Why Join?
Why should you and your coworkers join CLAC? Here are five reasons to consider.
1. Member-focussed representation
CLAC provides excellent member service through professional representatives; well-trained, elected union stewards; and regular meetings in workplaces to properly enforce the collective agreement and deal with day-to-day issues.
2. Support for stewards and members
CLAC will work with and support the membership and the elected stewards in your workplace. This includes active presence at grievance meetings to ensure that issues are dealt with in a timely fashion, training courses and educational opportunities for stewards paid for by CLAC, and maintaining an active and responsive presence with members at YOW.
3. Great benefits and pension
CLAC operates a full-service health benefits plan in coordination with Green Shield and Manulife. Managing your benefits with the CLAC Green Shield plan is easy—you get a prescription drug card, excellent coverage for value, and you can even file claims through an app on your smartphone!
CLAC also operates an excellent pension plan. The plan was established over 45 years ago, has excellent rates of return, and low management fees, and has now surpassed $1 billion in total value, making it the 14th largest defined contribution pension plan in Canada. CLAC would seek to negotiate the benefits and pension plans into the Garda YOW collective agreement. Please see the Benefits and Pension tabs of the website for further details.
4. Transparent and accountable
CLAC believes that the money that you pay in union dues should go toward providing quality representation for you in your workplace. CLAC does not waste members’ money by giving it to political parties or sending a portion of dues to international headquarters (because CLAC is all-Canadian). Your union dues should be spent on great representation for you..
5. Because you can!
If you’re not happy with the service that you’re receiving from your bank, insurance company, or grocery store, what do you do? Switch.
You have a legal right as a worker in Canada to
change unions, one that you should freely exercise if you are not receiving
quality representation from your current union. CLAC believes in the freedom of
association and does not belong to the Canada Labour Congress (CLC), whose
member unions (including the United Steelworkers) agree to not let union
members switch, no matter the quality of representation workers are receiving.