More rights on the job

The new agreement provides a 1 hour paid union orientation for all new hires so that they can learn what it means to be part of our union, their rights under the contract, and what they need to do to keep our union strong.

The new agreement includes a provision that requires managers and supervisors to remain neutral with regard to your support for the union. This language improves our ability to take on employers who intimidate or discourage members from supporting the union.

The new agreement prohibits management from requiring any union member to perform a task or duty that would violate the law and protects members from discipline in the event they refuse.

The new agreement protects your privacy and prohibits the employer from sharing your private data.

Under the new agreement, after completing the probationary period, employers are prohibited from requiring you to submit to a drug or similar test.

Similarly, in the new agreement, after completing the probationary period, employers cannot require you to submit to a background test or credit check (except as needed to verify your information for a license required to do the job).

The new contract bans employers from making you submit to a lie detector or similar test.

The new agreement gives you the right to request a photo ID from the employer that includes your employment, name, address, and date of birth.

The new agreement protects your tips and gratuities by prohibiting any supervisors or non-union employees from retaining any of your tips or gratuities and preventing employers from deducting items such as credit card processing fees from your tips.

The new contract stops employers from charging you for any guest walkouts, breakages, or bank shortages.

The IWA currently provides for 15 days of severance pay per year of service in the event a hotel converts to residential use. The new contract expands the right to severance to now include conversions to office buildings, student housing or any other non-hotel use.

Under the IWA, the union already has the right to demand that certain employers post a bond to protect union members in certain situations. The new contract increases the bond to include 3 months of benefits in addition to the existing 3 months of wages in the contract.