Preparing for Bargaining

Building a contract campaign for health and safety

Often, unions approach collective bargaining as a technical process led by experts in negotiations. When union leaders instead approach bargaining using an organizing campaign framework, it can most effectively build the union, increase member participation, and win concrete improvements on health and safety. A contract campaign – a member-driven campaign organized around collective bargaining – has two goals: to win contract improvements and to build the union at the same time. It broadens the collective bargaining process beyond what happens at the bargaining table, and aims to shift the power dynamic to win a good contract in the short-term and build a stronger union in the long-term.

The following resources provide information on how to prepare for bargaining using a contract campaign framework: 

• Why organize around health and safety – Prevent injuries, save lives, and strengthen the union 
• Tips to include health and safety in the contract campaign
• Activities to find out about member issues and existing hazards
• Steps to set your health and safety priorities 

Why organize around health and safety – Prevent injuries, save lives, and strengthen the union

Health and safety organizing campaigns–including contract campaigns–can involve, educate, activate, and empower workers and strengthen the union. This is true for many reasons:

1. Workers care deeply about health and safety.

Health and safety remains a top priority for workers and unions as job-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths continue at high levels. A 2001 AFL-CIO poll of workers nationwide found that a safe and healthy workplace was a top concern. It was ranked “essential” or “very important” by 98% of those polled, higher than respect, a livable wage, or health insurance. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, health and safety continues to be a top concern for workers – the 2020 Gallup Great Jobs Survey found that 89.2% of workers rated the health and safety of their work environment as an “extremely” or “highly important” indicator of job quality. Since the pandemic began, tens of thousands of workers have participated in strikes and walkouts to demand better protections and working conditions to keep themselves and their communities safe. 

2. Health and safety issues can build community support.

Every year, over 5,000 workers die on the job, and there are close to 3 million reported injuries. The AFL-CIO estimates 120,000 workers also die every year from work-related illnesses. This broad impact makes health and safety a human rights issue that can gain strong support from the broader community. 

3. Health and safety covers a broad spectrum of concerns.

Health and safety is not limited to workplace hazards such as chemical exposure, noise, fire, electrical hazards, unsafe machinery, and ergonomics. The labor movement has been crucial in getting researchers and national agencies to look at the broader linkages between work and health. Recent research has documented how speedup, low wages, conflicting job demands, lack of flexible schedules, and lack of respect all impact worker health. The work environment and structure affect workers in profound ways, impacting stress levels, overall health status, health care options, emotional well-being, and family life. A host of other issues affect workers’ health and well-being, including fear of layoffs, fear of deportation, and the threat of violence in the workplace. In addition, climate change has highlighted numerous workplace and community hazards including wildfires, flooding, smoke, and heat.  

4. Health and safety can involve and empower workers who are traditionally denied labor rights in their workplaces and civil rights in broader society.

Women, workers of color, immigrants, and low-wage workers are more likely to face multiple and serious hazards, as groups with less economic and social power are typically channeled into low-paid, stressful, and dangerous jobs. For example, the AFL-CIO report describes that in 2020, primarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, serious illnesses and injuries increased significantly for all workers, but did not impact all workers equally. There was a 22% increase for white workers, 27% for Latino workers, 40% for Black workers, and 70% for Asian workers. As of 2022, the U.S. fatality rate for Latinos is 32% higher than the fatality rate for workers overall. Unions can find ways to address the hazards of concern to these workers—or, better yet, encourage and support them when they address the hazards themselves. 

5. Health and safety can promote participation and leadership development.

Many health and safety issues affect everyone in a workplace. This provides the potential for a large group of workers to become actively involved and even develop into leaders. However, it requires a conscious choice to take an action-oriented approach to a health and safety campaign. Just as unions are changing their service model in other areas, they can change their methods in health and safety.

Instead of treating health and safety as a narrow technical issue, it can be designed as a broader issue that involves the workforce throughout the bargaining process. For example, if workers are concerned about dangerous conditions in the workplace, two different possible approaches include:

Technical approach: Experts negotiate the contract without involving the workers in a meaningful way.

Action-oriented approach: Workers are on the bargaining committee and receive training or consultation as needed from staff or other sources. The workers themselves investigate hazards, develop a contract campaign strategy, involve co-workers, seek community support, and bargain with the employer. 

Unions that have been using the action-oriented approach can use this resource guide for ideas about how to add to their “toolbox” of ways to involve members. For others, this may represent a new way of thinking about health and safety issues and the role workers play in collective bargaining. 

6. Health and safety victories can energize workers.

One of the most important things a union does is to show the power of collective action. Health and safety demands often can be won, and a “win” will energize everyone and improve worker morale. It also will teach important lessons, showing potential members and reminding existing members what they can accomplish together. This increases enthusiasm and involvement.

Tips to include health and safety in a contract campaign

Unions design their contract campaigns in different ways. For example, AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) starts with organizing workers around their issues, setting goals, and gathering information, and then developing a campaign theme, strategy and timeline (see resources). Whatever model you use, here are some tips for how you can include health and safety in your contract campaign:

1. Start early 

Most unions hold contract negotiations at regular intervals, ideally beginning several months before the current contract expires. Get ready for bargaining well in advance. As health and safety issues come up, especially those that can’t be resolved immediately, think about how language in the next contract might help address the issue and prevent injuries or illnesses. Or, if OSHA inspects the workplace and the results aren’t what you wanted, consider what contract language you may need to give members extra protection.

2. Identify workers’ health and safety issues.

Use the tools described in Activities to find out about member issues and existing hazards, including hazard mapping, body mapping, and surveys, to identify and bring members together around common and serious issues.

3. Set contract goals on health and safety.

You probably can’t achieve all your goals in one round of negotiations. You’ll have to make choices, and you shouldn’t try to solve every problem through the contract. To decide if the contract is an appropriate way to address a problem, work through these questions:

• Have workers strongly indicated the need to have this problem corrected?
• Does this problem affect a significant number of workers?
• Does this problem have a major impact on worker health and safety?
• Is this problem especially serious or dangerous?
• Does OSHA have any standards and regulations covering this problem? Do any other federal, state, or local agencies cover it? Do these regulations sufficiently protect your members? If not, contract language may be needed.
• Does language about the problem already exist in your contract? Is the language adequate? Have there been successful grievances based on this language? If the present language hasn’t solved the problem, stronger language may be necessary.
• Has the union ever attempted to resolve this problem with OSHA or the employer? What happened?

4. Collect information.

Accurate information and an involved workforce are the keys to success in contract negotiations. You need good information so problems can be documented at the bargaining table. Ask co-workers to help collect this information, so they can become active participants in the preparations for bargaining. This helps build support, enthusiasm, and leadership skills. For some ideas on how to collect information, see Activities to find out about member issues and existing hazards. 

It’s also important to look at all the health and safety language in the current contract to see what’s already been achieved. Grievance records may give you an idea of how well the current language is working.

5. Keep members informed and involved.

As you develop your contract campaign, encourage worker involvement. This helps develop their interest and commitment. It enables the union to have a strong, unified voice. Give co-workers specific roles to play. They can help the bargaining team to investigate hazards, survey co-workers, analyze injuries, develop other documentation, evaluate the current contract, educate co-workers, and prepare your new contract proposals.

As contract negotiations proceed, remember that your strength is the union membership. Important skills can be developed through negotiating with the employer. If possible, health and safety committee members and other workers should attend negotiating sessions as either participants or observers. Workers who are impacted, or potentially impacted, by the problem should be invited to participate in all stages of the process. It’s good training and will help your union develop a pool of experienced people. Don’t ask the “experts” to do it all!

Educate and inform the workforce about bargaining through commonly-used communication channels including text messages, social media, flyers and newsletter articles. “Contract update” meetings allow people to ask questions and give you an opportunity to recruit more supporters. 

Organize and encourage members to take active roles in the contract campaign, including wearing health and safety t-shirts or buttons to show support for contract demands, speaking to the media, and/or contacting community allies. Rallies, public forums, informational leafleting, and “town hall” meetings are all ways to get the word out. Workers play an active role in these public events and also get to meet local officials and sympathetic community groups to seek endorsements. Press conferences with both English and non-English media can garner radio, TV, and newspaper coverage.

6. Be prepared for bargaining twists and turns.

• As the bargaining sessions begin, it’s also important to have an understanding of how the process will work. Some important questions you can address proactively are: 
• What will happen when management makes counter-offers on health and safety during the give-and-take of negotiations? Your health and safety committee as well as rank-and-file members should have an opportunity to give feedback to the bargaining team before counter-offers are accepted or rejected.
• Will it be possible for workers to attend bargaining sessions as observers in support of the health and safety proposals? This shows management that workers are involved and interested, and helps workers feel they are part of the process.
• Is it the union’s practice to distribute the full language of tentative agreements to members before they vote to ratify? Will members have enough time to read and digest the language?

7. Enlist community support.

Workers, worker committees, and unions can reach out to potential allies and invite them to support the campaign against unsafe conditions. These alliances often are local in scope, but may be much broader, even national or international. Approaches are often made to those who sympathize because they share the workers’ economic or political interests, cultural or ethnic background, religion, language, or gender. An alliance initially may be established around a single health and safety issue, but later can broaden into ongoing mutual support.

Organizations that may provide support include community-based and faith-based organizations, other unions, COSH groups and university programs like the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley, community and occupational health clinics, law clinics, and elected government bodies (like city councils or local commissions), student organizations, the media, and even international allies.

It is most effective if an organization is initially approached by workers instead of by union officials or outside organizers who don’t share the workers’ existing ties to the community. For example, the workers themselves may already belong to a social organization or church. These groups may well want to support activities that improve the welfare of their own members. Many of the union’s potential allies are members’ friends, neighbors, families, and community organizations they are part of. Working through the community can also help workers reach co-workers whom they know through a community organization or church, but who have not yet joined the campaign.

8. Avoid behavior-based safety programs and safety incentive programs.

In your contract, reject employer proposals and programs that imply accidents and injuries are the worker’s fault. “Behavior-based” programs are popular with some employers. However, most accidents and injuries are caused by working conditions, not worker mistakes or carelessness. Behavior-based programs often give great emphasis to reducing lost workdays (without changing working conditions), documenting “unsafe” worker behavior, disciplining workers for having an injury or illness, and drug testing after an injury.

Instead of programs that emphasize worker behavior, use the OSHA-mandated approach of the hierarchy of controls (include photo). Bargain for changes that eliminate health and safety hazards, when possible. When not possible, bargain for changes that create policies and procedures that can reduce exposure to the hazard. Contract language that mandates the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) can be a last and final protection for workers when elimination or administrative changes are not possible or are insufficient.  

The contract also should prohibit programs that discourage workers from reporting safety problems. For example, some employers may propose using a game called “Safety Bingo,” where teams of workers compete to see who has the lowest injury rate. The winning team may receive a cash award. These programs pit workers against each other and can discourage injured workers from seeking appropriate medical care and compensation. Instead, unions could propose safety incentive programs that reward workers for promptly reporting unsafe conditions, or for coming up with new ways to reduce hazards. 

9. In the contract, give the union an equal role.

If your contract sets up a labor-management health and safety committee, be sure to include safeguards against employer domination of the committee. The contract should provide for an equal number of union and management representatives, joint planning of agendas, equal access to information, and a joint or rotating chair. Also include language that gives the committee real power to effect change.

10. Aim for continuous bargaining.

After the contract is settled, aim for continuous bargaining between contract periods. No contract can solve all the health and safety problems at the workplace. New hazards created by new technology and work restructuring, as well as new information that emerges on old hazards, constantly challenge the union’s ability to represent members adequately. A union health and safety committee as well as ongoing labor-management discussions are an important way to keep on top of new hazards and worker concerns. Some unions think of these discussions as “continuous bargaining” and prepare for them as such. Prepare for these meetings in a thoughtful and well-organized way, and be ready to organize an escalating campaign around issues just as you would develop a contract campaign to prepare for negotiations.

Activities to find out about member issues and existing hazards

As you prepare for bargaining and building your contract campaign, reliable information and an organized, involved workforce are the keys to success. Members should be involved in every aspect of bargaining, as member involvement enables the union to have a strong, unified voice at the bargaining table. Through a contract campaign, rank-and-file members can help to:

• Identify and investigate hazards
• Survey co-workers
• Evaluate current contract clauses and practices
• Analyze past incidents, injuries, illnesses, OSHA complaints, and health and safety grievances
• Mobilize and educate co-workers
• Prepare proposals.

Often it is possible for rank-and-file members to attend bargaining sessions as participants or observers; this is done by the union not agreeing to “closed door bargaining” when setting ground rules at the beginning of the bargaining process. Whether or not this is possible, the membership should be kept informed of bargaining progress at meetings and through “bargaining update” leaflets or newsletters.

Gather Reliable Information

You need good information to support the union’s proposals on health and safety. Rank-and-file union members can be the best source for learning about specific health and safety hazards in the workplace, how prevalent they are, and the most appropriate ways to control them. Members’ input can be obtained through written surveys, risk maps, or meetings organized by the union to discuss health and safety.

In addition to consulting members, the union can also get information in other ways—for example, through workplace inspections and review of records.

Worker Surveys

A worker survey is a useful way to identify the major health and safety problems in the workplace. In addition, the union can use this opportunity to talk with members, educate them, and get their opinions about bargaining priorities. 

When designing a survey project, the union should first determine:

• What is the purpose of the survey?
• How many workers will be surveyed? How will they be selected? Will they be a representative cross-section of different job titles, work locations, departments, and shifts?
• How will the survey be conducted? Will it be written or oral?
• Will a questionnaire or form be used? How will it be developed? What questions will be included?
• Will the form be tested before it is used?
• How will the results be compiled?
• How will the results be used?
• How will the results be reported back to the workers?

A sample survey form can be found below. Questions can be added, deleted, or changed to make the form relevant to your particular situation. Any form you develop should be simple to fill out, use everyday language, and include an open-ended section. The form should begin with a few sentences that explain the purpose of the survey to participants.

If the workforce includes speakers of several languages, you can translate the form, or have multilingual union members help co-workers fill it out.

When the results of your survey have been compiled, report the findings at a union meeting or through a leaflet or union newsletter.

Survey results should be used in conjunction with other information. To use the results to formulate bargaining proposals, the union may need to consult health and safety professionals such as industrial hygienists, occupational health experts, occupational physicians, OSHA personnel, or others.

Sample survey

Risk Mapping

“Risk mapping” is another technique the union can use to gather information about hazards. The drawing here is an example of a risk map. A group of workers collectively creates a “map” of the workplace, and in this way workers can identify the risks to their health and safety, discuss the problems, and decide what needs to be done. Workers also differentiate and prioritize high and low risk conditions. To prepare for health and safety bargaining, the union may want to have teams create a risk map for each major work location. The maps do not need to be elaborate or well-drawn. Rough sketches work just as well. 

This method is effective in all kinds of workplaces, including those where English is a second language, where workers speak many different languages, or where workers have a range of literacy skills. Like surveys, risk mapping activities can help mobilize and organize the workforce. These maps can be posted by the union so workers can provide additional information later. 

A large piece of paper and some colored pens are all you need:

1. Workers draw a rough outline (in black) of their workplace and then add important machinery, equipment, storage areas, work stations, etc. 
2. Then, step by step, the group can talk about what type of  hazards are present and where, using various colors and/or symbols to show this on the map. Here is one possible color code:
   • Black = Workplace floor plan, including doors, windows, furniture, equipment, and machinery
   • Red = Safety hazards
   • Green = Chemical hazards
   • Blue = Other health hazards (noise, ergonomic hazards, etc.)

You can categorize hazards differently based on what is relevant at the site.

3. When the map is complete, the next step is to analyze the hazards. For example, if the group is concerned about chemicals in a particular work area, the facilitator might ask: 
   • Do you know which specific chemicals are present?
   • How are these chemicals used? How are they stored?
   • How are workers exposed to these chemicals? (Breathing the vapors? Eye or skin contact?)
   • What is the specific job task involved?
   • How many workers perform this task? When? How often?
   • Are other workers nearby also exposed?
   • How many workers have experienced health symptoms that might be related to these chemicals? What were the symptoms?
   • What methods are used to limit (or “control”) the hazards? How effective are they?

4. Next, the facilitator should ask the group to go back to the map and prioritize the hazards they marked. Which ones are most serious? Which affect the most people? Which can be addressed easily and quickly? Which need further investigation?
5. Finally, the group should brainstorm ways that the priority hazards can be reduced or eliminated, and decide what changes would help. For each workplace mapped, the union should try to determine:
   • Which problems need further investigation or information
   • Which problems can be corrected through enforcement of the existing contract, laws, or regulations
   • Which problems may require new contract language.

Body Mapping

Body mapping is a good tool for getting workers together to discuss their health problems and how these might be connected to their jobs. It is a group activity that is simple to do, yet provides a wealth of insight.

Get a group of workers together. If you want a broad overview of problems in the workplace, involve a cross-section of people with different jobs, from different work areas and shifts. If you are focusing on a particular work area or work operation, involve as many workers in that area as you can.

1. Begin by drawing an outline of a human body on a chalkboard or flipchart.

2. Ask workers to come up and mark this body map where they have pain or some other symptom such as stiffness, tingling, restricted motion, dizziness, or coughing. One way to do this is to give each worker several small dot stickers or stickers labeled “Ouch!” that they can post on the body map.
   
   Note: The body outline you draw can be customized for chemical exposure instead of musculo-skeletal injuries, by drawing internal organs and asking about symptoms of chemical-related illnesses. 

3. When the group has finished, the facilitator should try to draw out the meaning of each mark they have made. For example, if a number of people have marked the wrist, the facilitator may ask, “What do the marks on the wrist mean?” This gets people talking in more detail about their symptoms. Ask what their wrist feels like. Encourage an open discussion that allows everyone to compare experiences. This can reveal a lot about the symptoms people have in common.
4. Next, the facilitator should tie the discussion to the job by asking questions such as:
   • Do your symptoms occur only when you are at work?
   • Do they go away when you are at home nights and weekends?
   • Do they occur mostly when you are doing a certain job task? What task?
   • When and where is this task done?
   • How do you do this task? (Have them demonstrate, if necessary.)
   • Why do you think this task can lead to pain – how are you using your body?
   • Are there better, safer, or more comfortable ways to do this task? Why aren’t they being used?

The responses should help you identify jobs and tasks that may be exposing workers to hazardous conditions. The facilitator should note as much of this information as possible on the body map or on a notepad for later follow-up.

Workplace Inspections

The union can also use a “walkthrough” inspection of the workplace to gather information about hazards. Those conducting the inspection can be, for example, union health and safety staff, committee members, or shop stewards. 

During the inspection, it can be helpful to use a workplace inspection checklist to guide you. This can help direct your attention to the types of hazards and conditions that should be examined. More detailed inspection checklists are often available from international union health and safety departments and “COSH” groups. 

In addition to direct observation, you may want to take photos and measurements during the inspection. Decide if you need to measure noise levels, temperatures, height of equipment, distances that workers travel when transporting heavy loads, number of repetitive motions, or ventilation (using smoke tubes). You may also want to take samples, such as suspected lead paint or asbestos, to get analyzed by a lab later. Since many of these activities require some technical knowledge, it’s useful to have a union industrial hygienist or other health and safety professional accompany you on the inspection. If no one is available, a trained committee member may be able to take the measurements and samples. You may also need special equipment, which might be available from your international union or local COSH group.

As you walk around, talk to workers and observe them doing their jobs. Draw up a list of questions in advance that you will ask the workers doing each task. Make the workers feel comfortable by explaining who you are and what you’re doing. Workers should understand the purpose of the observation and how the information will be used. Assure them that all information will be kept confidential unless there is agreement otherwise. Plan ahead to bring bilingual members on your team if workers speak languages other than English. 

A “walkthrough” inspection requires access to the workplace. The right of access may be guaranteed by a union contract. Where there is no specific contract language, your committee can try to reach agreement about access with the employer if your relationship is fairly positive. Otherwise, you may need to conduct a more limited inspection in any way that is feasible. Perhaps individual workers will volunteer to be informal inspectors of their own work areas. They may be able to collect the information you need without jeopardizing relations with the employer. In some cases, workers have brought their own thermometers when the work area seemed too hot or too cold. Others have kept logs, recording how many times they did heavy lifting during the day.

Sample Inspection Checklist

Information From Management

As part of the collecting information stage of the contract campaign, the union can request specific information from the employer. Under federal and state laws governing occupational health and safety and labor relations, the employer must provide copies of certain documents to the union upon request. The current union contract may give you the right to obtain additional information. By law, some documents must be provided to the union at no charge, but for others you may have to pay for copying.

Before requesting information, analyze what is actually needed to help the union understand and document particular health and safety problems. Then be clear and specific when making the request. This can help you avoid being overwhelmed with stacks of irrelevant material.

Requested documents may include:

• The employer’s written health and safety plan, injury and illness prevention program, emergency/disaster plan, plans to control exposure to hazardous substances including bloodborne pathogens, and other policies or rules. (Federal or state laws require that the employer have written plans and policies in some of these areas.)
• The specific chemical names of all potentially toxic substances found in the workplace.
• Safety data sheets (SDSs) issued by manufacturers of chemical products that may be hazardous. SDSs are chemical information sheets that manufacturers or suppliers are required by law to provide to the employer. The employer must make them available to workers and the union upon request.
• Results of monitoring done by the employer, by outside consultants hired by the employer, or by OSHA. For example, these could be results from workplace environmental monitoring of noise, chemicals, or radiation; medical monitoring to assess workers’ hearing, eyesight, blood levels or radiation burden; or ergonomic evaluations of workstations or work processes.
• Copies of OSHA inspections or complaints that have been filed, along with documentation of the results (for example, inspection records, citations, and fines received).
• Copies of the employer’s “OSHA 300” Logs. These are records of job-related injuries and illnesses. OSHA requires that employers keep them and make them available to workers and the union.
• The employer’s costs for workers’ compensation as well as documentation of workers’ compensation claims and information on lost time and on the causes of injuries and illnesses.
• Minutes of meetings of the employer’s safety committee, or of a labor-management committee if one exists.
• Information on anticipated changes in the workplace, including any new equipment or work processes.

Where possible, you will probably want to get the above information covering a period of several years—perhaps since the current contract went into effect. 

Union Documents

Other information may be available directly from the union’s own files. For example, the union should have records of health and safety grievances and how they were resolved. If there is a union health and safety committee, its minutes will also be useful.

Steps to Set Your Health and Safety Priorities

The union probably can’t achieve all its goals in one round of negotiations. Health and safety issues may compete with other bargaining needs, and you’ll have to make choices. To set health and safety bargaining priorities for bargaining, try to identify the problems that have the most serious impact on workers’ health and safety, that affect the greatest number of workers, and/or that cannot be resolved by other means like grievances using existing contract language, or OSHA complaints.

One way to identify your most important health and safety needs, and to prioritize the union’s possible contract proposals, is to follow these steps:

1. Brainstorm a list of issues

Through meetings and conversations with the membership and leaders, brainstorm a list of all the health and safety issues you would like to address. Use the topics in this manual to help you brainstorm, considering not only specific hazards but the relationship of power in the workplace (e.g. right to do inspections).

2. Prioritize

After you create an initial list, ask these questions to assess which areas should take greater priority:

• Has the workforce strongly indicated their need to have this problem corrected?
• Does the problem affect a significant number of workers?
• Does the problem have a significant impact on workers?
• Is the problem especially serious or dangerous?
• Are other possible means of resolving the problem inadequate (for example, present contract language or OSHA)?
• Has the union in the past attempted without success to resolve this problem with the employer?
• Can this issue garner community and public support, including support from other unions?
• Can winning on this issue help to build the union (engage members, increase democratic participation, develop leaders, and build confidence in the power of the union)?

3. Look at the contract

Find all health and safety language in the current contract. This may not all be in one place—sometimes health and safety issues are mentioned in various articles or sections. It may be useful to collect the relevant language from various sections and keep it together so you can analyze how different clauses relate to each other.

Compare what is in the contract with the main issues that were raised by workers. Think about:

• Does language about this problem already exist in your contract?
• Is the existing contract language adequate? Has it improved conditions?
• Have there been successful grievances involving this language? If the present language hasn’t solved the problem, stronger language may be necessary.

4. Research health and safety laws

For the issues you have identified, find out if there are any standards or regulations issued by federal or state OSHA. See if there are any legal protections offered by other federal, state, or local agencies. Decide if these sufficiently protect your members and whether they are currently being enforced. If not, bargaining stronger protection in the contract and/or organizing around these regulations may be necessary.