If you are new to labor unions, there are some terms that you may come across during your quest for information about unions.

Bylaws
The labor union's set of rules. All members of the union are bound by these rules.

Collective Bargaining
The process of negotiating a contract between a health care system and a labor union.

Contract
The agreement that a labor union has with a health care system by which all employees are bound. This typically includes clauses like: Super Seniority, Management Rights, Dues Check Off, and Union Recognition.

Dues
One of the costs each union member pays to be in the union. Dues are typically deducted from your paycheck to ensure payment.

Dues Check Off
A contract clause which enables the union to automatically receive your member dues through a paycheck deduction. Actual example from a real union contract: "The health care system agrees that during the period of this Agreement, it will deduct from the pay of each employee in the bargaining unit such Union initiation fees and membership dues as may be duly levied."

Labor Union
An organization that provides services to its members in exchange for dues.

LM-2
A financial statement that labor unions are required to file annually with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Management Rights
The health care system has the power to allocate its resources, manage its facilities, and direct the workforce. The health care system has the right to hire, promote, transfer, demote, and lay off employees. The health care system may subcontract or contract out work as well as establish and modify policies, rules, and regulations governing safety, performance, procedures, and contact. So, the health care system still runs the business, union or not.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
Established in 1935, the purpose of the NLRA is to protect "the legitimate rights of both employees and employers in their relations affecting commerce, to provide orderly and peaceful procedures for preventing the interference by either with the legitimate rights of the other, to protect the rights of individual employees in their relations with labor organizations...and to protect the rights of the public in connection with labor disputes affecting commerce." - NLRB Rules and Regulations

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
The independent federal agency established to enforce the NLRA.

Penalties
Part of most union bylaws. This clause states that the union can put its members on trial for violating the union's rules. If found guilty, the member might have to pay a fine.

Union Security
A union security clause is a clause that requires all employees to join the union and pay dues after a certain number of days of employment in order to keep their job.