I'm a professional. What can a union do for me?

By joining with your colleagues in a union at your work place you benefit in many ways. On the job, your union brings together the collective strength of you and your coworkers to insure meaningful negotiations with management for an equitable contract. Besides wages and salaries, areas that can be negotiated include: staffing and overtime, safety and health, cost of living raises, adequate pensions, vacations, equitable promotion systems and transfer policies, and a workable grievance system. Through your union, you and your coworkers oversee carrying out the provisions of the contract. If necessary, a union may take contract violations and wrongs to workers to third-party impartial arbitration.

Outside of the work place, the union works for you as well. The status of your profession and the well-being of the individual practitioner are not only affected by employing institutions but by government. Union organizations have been extremely effective in advocating the cause of their members in the halls of government at the federal, state, and county levels. Every day unions fight hard for their members in Congress, state legislatures, city hall, the courts and other departments and agencies of government. In an era of ever larger health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and insurance companies, this advocacy is more important than ever for health care professionals and staff.

Professional workers are confronting increasing challenges to their careers, brought about by rapidly changing technology, the turbulent world economy and new work methods. Like so many other workers, professionals are forming unions to enhance their professional autonomy, to be involved in making the decisions that affect their careers and for greater professional and personal security.

Fast facts on unions and professionals:

The union movement is now 51 percent white collar.
In the professional and related occupations, 17.7 percent of workers are union members, a higher proportion than the workforce in general.
Employment in the professional and related occupations is growing faster and adding more workers than any other major occupational category. While total U.S. employment is projected to grow 13 percent between 2004 and 2014, the growth for professional and technical workers is projected to be 21.2 percent, or 6 million jobs.
Three-tenths of the growth in professional and related occupations is expected to take place in the health care and social assistance section, one-fifth in government, and one-seventh in professional, scientific, and technical services.
Some 24 percent of all jobs in 2004 required a bachelor's degree or higher. Over the projected period of 2004-2014, 36 percent of the 18.9 million new jobs are expected to be filled by those with a bachelor's degree or higher.

Source: Analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures by the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees; BLS, January 2007.