Health Care Workers
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of unionizing and joining IAM?
The job of our union is to negotiate on your behalf for better wages and benefits through a legal and binding contract. We then enforce that contract and represent you if you encounter day-to-day problems with your employer.
Unionizing with IAM gives you and your co-workers the collective strength to ensure both a decent contract and fair treatment on the job.
Your right to join or form a union is guaranteed by law under the Labour Relations Act.
How do I join IAM?
The process of organizing can be intimidating if you don’t know what to expect, and many employers will resist employee organization efforts.
It’s important to remember that it is your LEGAL RIGHT to join a union.
The first step in unionizing is for 50% of the workers in your facility to sign membership cards. Once a sufficient number of cards are signed, there is usually a vote conducted at your workplace by the Labour Relations Board.
IAM’s Union Organizing Department, with its experienced and motivated staff, will be there every step of the way to successfully lead you through the process.
Will management find out?
Only if you tell them. Joining a union is 100% confidential.
Neither the IAM nor the Labour Board will ever tell your employer if you have signed a membership card.
Are other private health care workplaces unionized?
IAM represents both public and private retirement homes, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare service providers throughout Ontario.
More than 70% of healthcare workers in Ontario are unionized (with IAM and other unions).
Will unionizing also benefit residents?
Better working conditions for YOU means better conditions for the residents in YOUR care.
Unionized employees enjoy better pay, improved training, fairer treatment from their employer, and an overall safer working environment.
Residents will feel all these improvements through YOUR improved morale.
IAM will also ensure that you are not always “working short,” so that residents will receive more and better care.
How will unionizing impact the employer?
The occupancy rates in unionized facilities are often higher than non-union facilities, benefiting the employer.
Contact IAM
Take the next step for a better work life.
Union-Organizers
Speak directly with our union-organizers by email, phone, or text.
Scott Jackson
Union-Organizer
416-579-0854
sjackson@iamaw.org
Rootisha Rampat
Union-Organizer
647-338-4252
rrampat@iamdl78.org