, is the one time union represented workers can sit across the table from management and bargain over wages, benefits, working conditions, safety and much more. You will elect two of your coworkers to sit with your union representative to negotiate with management. While negotiating a successor contract only happens when the contract is set to expire, there are plenty of other occasions where union workers get to hold management accountable.

You are not alone, there are dozens of active Monarch Services SEIU 521 members that are ready to fight back to protect your union. You can always get involved to work on a team that is focused on winning the best contract possible and resolving issues causing problems at work.

Please contact, SEIU Internal Organizer Katy Bradley: Katy.bradley@seiu521.org

● Use intimidation or fear of reprisal to encourage employees to decertify the union
● Initiate, instigate, solicit or encourage voting out your union because it interferes with an employee’s free choice.
● Provide resources in support of the decertification process.
● Tell employees who they should not talk to, instruct anyone to support
voting out the union or become involved in the decertification process.

By voting to decertify from your union, you become an at-will employee. 

Any rights, benefits, privileges, earned through contract negotiations and a union contract are likely to be disregarded and no longer honored, all subject to the employer’s discretion. You will, as workers, also lose your legal rights to your voice at work with management.

 

SEIU 521, Your Union:

  • Provides you with a “meet and confer” right to handle pressing issues that occur after the formal negotiation process ends.
  • Gives you protection against unfair treatment, discipline, and termination.
  • Provides financial and organizational information from Monarch Services;
  • Sheds full transparency about the company’s financial holdings and treatment of workers and how to resolve issues;
  • Is committed to securing a legally binding contract through collective, powerful negotiations that benefit Monarch workers;
  • Provides you with the ability to improve on-the-job safety for workers and clients;

SEIU 521, Your Union:

  • Protects the voices of workers to ensure a functioning workplace;
  • Is committed to eliminating employers’ harmful behavior like paying expensive labor consultants big money to convince you that you are better off without a union;
  • Provides legal services, protections and legal advice free-of-charge;
  • Protects us from arbitrary changes to our wages, benefits, and working conditions;
  • Provides us with rights to improve our work schedules, or processes and procedures that protect clients and staff.

Management doesn’t want to give up control, which is why they will try to deceive you into believing you’re better off without your union. When your duly elected coworkers negotiate your contract, all of you decide together what should be improved, and Monarch management is legally obligated to negotiate over proposals that affect the quality of your work life.

All your co-workers at Monarch represented by SEIU 521  will have the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to your union by mail and in-person ballots according to the National Labor Relations Board: 
● Ballots are sent to our homes: April 4, 2022
● Last day to postmark your ballot: April 25, 2022
● Election Day: April 26, 2022

Absolutely – our union is for everyone, and we’re stronger because of you! When we agree to a union contract, it will apply to all frontline staff at Monarch and we’ll all have a say in whether we accept the contract.

Use the following link to sign up and become a member!

SEIU 521 Membership Card (Private Sector)

Union Rights

Posted 3/23/22

As Monarch management attempts to roll back wages, benefits, and working conditions, it’s important you are aware of your union rights being threatened by management’s plan to decertify our union.

YOUR UNION RIGHTS ARE AT STAKE 

●  Meet and Confer is a negotiated right to handle pressing issues that occur after the formal negotiation process ends. This process is the first stop for protections against sweeping unilateral changes to our wages, benefits, and working conditions. The employer must approach the union with the intention of fairly bargaining with the union for what it seeks to change. 

● Good Faith Bargaining is a negotiated right and part of labor law, to meet and negotiate with willingness to reach agreement on all items that reach the bargaining table. If the employer does not comply, they must answer to the National Labor Relations Board and ultimately return to the table to bargain.

● Grievance procedure is a negotiated right to and the formal process for workers to raise a problem or complaint to their employer. This process can involve several or fewer “steps” up the company’s hierarchy (ex: Supervisor, Director, President) to resolve complaints with co-workers, or the company.

● Arbitration/Binding Arbitration is a negotiated right that provides workers with the ability to use an impartial third-party when a dispute arises at work, or if the company and the union reach impasse during contract negotiations. This right can extend to unfair treatment, unfair discipline, and wrongful termination. “Binding” refers to all decisions that are legally recognized and enforceable.

● Safe, Healthy, and Fair Working Conditions are a set of negotiated rights and part of labor law that guarantee: 

  • Healthy and Safe Workplace: We have the right to work in an environment free from known health and safety hazards; failure to improve identified hazards can result in large fines, legal fees, court costs, and intense scrutiny from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”).
  • Disability: If you are hurt while working you can be entitled to temporary or permanent disability benefits.
  • Weingarten Rights: An impact of established labor law and union right which guarantees union representation at any meeting that could lead to discipline, written reprimand, suspension, or termination.
  • Seniority: A negotiated right that details a process of improving multiple contract items (ex: scheduling, lay offs, on-call work).
  • Lay-off, Unemployment: If you are laid off or become unemployed you have a right to a fair lay-off process and/or unemployment insurance that would likely supplement any state or public unemployment insurance.
  • Overtime is part of labor law and/or can be a negotiated right that provides financial increases for employees working longer than a regular workday/week when demand for services is higher than normal.

● “Me-Too” Clause: When a union negotiates something of greater value than what another group of workers settled for, the workers who settled get the upgraded benefit automatically. This can extend to anything within the scope of negotiations. This clause must be explicitly negotiated.