Contract Language
After you have determined the nature of the contract proposals you will be making, you will need to write specific language to address these issues. The AFSCME Web site has links to all AFSCME state contracts that are online and you can examine these, particularly if you are developing proposals in a narrow, specialized area for which sample language is not available. WARNING: The fact that language appears in an existing contract does not mean that it is model language or that it has withstood arbitration.
Model contract language is available on a number of issues but it is often buried within publications. The sites below will help you if you need to write proposals in these areas:
Safe Jobs Now: Sample Health and Safety Contract Language
Keys to Healthy Computing: Collective Bargaining
Needle Points: Negotiating Needlestick Protections
Preventing Workplace Violence: Workplace Violence Contract Language
Collective Bargaining for Health and Safety: A Handbook for Unions This publication by the Labor Occupational Health Program at the University of California at Berkeley, is the best source for contract language on safety and health. It is available for $20 and an index of contents and ordering information may be found at this site.
AFSCME Guide to Winning Work/Family Programs: Work/Family Options and Examples of Contract Language
The Family and Medical Leave Act: AFSCME's Comprehensive Guide for You, Your Family and Your Union
Labor Project for Working Families: Work and Family Contract Language
This database contains sample model clauses from many different union contracts in the areas of child care, elder care, alternative work schedules, family and medical leave, and other family-friendly workplace policies. It doesn’t contain specific language. Free registration required to use database.
Stopping Sexual Harassment: Sample Contract Language
Domestic Violence: What Unions Can Do: Union Sample Contract Language on Domestic Violence
Fighting for the Rights of Employees with Disabilities: Negotiating Favorable Contract Language
Bargaining for Political Power
Hey, the Boss Just Called Me into the Office: The Weingarten Decision and the Right to Representation on the Job This booklet by Steve Diamond, Kirsten Snow Spalding and Lisa M. Vanderford-Anderson, now in its 3rd edition, contains sample contract language to reinforce the right to union representation during disciplinary actions. It is available for purchase for $8 from the Univ. of California (Berkeley) Labor Center.
Other general sources for union contracts are:
Berkeley Institute of Industrial Relations Labor Contracts Database
Bureau of Labor Statistics Collective Bargaining Agreements File. Public and private sector collective bargaining agreements covering 1,000 or more workers are available from the links on this page.
